"Windpower" all about feel-good - nothing about climate change

Must read article on the truth about wind energy published by the Charleston Gazette in their opinions column by Arthur Hooton.

This article by Hooton is concise and exact in making its points. Hooton references Al Gore and makes the point that wind by all of Gore's metrics is not the answer to global warming.

Hooton states - "Al Gore’s recent documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has added to the concern that doing nothing to curb greenhouse gases is leading us to global disaster. But there is another inconvenient truth that needs to be acknowledged: industrial wind development will do little, if anything, to reduce greenhouse gases. In fact it may actually contribute to the problem rather than alleviate it."

Some more notable quotes - "First, it is really a misnomer to call it wind “power.” In grid parlance, “power” means available energy on demand. Given the random nature of wind, wind technology does not produce dependable power. It only adds “fluctuating energy” to the grid that must then be accommodated and balanced by an inefficient use of dependable, dispatchable power provided by sources other than wind".

And pointing to the real solution - "Opponents of these industrial wind projects have no quarrel with wind power where it makes sense — at the homeowner level of application. Small-scale, home-based units, using net metering and requiring no additional transmission lines or other infrastructure, not only save electricity but usually transform homeowners into conservation apostles, doing anything they can to slow the turning dials of the electricity meter."

Followed by - "Advocates of industrial wind seem to fall into two camps: the dreamers and the schemers".

Notice those same government funds for the "schemers" are NOT being offered to home owners to buy simple cheap local systems.

For the full article see the Gazette here.