Wind Energy Pros and Cons – Human Health

Wind Energy Pros and Cons – What About Health?

In part 1 of this series we looked at the noise and appearance of wind energy.  In Part 2 we looked at the reliability, cost and pollution aspects.  Finally, we touch on another very important topic – wind energy safety and its effect on human health.

Wind Energy Pros and Cons:  Safety

Although many nuclear power plants have an excellent safety record, problems tend to be magnified – Chernobyl, Windscale, Three Mile Island and Fukushima spring instantly to mind.  (According to Wikipedia, 57 percent of all nuclear-related accidents have occurred in the USA).

Conventional power plants contribute to other safety hazards – for example, coal leaks radiation when burnt, gas plants can explode, many coal miners die from lung disease while extracting the coal needed for power plants, and oil rigs can also be dangerous.

Wind power offers none of these dangers, other than workers needing to be lifted to work on turbines so there is a danger of falling.

Wind turbines are at risk from lighting strikes and extreme weather.   A turbine being hit by lightning seems to me to be less dangerous than a nuclear melt down.

Many birds are killed by wind turbines.  Many birds are also killed by pollution from power plants, and from window panes in buildings, and by cars.  I could not find statistics on the number of birds killed by wind energy versus traditional power plants.

Bearing in mind the lack of pollution emitted from wind energy, and the relatively small amount of potential damage during an accident (particularly when compared to nuclear power), I would suggest that wind energy is much safer.

I’ve read comments about wind energy being harmful to human health.   Here is a short video from Australian TV, reporting on some just-released studies:

What about Your Area?

If you’d like to know if the area where you live is suitable for wind energy, here’s a great site which shows you – check out your region here.  (You need Class 3 or greater wind to be suitable).

Summary

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this series on wind power.  Here’s a summary:

Looks-wise, some people like the tall elegance of wind turbines, others don’t.  I don’t know anyone who likes the look of power stations or nuclear plants, so this one is a slight win for wind energy.

Noise – this one is debateable.

Space – wind energy takes up more ground space than power plants, so this one is won by conventional energy.

Efficiency – in terms of providing power to the national grid, conventional power wins over the new technology of wind energy, although this will probably change as the technology improves.

Cost – it is currently cheaper to produce a megawatt of electricity from conventional power sources, thus scoring a win for conventional power.  Both oil and alternative energy are subsidised so neither has the advantage in this area.  For home use, wind energy can be very well-priced, particularly if you can DIY.

Renewability – this is a win for wind energy.  Fossil fuels will run out, as will some of the ingredients needed for nuclear energy.  Wind is a renewable resource.

Pollution – fossil-fuel power plants pollute the atmosphere with smog and acid rain, as well as emitting carbon dioxide, while recent events in Japan show that nuclear plants can accidentally leak radiation.  Wind energy produces no pollution.

Safety – In terms of human health, it seems that wind energy is safe.  Accidental damage is considerably less with wind energy.

It seems to me that wind energy has a lot of pros, and that some of the cons could be ironed out as the technology improves.  Bearing in mind that fossil fuels will run out, I believe it’s critically important that we continue to invest in renewable energy in order to improve the technology.

I don’t want to be without electricity.

I’m sure you don’t either.

 Photo Credit: windeis.anl.gov