With the global supply of fossil fuels dwindling and the ever-increasing cost to the environment, alternative fuel sources are now desperately needed rather than simply an “activist fad”. New research has moved one of the most common “cons” of wind energy into the realm of fantasy.
First on the list of any cons of wind energy is the claim that because wind is unreliable that means that the energy produced will be, also, and that it will increase the CO2 emissions to compensate. Last summer, exciting research into better ways to store wind energy made this argument far weaker. MIT researchers have a design for a storage system making use of seawater movement, U.S. Department of Energy researchers are building a better battery, and now research out of Spain demonstrates that the argued “gaps” in production when wind slows are not significant and do not cause any significant increase in CO2 production.
The study looked at 87 of the country’s coal and gas plants and how they were run alongside Spain’s wind industry. Adjustments made by the fossil fuel plants as they compensated for variable wind strengths had little impact on the plants? C02 emissions. This is the opposite of reports reproduced repeatedly by right-wing think tanks and campaigners opposed to renewables.
This is not the first study to call into question what is “known” about wind energy. There is more misinformation publicized about wind energy than information. Claims about health, wildlife, land use, and even property values have already been debunked though they are still often cited at problems with wind energy.
Renewable energy is capable of replacing fossil fuels and of reducing emissions dramatically.
Decades ago, the fossil fuel industry lost its stranglehold as the “only possible” energy source and as each new research report deals another blow, it is quickly becoming apparent that fossil fuel usage and even nuclear energy are not only poor ecological choices, but poor choices in economy and efficiency as well.
Edited/Published by: JL
