Energy Derived From Wind Not All That it’s Cracked Up to Be

Tired of hearing all the blather about how windmills are going to generate all the electricity we will need, thereby eliminating the use of fossil fuels? Then think about this: Electricity is a secondary source that we get from the conversion of other sources of energy such as coal, natural gas, nuclear power, etc.

These sources are known as primary sources. These can be renewable, or non-renewable, but the electricity is neither

The claims that wind energy “is the cheapest energy source available”

are overly optimistic. A leading expert on the subject states:

1. That these claims are based on cost estimates that assume the lifespan of wind turbines to be 50 years. However, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the lifespan of wind turbines is about 20 to 25 years.
2. In Iowa, wind turbines are reaching the end of their lives even faster as

Mid-American Energy plans to repower turbines constructed in 2004.

3. To make matters worse, these cost estimates attribute 30-year lifespans to every power plant, not just wind turbines, even though coal, nuclear, natural gas and hydroelectric plants can generate for more than 50 years.

Because these reports only look at a 30-year window, they fail to account for the additional spending necessary to repower a wind turbine and extend its life, according to a recent report.

By not factoring in this additional spending, these reports not only underestimate the true cost of wind energy, but overestimate the cost of power plants capable of generating electricity for more than 30 years.

In other words, what these cost estimates tell us is that wind energy would be the cheapest source of energy if all power sources produced electricity for a similar period of time – but they don’t.

Joe Pettit
Yorktown Heights

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