Wind power

Con 1: Wind power is unreliable.

Simply put, wind turbines don’t produce energy when the wind doesn’t blow.

For example, during the summer and early fall of 2021, Europe experienced dry conditions and low wind speeds that reduced wind and hydroelectric power production. In the United Kingdom and Ireland these conditions lowered output from a major renewable energy supplier by 32 percent. German and Danish energy companies noted similar decreases in energy production. The lack of wind sent energy costs soaring. [20]

Climate change is likely the culprit behind this “global stilling” of wind speeds, which could decrease further by 8–10 percent in Europe. As climate risk analyst Hannah Bloomfield reports,

This can be explained by the cold Arctic warming at a faster rate than equatorial regions, which means there is less difference in temperature between hot and cold areas. This temperature difference is what drives large-scale winds around the globe...the recent wind drought is a clear reminder of how variable this form of [energy] generation can be. [12]

Con 2: Wind power is too limited, in use and location.

Wind power is heavily subsidized by the government to keep costs low, but what the public gets in return for that investment is much too limited. As energy researcher Austin Gae writes, wind energy is not only an intermittent source of energy (producing no energy when the wind doesn’t blow), but it “lacks the versatility of natural gas and oil. While natural gas and oil are integral to a wide range of applications including electricity generation, heating and transportation, wind energy is confined to only electricity generation.” [11]

Moreover, wind turbines can only be situated in certain geographical areas, where there is reliable, strong wind. Unfortunately, as Ana Almerini of SolarReviews explains, many of these places

tend to be in remote areas far outside of cities and towns, in more rural areas or offshore. Because of this distance, new infrastructure, such as power lines, has to be built in order to connect a wind farm to the power grid [which] can be costly and may cause some harm to the surrounding environment (i.e. by tearing down trees to make way for power lines). [13]

Con 3: Wind power can harm the environment.

Most scientists agree that much more research is needed for a full understanding of wind power’s impact on the environment. As the U.S. Department of Energy reports, “In some circumstances, wind energy projects can negatively impact the surrounding environment...birds and bats, as well as marine mammals and other marine life in the case of offshore wind energy, are of high concern.” [16]

Although scientists have not tied whale deaths to offshore wind turbines (contrary to popular belief), turbines “could potentially disrupt [the whales’] behavioural patterns such as migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding or sheltering,” and the increased ship traffic associated with wind farm construction and maintenance could increase the risk of ship strikes on whales, according to Business Norway. The noise of the turbines and turbine construction may have similar negative effects. [17] [18]

Perhaps most concerning is that the magnets in turbines require assorted rare earth elements, and the mining for these is notorious for the “pollution of land, water, and air, spread of toxic wastes, water depletion, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and social disruption,” reports journalist Renée Cho. [14]

Finally, turbine blades—some of which are longer than a football field—are nearly impossible to recycle. Consequently, they are piling up in landfills called “wind turbine graveyards,” further aggravating the U.S.’s garbage problem. [19]