Nov '08: Wind Power: The 'Green' Myth

Wind power has many other negative externalities that are commonly overlooked, such as land and material use, construction emissions and habitat destruction. A typical wind farm requires as much as 10 to 80 acres per MW of electricity generated. The Shepherds Flat site will take up 21,919 acres. While operating at average capacity, the site will require 72 acres per MW.

To put this in perspective, a 900 MW natural gas powered plant may occupy 100 acres. Using a natural gas powered plant instead of a wind farm of the same capacity would, in a sense, “free up” enough land area that, if forested, potentially could offset 3,381,945 tons of CO2. This would be the equivalent to taking 673,694 cars off the road for a year.

Land usage is not the only concern with wind power. The construction of wind farms is in itself an environmental issue. The material requirements for wind turbines are up to 40-50 times greater than for gas powered plants per unit of output and can have only half the useful life.

There are two major components of wind turbine construction, concrete and steel, both of which are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Turbines require a significant amount of concrete to be placed at their base. The production of cement, which is the main component of concrete, is one of the most energy intensive of all industrial manufacturing processes and accounts for 5-10% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.

TPMDC | Talking Points Memo | Republicans: We Don't Want Reconciliation...Or Cap-and-Trade

The floor debates on the budget continue in both chambers today. A couple things we'll be looking out for--Republicans should be offering an amendment at some point have offered an amendment that would "prohibit the use of reconciliation in the Senate for climate change legislation involving a cap and trade system." Right now, reconciliation instructions are only included in the House bill, but they may well be imported to the Senate bill in conference.

Meanwhile, Senator John Thune has introduced an amendment that would "prohibit the collection of funds from any future cap and trade proposal if that proposal would increase electricity rates and gasoline prices for American households and businesses. "

Neither of these amendments are likely to pass, but the roll calls will be educational.

MooseJaw- Winter Weather Round Up

Lots of cold weather and, above average snowfall. That's how Environment Canada is summing up the winter of 2008-09. "The mean temperature for the winter was minus 15.0, compared to a normal of minus 11.7", says Meteorologist Bob Cormier. "It doesn't really rank right up there with the coldest on record, it's tied with 1965 and 1951".