Are wind turbines a good thing?

Answer 1

Yes. Wind Energy once installed creates no Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant causing global warming, so wind turbines and any renewable energy are a good idea.

Wind Turbines create low cost energy, but it should not be considered free. Their large capital cost means the electricity produced from Wind turbines is much more expensive than other forms of electricity generation like coal and gas.

Also, because of the variability of wind, conventional power plant of equal capacity must be constructed and then operated at less than optimum capacity.

Storage using batteries, flywheels or pumped storage hydroelectricity can address this variability but it only adds to the cost.

Some people think that wind turbines are a bad thing because they make noise. Occasionally, birds fly across the path of the spinning turbine blades and are killed.