Acres of white wind turbines sweep the horizon of Central and Eastern Washington. Rising hundreds of feet above the earth, their enormous rotating blades carousel in the wind, generating energy for homes and businesses.
At a growth rate of 30 percent annually, wind energy is the fastest developing renewable energy technology in America, according to an investigation by the U.S Department of the Interior.
Currently, these carbon-fiber structures generate a little less than 1 percent of America’s electricity. As of June 2007, the nation’s turbines had the capacity to power over 3 million households, according to American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). In other words, all of the windmills in America generate little over the energy needs of Washington State’s 2.6 million homes.
Washington’s Governor Christine Gregoire is taking the issue of wind energy by storm. This October, Gregoire overruled the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners in order to fund the construction of 65 additional wind turbines at the Wild Horse Wind Farm near Ellensburg.
More than 100 locals of Kittitas County do not want Gregoire’s plan to proceed. The 400-foot-tall turbines are scheduled to be built in some cases a little over 1,000 ft – the length of three back to back football fields – from their backdoors. Locals are not pleased about a tower two-thirds the size of the Seattle Space Needle in their yards, blocking views.
While some locals are opposed to new turbines, others are elated. According to Horizon Wind Energy, wind farms will increase property tax revenues by $2.8 million annually in Kittitas.
Last month, in a letter to the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, Gregoire voiced concerns about Washington’s need for an alternative energy source.
"It is clear that Washington is growing and with that growth our demands for energy resources also grow. It is the clear and compelling policy of the state to prefer new resources that have the least impact on our state’s natural environment," Gregoire stated in her letter to the council.
Washington state voters approved Initiative 937 last year, requiring 15 percent of all public power to come from renewable energy sources within the next 13 years.
Energy generated by wind is favorable to citizens because it is clean and sustainable, according to the Northeast Sustainable Wind Association. Humans have harnessed wind power for thousands of years for sailing, pumping water and grinding food. Today’s turbines catch gusts and convert their kinetic energy into mechanical energy.
Every megawatt of energy generated by wind power is one less megawatt acquired from burning fossil fuel. Turbines cut down on carbon dioxide emissions and waste products of coal, oil and gas. According to the AWEA, wind turbines require no fuel extracted by mining and drilling excavations.
"[Wind energy] is an efficient energy technology that can provide most of the U.S. carbon emissions reductions needed to reduce the atmospheric carbon concentration," according to the American Solar Energy Society.
The Renewables Global Status Report in 2006 found capacities of power generation from renewable sources has grown over the past year.The status report shows that at the end of 2005, 816 GW of power were coming from hydro power, 59 GW from wind energy, 44 GW from biomass power, 9.3 GW from geothermal power and 3 GW from solar and tidal power.
The Bush administration’s 2007 budget includes $49 million for wind energy research, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. As a result of increased funding, our country’s wind energy production will continue to rise.
Despite the political hype, not every aspect of wind energy is better for the environment.
Wind turbines sometimes shred Golden Eagles and other types of birds, according to the Golden Gate Audubon Society. Audubon studies estimate that 75 to 110 Golden Eagles are killed each year by turbine blades located at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in California. These majestic creatures are found on the ground without wings, decapitated or cut in half. Golden Eagles are protected under the Bald Eagle Protection Act, making it illegal for them to be harmed or killed.
Golden Eagles are not the only victims. Wind turbines cause over 26,000 bird deaths each year, but that is relatively low compared to other death factors. A study by Curry and Kerlinger, consultants to the wind power industry, estimated 100 to 900 million birds die each year from crashing into glass windows, 100 million from cats, 50 to 100 million by automobiles, 100 million from hunting, 67 million from agriculture and 1 to 2 million from oil and gas extraction.
A recent lawsuit against the Altamont Pass Wind Farm, one of the oldest wind farms in the U.S., was recently settled. The agreement called for immediate action over the next two years to reduce the number of birds killed each year by nearly 47 percent while keeping the wind farms annual loss to no more than 16 percent.
The growth of wind technology in the U.S. has high potential for further expansion of wind farms into the western states of Washington and Oregon.
By channeling the $25 million dollars spent daily in Washington on oil to alternative power sources, this state’s dependency on foreign oil will diminish along with pollution, while simultaneously strengthening Washington’s economy with local resources.