Documents
Unlike in the west, the vast majority of birds likely to be killed at
wind turbines in the east are neotropical migrants - which pass through
our region mostly at night. Many of these species are already under
severe pressure due to loss and fragmentation of breeding and wintering
habitat.
The attached two documents include the MD Public Service Commision's (PSC) proposed Siting Guidelines for wind energy facilities in MD, and a detailed critique of this draft by Dan Boone, a conservation biologist with nearly 30 years of professional experience involving wildlife biology, forest ecology, and biodiversity protection.
This report (6.68 MB) is available via the link below
Denmark (population c. 5.4 million) is a leading pioneer in renewable energy. Since 1985 it has set up about 3,100 MW of wind capacity. Of this 420 MW are sited offshore (Nielsen, 2004), and more is planned for the near future (Bendtsen and Hedegaard, 2004). Over the same period many small gas- or bio-fuelled CHP plants were deployed, primarily for local district heating but also to produce electricity. Interest in solar power is also considerable.
Appearing in the July 2004 issue of "The Utilities Journal", author David White responds to Steffen Nielsen's article appearing in the May 2004 issue extolling the success of wind generators in Denmark.
White contends that Nielsen tells only half the story by omitting many important aspects of the Danish program particularly the cost, annual availability and operability of wind generation. White concludes: "it makes no economic sense to progress an expensive and unpredictable power-generating technology in order to see a parallel carbon dioxide reduction goal when the evidence clearly indicates the objective will not be met."
Issued on September 1, 1998 by The Initiative Group and signed by more than 100 German University professors, the Darmstadt Manifesto On the Exploitation of Wind Energy in Germany demands the withdrawal of all direct and indirect subsidies in order to put a stop to the exploitation of wind energy.
The manifesto claims that the exploitation of wind energy promotes the type of technology which is of no significance whatever for the purpose of supplying energy, saving resources and protecting the climate. The money could be put to far more effective use in increasing the efficiency of power stations, in ensuring effective energy consumption and in funding scientific research into fundamental principles in the field of energy.
The Darmstadt Manifesto is directed in particular at politicians, environmental organisations and the media.
Senior planner Darryl
Crawford, of the Central Shenandoah Planning
District Commission, handed planners a list
of recommendations to consider for wind energy
permit applications last week, telling the
commission it should determine whether Highland
County wants industrial wind plants
within its borders. A summary
of Crawford’s 20-page set of recommendations
is (attached):
E.ON Netz GmbH manages 7600 megawatts of wind generation in Germany, representing 41% of the installed capacity for wind in the country. According to this report, wind operated at 18% capacity on average, with the lowest generation of 8 megawatts occurring in May 2005.
Dr. David M. Lipscomb PhD provided this testimony before the State of Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council involving the risks of noise emissions from then proposed Sumas Generating Plant on human health. An excerpt of the testimony is provided below. The full testimony can be downloaded by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.
