Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.4 The Wind Fuel Cycle
Materials
acquisition
Manufacturing
Installation
Waste disposal
Decommissioning
Operation
livestock can continue around them, making them attractive as a supplemental land rental income
source for some farmers. Single small turbines, less than 100 kilowatts and some with towers of
40 feet or less, are used for individual homes, telecommunications dishes, or pumping water for
livestock. Small turbines are sometimes used in connection with diesel generators, batteries, and
photovoltaic systems. These hybrid systems are typically used in remote, off-grid locations, where
a connection to the utility grid is not available.
COSTS OF UTILIZING WIND POWER
Environmental Costs of Utilizing Wind Power
The wind technology “fuel cycle” is quite simple, involving acquisition of materials, manufac-
ture, installation and operation of wind turbines and control equipment, disposal or recycling of
waste materials from manufacturing processes, and decommissioning, as illustrated in Figure 6.4.
Manufacturing involves industrial-scale fabrication of turbines, with installation of electrical com-
ponents depending on the specific technology utilized. Utility-scale wind energy environmental
costs include land disturbance and land use impacts, wildlife impacts, offshore impacts, visual
impacts, and waste disposal, depending on the wind technology and location employed.
Land Use Impacts
Commercial wind turbines in use today generally have a high profile and are highly visible (Ners-
esian 2010, 312), as they are elevated hundreds of feet above features of the surrounding terrain.
Land disturbance for wind energy development may adversely affect archeological resources, and
wind facilities may make existing land uses, such as livestock grazing, more difficult.
Wildlife Impacts
There are concerns that the large spaces required for wind energy production will lead to loss of
wildlife habitat. Wind installations may create obstacles to avian movement, as the tips of rotor
blades often move at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour, and birds are not adapted to solid
objects moving at such speeds in their environments. A review of existing studies on avian col-
lisions with wind turbines found there is an average of 2.19 bird deaths per turbine per year in
the United States for all species, with an annual range of about 10,000 to 40,000 bird deaths per
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search