No Recession for Wind Power Industry

There is embedded in this optimism an underlayer of environmental good that few are speaking of.

Put hundred wind turbines up just past the exurban fringe and you have effectively created a sprawl barrier, and a protecting agricultural lands from further housing incursion.

The value of the agricultural land is already going up because of commodity grain prices. Add the extra value of a few thousand bucks per year per turbine as compensation for the farmer and he no longer has a need to bail out of agriculture. He's a got a baseline income stream that buffers him against a drop in food prices.

JL, that's an excellent point. I never thought about it like that.

Unfortunately a harsh enough recession may kill a lot of these projects. Idle factories and empty offices don' t use as much electricity.

We have a 100% wind power for our house, and we pay more than the going rate for natural gas produced power. It wouldn't be the first on the list of things to go if "things got tight" but it certainly would be on the list.

jl good point never thought of it like that, i have been thinking for sometime about moving to texas to go to trade school to be a wind tech, green job and good money

Who out there is ready to put their money where our attention is focussed?
I have an opportunity for anyone interested in early-venture-stage wind technology investment that will prove to be 100% more efficient, more cost-effective, more readily-available and easier to transport and install, while at the same time have the ability to store energy and operate in all wind categories.
The time horizon on this turbine technology is not far off and it has gained the praise of energy experts at M.I.T as well as state government leaders in the US, Indian Reservations, and political and corporate leaders in China and India.
Please contact me for more details.
This technology will revolutionize the industry.

Any takers? You can contact me directly at danielflynn@gmail.com

The subsidies that support wind farms hurt all sectors of the economy by redistributing money into a higher priced, less efficient and unreliable source of energy. The truth behind wind energy is that it costs more than other traditional sources, does not provide reliability like hydroelectric, nuclear or thermal power plants, and may not be as environmentally friendly as advocates like to profess. Most estimates on cost of wind energy without subsidies and other incentives are about 6-7 cents per kilowatt hour. Thermal power plants however can produce energy at about half of the cost at 2-4 cents per kWh. Reliability is also an important factor in electricity generation since both homes and businesses need access to consistent power. Wind farms are historically inconsistent and may have 30% average capacity, meaning if a wind generation plant is rated at 500MW, on average it will produce only 150 MW.

Subsidies created for supposedly ‘green” energy sources have long been praised by environmental activists as good for the environment and necessary to fix the market failures of pollution externalities associated with traditional power sources such as coal, gas, and large hydroelectric facilities. These subsidies in fact distort market processes that naturally lead to efficiency improvements and the adoption of renewable sources all at the expense of the ratepayer.

Since the introduction of wind energy into the industrial power market, wind energy lobbyists and other wind advocates have greatly overstated the environmental benefits and greatly understated its many adverse effects. Because the industry only exists through subsidies, wind power increases electric utilities’ costs which are passed down to the ratepayers for no actual environmental benefit. It is time to stop advocating this “green” industry that neither improves the environment nor provides reliable consistent power.