Questions tagged [wind-power]

15 questions
154
votes
3 answers

Do wind turbines consume more energy than they produce in a lifetime?

A rumor in my region states that a wind turbine consumes far more energy while being built and setup than it can produce in a lifetime. The debate is about modern, freshly built turbines in Southern Germany. Is there evidence that this is true?
OddDev
  • 2,139
  • 5
  • 14
  • 14
45
votes
3 answers

Did wind and solar exceed expected power delivery during Winter Storm Uri?

From The Independent, "Why on earth would right-wing people with connections to the fossil fuel industry lie about ‘frozen wind turbines’ in Texas?" Sure, some wind turbines and solar facilities have also been affected [during Winter Storm Uri],…
Evan Carroll
  • 28,401
  • 42
  • 129
  • 239
42
votes
3 answers

Did wind power supply less than half a percent of global energy in 2014?

From The Spectator: Wind turbines are neither clean nor green and they provide zero global energy: Here’s a quiz; no conferring. To the nearest whole number, what percentage of the world’s energy consumption was supplied by wind power in 2014, the…
Andrew Grimm
  • 38,859
  • 36
  • 141
  • 342
26
votes
1 answer

Are there 14,000 abandoned wind turbines in the USA?

A number of blogs and sites seem to repeat a claim 14,000 ABANDONED WIND TURBINES LITTER THE UNITED STATES, and in particular: The towering symbols of a fading religion, over 14,000 wind turbines, abandoned, rusting, slowly decaying. When it is…
Brian M. Hunt
  • 17,999
  • 13
  • 99
  • 176
20
votes
1 answer

Does the UK have enough wind to power the country five times over?

Greenpeace UK tweeted about the UK having enough wind to power the country five times over: MT @1010: The UK has enough wind to power the country five times over. Let's use it! After a bit of Googling the only source for the data seems to be a…
Wilka
  • 431
  • 2
  • 9
20
votes
2 answers

Is "peak wind" coming?

The concept of "peak oil" has been bandied about for some time (see this question: Is peak oil still set for 2013?) by people who believe the world hydrocarbon stocks will soon be so depleted that annual production will soon decline whatever we do…
matt_black
  • 56,186
  • 16
  • 175
  • 373
17
votes
1 answer

Are wind farms profitable without subsidies?

In this 2015 Financial Times article, Warren Buffett talks about a onshore wind farms and their profitability. “For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t…
daniel
  • 735
  • 7
  • 13
16
votes
2 answers

Did the wind power industry produce more radioactive waste than nuclear power plants?

I was doing some extra research on the question: Did wind power supply less than half a percent of global energy in 2014? The question was based on an article that claimed: But out of sight and out of mind is the dirty pollution generated ... by…
Jordy
  • 3,846
  • 2
  • 24
  • 34
13
votes
2 answers

Are wind turbines harmful to human health?

The so-called wind turbine syndrome has received quite a bit of attention of late. For example, on How Stuff Works: Until recently, there were three main issues regarding the possible downsides of wind power: bird and­ bat deaths, cost, and…
Brian M. Hunt
  • 17,999
  • 13
  • 99
  • 176
9
votes
2 answers

How long does it take for renewable technology to recoup its energy cost?

There are a number of technologies which are aimed at producing energy from non-fossil sources, among which very popular are wind power and solar power technologies. However, I have encountered a number of claims (1, 2) that due to the amount of…
StasM
  • 473
  • 4
  • 12
5
votes
1 answer

Is the production of nuclear power very expensive?

Reuters recently published the following piece: Nuclear energy too slow, too expensive to save climate: report Inside, it says: The cost of generating solar power ranges from $36 to $44 per megawatt hour (MWh), the WNISR said, while onshore wind…
einpoklum
  • 2,101
  • 10
  • 28
4
votes
4 answers

Is offshore wind 9 times cheaper than fossil fuel?

The claim: "Offshore Wind in the U.K. Is 9 Times Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels" Yahoo news version The source from the article: Carbon Brief: Record-low price for UK offshore wind is nine times cheaper than gas It's not clear to me what's actually going…
JamieB
  • 159
  • 6
3
votes
1 answer

Does wind energy cost 2 cents per kwh?

In a 2018 CleanTechnica article, Wind Energy Prices Continue To Fall Due To Technology Advancements & Cost Reductions, they claim The new report, the Department of Energy’s (DoE) 2017 Wind Technologies Market Report, found that newly built wind…
user46786
3
votes
1 answer

Will the Solar Wind Energy's Downdraft Tower plan produce more energy than it uses?

Gizmag (largely directly reproducing the claims of Solar Wind Energy Inc) explains that the proposed new $US1.5m+ power station project works by: using a series of pumps to carry water to the top of a tower standing up to 2,250 ft (685 m) tall,…
Oddthinking
  • 140,378
  • 46
  • 548
  • 638
-1
votes
1 answer

Is over-reliance on wind energy the real reason PG&E is cutting power?

It's been widely reported that to mitigate the risk of power lines sparking wild-fires in California, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the largest utility in California, has been preemptively de-energizing power lines that run through fire-prone…
LShaver
  • 9,931
  • 6
  • 41
  • 73