Environmental Impact of Wind Farms

In recent years there has been a surge in the number of wind turbine installation observed all over Europe. The large growth rate of wind energy penetration has been accompanied, not unexpectedly, by relevant concerns of local communities with regard to the likely repercussions of wind farms in the environment.

 Under normal operating conditions, the use of a 600KW turbine prevents almost 1200 tons of CO₂  from being released in the environment annually if other energy resources –coal in this case – were used. Wind Energy today is the cheapest than all existing renewable forms of power and is literally inexhaustible. 

The production of electrical energy by a wind turbine at the first 20 years of operation is equivalent to 80 times the quantity of the initial energy that is required for the manufacture, operation and eventually destruction at the end of its life cycle. Nevertheless in certain cases fears over their environmental impact have been excessive, mostly due to the public’s lack of technical background and biased attitude.

On the other hand the objections concerning the installation of wind turbines and wind farms can indeed be justified in certain occasions and hence need to be investigated thoroughly. In any case local communities need to be objectively informed on the environmental impact of wind farms. Nowadays the global change of climate constitutes a huge threat for the future of humanity. This change is mainly caused by the emissions of  "greenhouse gases" that are entailed with the production of electrical energy from conventional fossil fuels. It is estimated that the sustainable growth of renewable power resources, in particular wind power, is the only non-nuclear approach for dealing effectively with the climatic change, overall. 

The main benefits that result from the use of wind energy are:

• The wind is an inexhaustible source of energy, which is indeed provided at no initial cost.
•  Wind Energy is technologically mature, economically competitive and an environmentally friendly energy resource.
•  Each KWh produced by wind replaces a KWh that is produced by conventional stations which is associated with the pollution of the atmosphere with greenhouse gases and other toxins.
•  It strengthens the energy independence and safety. 
•  Contributes in the decentralisation of the energy system in the sense that it can decrease the losses of the transportation of the electrical energy. 

It is obvious that wind energy has important advantages. The question however remains whether there are any negative repercussions associated with this technology, regarding the environment in general. These concerns are investigate in the following pages.

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