Offshore Wind Farm Project to be Stopped

[TC]

They kill whales.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

A discussion brought on by a Reddit post... (bold mine)

A Reddit user sparked a discussion about the pros and cons of wind power with a post in the subreddit r/ClimateChange.​

"I've heard that windmills take 5 years to be climate neutral, is this true? So pretty much, windmills take 5 years to actually be positive for the environment? Is it even worth it to build them in that case?" the original poster asked.​

Commenters were quick to fact-check this idea and supplied some sources that explained that although the manufacturing process means wind turbines are not climate-neutral, they are very efficient (1) and offer many positive benefits to the environment.​

"Wind farms don't use fossil fuels.(2) There is nothing that can be built without using energy so if that manufacturing energy comes increasingly from renewables, the carbon cost will gradually come down as well," one commenter said.​

According to the Australian Department of Energy and Climate, the average lifespan of a wind turbine is 20 (3)-30 years. They are also highly recyclable (4) and have some of the lowest lifetime greenhouse gas emissions among power sources.​

Wait a minute...

1. They are only efficient if the wind blows. And we cannot control when the wind blows. They produce less than 33% of their maximum potential
2. In fact, wind farms use huge amounts of oil used to lubricate the big machines.
3. They often are obsolete and left unrecycled if the company goes bankrupt.
4. WInd turbines are minimally recyclable. The concrete (usually hundreds of tons) isn't recycled but is buried. The blades often end up in landfills, so the only thing they basically can recycle are the metal parts.