If Don Quixote were tilting windmills today, he would be fighting the wind turbines but this time it wouldn’t be because he was delusional. Recently while traveling through a wind farm in southern Spain, I gasped at the monstrous size of the modern day windmills. Though wind energy has seemed a good alternate energy source that will never be depleted, I was astounded at what I saw and knew that the turbines could not be good for the environment.
I’m told that a single turbine blade can be as long as one hundred feet, making a “wingspan” of nearly TWO HUNDRED FEET! (Yes, I’m aware that most have three blades but the width is still phenomenal!) Imagine those (some are over 300 ft. tall!), “on every ridge” as one environmentalist on TV said! What ever happened to environmentalists great concern for wild life migration?
In fact, these wind turbines kill a significant number of birds, especially the larger raptors. With other reports that they sling lubricating oil through the air and land, cause noise and visual pollution, contribute to health problems in people living nearby to mar their record, one has to question the environmental friendliness of these turbines (though not wind energy itself). My concern once again, is that manufacturers of these monstrosities have grasped the opportunity opened by the movement to be “green” and left the proverbial emperor naked.
Yes, we need alternatives in energy but not methods that hurt the environment in the process—we already have plenty of those. I don’t have the answer to what will work as I am simply a lighthouse warning of dangers but there are many smart people out there who can figure out how to produce truly “green” energy if they won’t be lured by slick marketing.
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