Gabriel Calzada Álvarez, Associate Professor at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (King Juan Carlos University) in Madrid, delivered this testimony before U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. In March 2009 Álvarez and two colleagues from the University, released their study on the Spanish experience with “green jobs”. An excerpt of his testimony is provided below. The full testimony can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

This 12-month diary (January 2007 through December 2007) was compiled by Gail Mair. Mrs. Mair lives with her husband Walter in Tuscany, Italy. Gail (fluent in English, German, and Italian) and Walter (a native of Italy) bought this piece of property some years ago and, in October 2006, moved into the (modest) dream house they had just built. It was to be their retirement home. As construction on their new home was coming to an end, wind developer, Gamesa, was completing construction on its windfarm nearby. In November 2006, the turbines were turned on and the problems of noise were started -- Day after day, relentless, unending. Gail and Walter have asked that their diary be circulated widely, in the hope of saving other communities and individuals from the misery they are living through.

This document prepared by Gamesa contains the specifications for building access roads to service the wind facility as well as the platform areas where each turbine will be sited. Wind developers often cite in their marketing literature that access roads will be 16-feet in width following construction. According to the document, the minimum width of an access road between wind turbines must be 10 meters (33-feet). This width does not include side slopes or additional clearing for culverts.

This important report prepared by the United States Government Accountability Office examines federal wind-related initiatives. The GAO identified 82 wind-related initiatives that were fragmented across agencies, most had overlapping characteristics, and several that financed deployment of wind facilities provided duplicative financial support. The 82 initiatives were fragmented because they were implemented across nine agencies, and 68 overlapped with at least one other initiative due to shared characteristics. A summary of the report is provided below. The full report can be accessed by clicking on the links below.

"The Scottish Wind Assessment Project is an ongoing programme of research which seeks to collate existing studies and commission new research to promote a thorough investigation of the claims made for and against the use of wind-generated energy."

Glossy brochure, including technical specs.

"Jeffrey Immelt is pushing windmills, water filters, nuclear power and cleaner turbines and jet engines. Has General Electric gone eco-mad?

General Electric's wind turbine products and related specifications are available by clicking on the web link.

The authors of this policy white paper discuss the risks of renewable portfolio legislation which include aggressive time schedules to reach compliance. While the authors advocate renewable technologies to solve, they warn that any eagerness to get the benefits of renewables must be tempered with recognition that forcing the timing increases costs and could reduce reliability. They also note that time pressure can raise costs and make it impossible to attain specified goals. The paper was prepared for The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The executive summary appears on this page. To access the full paper, click on one of the links below.