The Fallacy Of Wind Turbines

At the heart of the climate change debate lies the question of energy and how we convert it. Energy is the world's currency. Without energy, humans can’t cook and eat. Humans can’t heat their homes nor can they light them without sufficient energy. How humans have learned to convert energy and its various forms is how we have evolved and prospered as a species. Unfortunately, the ways in which we harness the world’s natural energy sources have been mis-labelled as completely harmless which is undoubtedly the case for wind turbines. The Clean Energy Business Council states on their website, “By advocating for the development of wind energy projects, advocates can help reduce carbon emissions, protect natural habitats, and preserve biodiversity.” This is simply not true and they have failed to provide necessary context surrounding how wind turbines work, their impact and their true sustainability. 

While people may be in a rush to implement these apparent 'fixes', it is worth considering the impact that the UK currently has on global CO2 emissions which are, according to Ed Milliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero of the United Kingdom, driving up temperatures worldwide. Currently, the UK contributes to less than 1% of global CO2 emissions and yet, according to Climate Trade, the UK is the eighth ranked country for global decarbonisation projects. As for the case of China and India, two of the world’s highest emitters, they contribute roughly 40% to global CO2 emissions; yet show no signs of slowing down. In fact, both show signs of increasing their dependence on fossil fuels. China is still building two new coal-fired power stations a week and India continues to rule out the possibility of decreasing its reliance on coal power or gas.   

Despite these figures, the UK continues to update its agenda regarding the complete phase-out of the use of fossil fuels. For context, the first commercial wind farm in the UK was built in November 1991, the Delabole wind farm, consisting of 10 turbines. Ever since, more and more have been built with little pushback. There are currently 9,167 onshore wind turbines and 2,765 offshore wind turbines in the UK according to EnergyPulse. The UK government says it wants to generate enough wind energy to be able to power every home in the UK by 2030. Already, this target seems doomed to fail. 

A BBC report in November 2023 detailed how no new offshore wind project contracts were bought by developers at a key government auction. Although there were some bids for onshore wind projects, none were purchased for that of its offshore sister. The government said a "global rise" in inflation impacting supply chains had "presented challenges for projects". Investors are clearly put off by the sheer unprofitability of these wind farms. Onshore wind, although cheaper than its offshore equivalent, has seen a 94% decline in new projects since 2015. Green lobbyists can’t seem to grasp the simple concept of supply and demand - when something is expensive, surprisingly, investors won’t buy it. Energy companies will only be happy to buy at a fair and competitive price. 

The issues don’t stop there for wind turbines, they cause immense disruption to wildlife. Bird carcasses are in abundance at the bottom of wind turbines with some estimates suggesting that between 10,000 and 100,000 birds are killed by turbine blade strikes annually in the UK. Even if birds are not killed in the revolution of wind turbines, the turbines cause heavy disruption to the wind which drastically changes the direction and velocity at which nearby wind travels. Birds can have their flight paths severely altered at the hands/arms of wind turbines which can put them off course in their annual migration paths.

The damage to wildlife doesn’t end with birds; in order to erect an offshore wind turbine, seabeds and their occupiers are put under severe threat. In May 2023, Vineyard Wind, a large US wind turbine company, began building a massive offshore wind farm numbering 62 giant turbines, 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. In order to be granted permission to build this farm, a permit to harass sea creatures was needed to be granted-yes that’s a real thing. The permit states, “Vineyard Wind 1, LLC (Vineyard Wind) is hereby authorised under section 101(a)(5)(D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1371(a)(5)(D)) to incidentally harass marine mammals”. Would this have been granted if it were an oil and gas company seeking permission to start offshore drilling? I highly doubt it. These turbines generate a lot of percussive noise that can mean whales, dolphins and other sea-dwelling creatures move away from these areas and never return. Since 2016, when sonar surveying started for a planned 1,500 wind turbines in the U.S. Atlantic coast, 174 humpback whales washed up dead on the shore, an increase of 400% from previous years. 

Issues also arise when it comes to energy conversion. Wind Turbines produced 24% of UK electricity in 2020, although that fell to 21% in 2021 because of the wind conditions, despite having 4.4% more capacity. If the UK government really wishes to generate enough wind energy to be able to power every home in the UK by 2030, it either has to massively increase the number of wind farms or the way in which we store wind energy has to improve considerably. The UK weather, as us Brits know, is incredibly unpredictable. It may be a beautiful sunny day and suddenly, a torrential downpour may ensue within minutes. This is the same case for wind. When it’s windy, it could be great. But when wind farms are docile, which is quite a lot of the time, they’re simply pointless. This is also due to the fact that wind energy is currently difficult to store and has to be offloaded fairly rapidly. Compared with natural gas and oil as energy sources, wind is incredibly inconsistent.

Where the UK chooses to go in terms of energy conversion in the next few years will be a pivotal indicator to what the future might look like. But, if the UK continues to build more and more wind turbines, and rapidly decrease its dependence on fossil fuels, it could find itself in a dark place, quite literally. If climate change incurs an existential threat to humanity, by which the evidence is varying, then why are we tackling the issue with such a poor solution? The demand for fossil fuels continues to rise globally, which begs the question - are people ready for net zero?