Overall Criticisms of Wind Turbines

1
Overall Criticisms of Wind Turbines

• wind power is an intermittent power source. The
  production from a wind turbine may increase or
  decrease dramatically over a short period of time
  with little or no warning. In the absence of
  large scale energy storage, the balance of the
  grid must be able to quickly compensate for this
  change. A proposed solution is a super grid of
  wind farms.
• Economics high quality wind resources are often
  located in areas inhospitable to people,
  logistics and transmission capacity can introduce
  significant obstacles to new installations.
• The impact of wind turbines on wildlife has often
  been cited as a disadvantage of wind
  installations. Wind turbines can pose a danger to
  birds and bats, though the magnitude and gravity
  of this danger may be much less than threats such
  as house cats or plate glass.

2
Wind Turbine Syndrome

• A condition which may be related to prolonged
  exposure to the low frequency sound waves
  (Infrasound) that come from wind turbines.
  Symptoms of wind-turbine syndrome might include
• headaches
• sleep problems
• night terrors or learning disabilities in
  children
• ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
• mood problems (irritability, anxiety)
• concentration and memory problems
• issues with equilibrium, dizziness and nausea
• NO conclusive evidence that this is real. Note
  that all of these symptoms are also produced by
  not sleeping well

3
Infrasound

• Sound at frequency lower than 20 hz.
• Humans do not hear this, but the ear senses it.
  Known to cause feelings of awe and fear in
  humans.
• No agreement among scientists as to the extent
  and impact of such noise from wind turbines.
• Modern turbines are being engineered with
  dampening systems to reduce such noise.

4
Wind Farms

• A group of turbines in the same location
• 3 types
• Onshore- within 30km of the shore line
• Near shore -within 3km of the shoreline or 10 km
  offshore
• Off shore -more than 10Km from land
• Noise is a big issue for onshore and near shore,
  as is aesthetics

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Offshore wind farms
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Offshore wind farms

• less obtrusive than turbines on land
• apparent size and noise is mitigated by distance.
  
• the average wind speed is usually considerably
  higher over open water.
• Offshore installation is more expensive than
  onshore
• Offshore towers are generally taller than onshore
  towers once the submerged height is included.
• Offshore foundations may be more expensive to
  build.
• Power transmission from offshore turbines is
  through undersea cable
• Offshore saltwater environments also raise
  maintenance costs by corroding the towers, but
  fresh-water locations such as the Great Lakes do
  not.
• Turbine components (rotor blades, tower sections)
  can be transported by barge, making large parts
  easier to transport offshore than on land, where
  turn clearances and underpass clearances of
  available roads limit the size of turbine
  components that can be moved by truck. Similarly,
  large construction cranes are difficult to move
  to remote wind farms on land, but crane vessels
  easily move over water.
• Offshore wind farms tend to be quite large,
  often involving over 100 turbines.

7
Cape Wind Project

• Approved offshore wind farm off of Cape Cod, MA.
• 130 wind turbines would produce a maximum of 454
  MW enough
• power for 420,000 homes.
  
• Would provide 75 of the electrical needs to Cape
  Cod. and the
  Islands
• Concerns included ruining the views from people's
  private property.
• Views from public property such as beaches (even
  though it would be about twenty or so miles
  offshore, people complained it would ruin their
  views of the horizon).
• decrease property values.
• ruining popular areas for yachting.
• the proposed wind farm would be located near
  shipping lanes.
• Local fishermen, cite the fact that for many of
  them, up to 60 of their annual income comes from
  catch caught on Horseshoe Shoals, which they
  claim would disappear and would have to be
  replaced by steaming to fishing grounds farther
  out to sea if the project is completed.
• Some who oppose the project are concerned about
  the corporate privatization of public
  property.
• Geological testing of the offshore site has begun.

8
Interesting co-generation idea with cars and wind
turbines

• Turbines suspended over highways.
• Each turbine can light a medium size apartment

9
TVA wind farm near Oak Ridge
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Ocean Thermal Energy

• Energy is available from the ocean by
• Tapping ocean currents
• Using the ocean as a heat engine
• Tidal energy
• Wave energy

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Energy from ocean currents

• Ocean currents flow at a steady velocity
• Place turbines in these currents (like the gulf
  stream) that operate just like wind turbines
• Water is more than 800 times denser than air, so
  for the same surface area, water moving 12 miles
  per hour exerts about the same amount of force as
  a constant 110 mph wind.
• Expensive proposition
• Upkeep could be expensive and complicated
• Environmental concerns
• species protection (including fish and marine
  mammals) from injury from turning turbine blades.
  
• Consideration of shipping routes and present
  recreational uses of location
• Other considerations include risks from slowing
  the current flow by extracting energy.

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VIVACE-Alternate to turbines
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The ocean as a heat engine

• There can be a 20 difference between ocean
  surface temps and the temp at 1000m
• The surface acts as the heat source, the deeper
  cold water acts as a heat sink.
• Temperature differences are very steady
• Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and other pacific
  islands are well suited to take advantage of this
  idea.
• Called OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion)