Environmental Issues

Green power is basically the energy produced through the exploitation of natural resources that are abundant in the environment, are easily renewable, and do not contribute to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In recent years, wind power has become one of the most common forms of green power seeing that a growing number of countries are investing a considerable amount of resources in constructing wind farms. Many multi-turbine wind farms as well as utility-connected wind turbines nowadays are being used to generate renewable, clean energy to power businesses and homes. European nations and other countries like China believe that wind power generation, as compared to other renewable energy sources, does not cause water, soil, and air pollution. Accordingly, these countries view wind power as a complete opposite of the traditional fossil fuel power plants, and consider wind power as an essential aspect of their ongoing energy policy. However, is wind power as green as many people and countries claim Taken as a whole, wind power is without a doubt a green power, or a clean and renewable energy, which is very much contrary to the traditional fossil fuels that produce enormous amounts of hard-to-manage wastes.

Wind Power
Wind power is essentially a power that is derived from wind, and is found to be a good alternative source of energy. When air moves, wind is consequently produced, and with the appropriate technology, the kinetic energy of the wind can be captured and then modified to other forms of energy, including mechanical and electrical powers. The different types of wind generators that are used to collect wind power include sails, wind turbines, and windmills. In view of this, the wind power is therefore considered as one of the most ancient forms of energy generation utilized by humans as sails that allow winds to push vessels and windmills that spin millstones have been used by humans for thousands of years already. In modern years, wind power is gaining worldwide acceptance as a large scale energy source. In fact, as of 2008, approximately one percent of the entire energy used worldwide was generated from wind power, with the industry continually growing rapidly (Smith, 2010).

Wind Power as Green Power
Wind energy can be exploited in certain areas where favorable conditions are present. When effectively utilized, the electricity generated from wind turbines, like any other source of energy, can sufficiently power schools, houses, appliances, and even an entire community depending on the capacity and size of the turbines. However, compared to the traditional energy sources, the environmental impacts of wind power are somewhat insignificant. Unlike fossil fuel power sources, energy derived from wind power emits no air pollution and consumes no limited fuels. Accordingly, the operation of wind farms does not produce particulates, mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, or any other forms of air pollutants as fossil fuel power sources do. Because of the clean and renewable energy generated by wind power, millions of people view the wind power as a better means to generate electricity than nuclear, coal, gas, or even hydro powers. Moreover, wind power is viewed as a green power since it can significantly reduce the environmental damages caused by power generation all over the world, and its environmental consequences are very modest when measured up to what is achieved (Galbraith, 2009).

Proponents of Wind Power
Wind power, unlike fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gases that continually discharge greenhouse gases in the environment, is obviously one of the cleanest and safest sources of renewable energy in the planet. Accordingly, proponents of wind power believe that governments around the world need to shift their energy use priorities to renewable and clean energy, particularly to wind energy. The proponents further claim that the potential brought by the recent developments of better energy generation methods and technological enhancements of wind power will eventually make wind energy as the primary source of worldwide mechanical and electricity power in the near future (West, 2010). In fact, recent figures from the American Wind Energy Association reveal that establishment of wind farms are at an intense pace in the United States, particularly in Texas, Iowa, and California, which are the top three states that significantly utilize the potential wind power (Galbraith, 2009).

Texas Case
To bring pollution-free energy from stormy West Texas to urban areas, the government of Texas approved the largest wind-power project in the United States by building new transmission lines amounting to billions of dollars (MSNBC, 2008, p.1). During the past years, the state of Texas has been a strong proponent of wind power, and this new project will further make Texas a leader in providing renewable power to the metropolitan areas that require electricity. According to State Representative Mark Strama, the capacity for wind generation in north and west Texas is so immense that the state could easily become the world leader in renewable and wind energy in the next century, just as the state is the world leader in gas and oil for the past century (MSNBC, 2008, p. 2). In fact, because of the promise of wind power, legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens procured hundreds of wind turbines to cover his 400,000 acres of land located near Pampa, Texas, which he converted to wind farm. The wind farm of Pickens is scheduled to be completed in 2014 and is considered the largest wind farm of the world at a cost amounting to approximately 12 billion (MSNBC, 2008, p. 2).  

Critics of Wind Power
However, many critics of wind power like the Fraser Institute claim that wind power is inefficient, unreliable, as well as expensive, and it confers less than one percent to the diminution of worldwide greenhouse gases (National Wind Watch, 2009). Moreover, in Germany, experts have found that carbon dioxide emissions have not been reduced by even a single gram, even though the country is operating numerous wind turbines. Distressingly, during the past years, Germany was forced to build additional gas-fired and coal plants to facilitate the countrys power generation needs. Critics further explained that on average, the wind turbines only generate less than 25 percent of power at a time, which usually leads to brownouts in the facilitated areas because of the unstable voltage (National Wind Watch, 2009). Under this scenario, wind power becomes more of an annoyance than a source of electricity.

