Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Direct impacts would include the creation of approximately one new job for every
three megawatts of installed capacity for operations and maintenance workers at
wind energy development projects, as well as the associated income and taxes paid.
Indirect impacts would occur from new economic development, including new jobs
at businesses that support the expanded workforce or that provide project materi-
als and the associated income and taxes. Wind energy development activities could
also potentially affect property values, either positively from increased employment
effects or the image of clean energy or negatively from proximity to the wind farm
and any associated or perceived environment effects (e.g., noise, visual).
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Possible environmental justice impacts during operation include the alteration of
scenic quality in areas of traditional or cultural significance to minority or low-
income populations. Noise impacts and health and safety impacts are also possible
sources of disproportionate effects.
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Industrial and sanitary wastes are generated during routine operations (e.g., lubricat-
ing oils, hydraulic fluids, coolants, solvents, cleaning agent, sanitary wastewaters).
These wastes are typically put in containers, characterized and labeled, possibly
stored briefly, and transported by a licensed hauler to an appropriate permitted off-
site disposal facility as a standard practice. Impacts could result if these wastes were
not properly handled and were released to the environment. Releases could also
occur if individual turbine components or electrical equipment were to fail.
WIND ENERGY IMPACTS ON WILDLIFE
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
—Alfred Lord Tennyson,
The Eagle
Alfred Lord Tennyson, in his classic poem above, wants us to see the eagle as both
a swift predator and a powerful bird who is nonetheless susceptible to defeat by
other forces (most likely by humans). Human-made and installed wind turbines are
responsible for bird deaths. This has been a less documented impact of wind turbines
and has mainly been argued by wildlife groups. Noise standards, for example, for
wind turbines developed by countries such as Sweden and New Zealand and some
specific site-level standards implemented in the United States focus primarily on
sleep disturbance and annoyance to humans (USFWS, 2014). Noise standards do not