Denmarks Case
Denmark is the most wind-extensive country all over the world with over 6,000 turbines that contribute roughly to 19 percent of the countrys electricity (National Wind Watch, 2009). Nevertheless, despite the numerous turbines, critics claim (1) that not a single fossil fuel power plant has been closed in the country (2) that an additional 50 percent coal-generated electricity is continually being used to facilitate winds failings (3) that in 2006 alone, carbon dioxide emissions and pollution increased to 36 percent and (4) that electricity costs in Denmark are the most expensive among the European countries (National Wind Watch, 2009). Because of the aforesaid findings, critics as well as residents of Denmark believe that the countrys windmills economically make no sense, and do not instigate the reduction of fossil fuel use.

Impacts of Wind Power 
Many countries have embraced wind power policies as part of their advocacies to use and promote clean energy. One of the problems, however, to the ever-increasing global exploitation of wind power is that wind farms are being positioned along the coastlines or on large tracts of land that lock in the best wind movement. Unfortunately, devoting these areas to wind farms in many cases have sacrificed other government priorities, including urban, wildlife sanctuary, and agricultural developments. Therefore, although wind power has several environmental advantages, it is not entirely environmentally friendly. In addition, wind farms not only take up valuable land, but building the turbines also necessitates considerable resources, particularly in building the infrastructures needed to transport the electricity generated to the intended areas (Smith, 2010). Moreover, many observers believe that wind farms are creating other environmental concerns including visual impacts, avian mortality and noise.

Wyomings Case
Approximately 20 percent of Wyomings area is now declared by the Bureau of Land Management to be off-limits to wind power development (Siegel, 2010). In an attempt to protect the natural habitat of many birds, particularly the Wyomings sage grouse, the Bureau has ordered that all new wind power projects will not anymore be authorized in the core habitats of grouse, which represents roughly 23 percent of the states area. Even though the state is a strong supporter of wind power, they declared that they do not desire to replace the old problems by creating new ones. Accordingly, Wyoming has stepped up its environmental standards by developing wind farms within the areas that do not infringe the protected and threatened habitat of the sage grouse (Siegel, 2010).

Other Measures Being Conducted to Address the Problems 
Bird and bat mortality is a serious and very controversial biological concern not only in Wyoming but for the wind industry all over the world. Conservation and wildlife agencies have raised concerns about the deaths of bats and birds at wind farm sites (Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS, n.d.). In order to address this issue, governments of the affected areas and wind industries have continually sponsored research regarding appropriate study design procedures, mitigation measures, and relevant bat and bird behavior. Moreover, to address the problems, project developers are now being mandated to gather additional information through monitoring efforts at proposed and existing wind energy sites. Hence, careful site selection is now being required by governments and agencies involved in order to minimize avian fatalities and other negative environmental impacts (Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS, n.d.).

On the other hand, like all mechanical systems, wind turbines are expected to create some level of noise during their operation. In order to solve this problem, engineers involved in creating wind turbines have now made significant design changes to minimize the noise from the said turbines (Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS, n.d.). These engineers are now using, among others, insulating materials and proper positioning to reduce noise impacts. Moreover, although wind turbines are positioned in exposed places, it does not necessarily mean that they are visually interfering. Many wind farms nowadays are being placed in multiple locations, with only few turbines in any one location. As a result, the multiple locations strategy has not created any significant negative aesthetic consequences to the landscape (Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS, n.d.).

Analysis of the Issues
Notwithstanding the aforesaid disadvantages, wind energy, as compared to nuclear plants, coal burning plants and other forms of energy generation, is considerably more preferable. Plants and households that use fossil fuels cause pollution to the environment and make use of resources that are not renewable. In contrasts, wind power does not use combustion to produce energy, and more importantly does not produce greenhouse emissions. In addition, wind power does not bring about environmental impairment through resource transportation and extraction, or necessitate considerable amounts of water during operations. In other words, wind power does not generate water or air emissions that can cause hazardous wastes, nor does it exhaust natural resources such as gas, oil, or coal.

As compared to other renewable or green energy, wind power is also apparently more preferable. Hydroelectric power, for instance, involves the construction of dams, which is necessary in order to exploit energy in water, and as a result, the dams can cause more interference to the well-being of waterways and damage to the natural habitats of plants and animals than wind power does. Wind power is without doubt a green power because it can reduce the environmental damage caused by power generation, and it has very little environmental consequences when weighed against to what is achieved.

Wind power plants are to some extent only creating little environmental impacts than fossil fuel and other renewable power plants. Most of the concerns raised on wind farms merely revolve around the visual impacts of wind turbines, noise created by the blades, deaths of bats and birds, as well as economic benefits. Nevertheless, in general, wind power, when compared to other traditional energy sources, has significantly less environmental impact, is utilizing an infinite source of energy, and has more advantages than disadvantages. In fact, because of the promise brought by wind power, many countries today, including the United States, are now integrating wind power policies as part of their advocacies to use and promote clean energy, and are investing a significant amount of resources in creating wind farms. Thus, wind power is the energy source of the future and is without a doubt a green power, or a clean and renewable energy, unlike the traditional fossil fuels which generate enormous amounts of hard-to-manage wastes.