The truth about wind turbines - how bad are they?

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▻ Audio file(s) provided by Epidemic Sound

#windturbines #renewableenergy #truthabout #undecidedwithmattferrell

[WakefieldTolbert]

I think the bottom line in any energy production source is that the old adage of "there's no free lunch" comes into play.

[dlopester]

I live in an area where a "wind farm" sprang up.
Initially, it wasn't bad, other than the eyesore it created. It ruined the view of the countryside, day and night.
Just very recently, a Second Phase was started, (which we were not told of, and by the time it was made public, it was finalized where the placement of the new turbines were going. Effectively, we were locked out of the process) and is nearly complete. With that Second Phase, 2 wind turbines were placed very, very close to my home (one being about 3/10's of a mile away, the other about 1/2 mile away). Literally just 4 days ago, they got them powered up, running. When they are in operation, it sounds like a jet flying high overhead in the sky, but in the same place without moving. It produces a constant sound from the blade tips passing through the air. It is very, very annoying.
I can see why people complain about them.

[dayride]

As someone whose home has just been surrounded by a wind farm, they suck way more than those who don't live by them realize. I also went back to college for environmental sciences because I very much care about the environment, so I'm not just being crabby here. I've lived in this area nearly 60 years now. We have tons of migratory birds that pass through our numerous ponds and marshes. I guess time will tell if they manage getting past these monstrosities with whirling blades moving at around 200 mph. I know we usually have Bald Eagles, but I haven't seen a single one since the turbines went up this fall. I've loved the quiet of the night here all of these years. The masses of stars in the sky were beautiful. Now I close the drapes to stop seeing the hundreds of red flashing lights that surround my property from every direction. I hate the thought of having to keep my windows closed on beautiful spring evenings to get the sounds of the motors and the swoosh of the blades out of my head. The gravel roads are a mess of deep tire tracks and washboards. The massive power lines, poles, transformers by the dozens and of course a new power station. There will be quieter days at times when the winds are silent, but they don't tend to build these turbines in places where there are too many windless days. The turbines will also shut down in high winds which seems ironic. I can say with 100% certainty that the recorded number of birds these things kill won't come close to reality as nature's cleanup crews will leave little to no trace of the bodies by the time the sun comes up the next morning.

What have I learned about this green movement? Most people (including all political parties) want to improve our impact on the environment. Unfortunately, we are being scammed in order for certain groups to reap huge financial gains and/or power. We know there are so many cost-effective ways that are proven to work to clean up our environment. We have huge improvements coming for greener and more efficient solar and wind energy as well as battery technologies. There are also other energy sources being explored. The problem is that certain groups have invested heavily in what we have available today and they want to force us to buy it before better options replace it. The powers that be don't want to implement any of the cost effective, proven methods and I truly believe it is because they don't enrich or empower the right people. Some of the things these billionaires like Mr Gates are doing are NOT good at all. They are using chemicals to block out the sun which ends up contaminating our water and soil, but our government isn't interested in stopping him. The assault on livestock production is ridiculous. Far more energy and chemicals are used in growing plants. There are some changes that would be beneficial to make in our raising of livestock, but eating meat is not the enemy of the environment. Livestock can destroy land or it can add great benefit to the land depending on how it is managed and the land itself.

[adoptedchineseboy]

Just wanted to tell you that I appreciate you giving BOTH the negatives and positives of this method of energy production. Fair and balanced on this overly politicized topic is rare to find.

[davidstevens]

My nephew worked on wind turbines and described the massive amount of oil lubricates leaked from most towers.

[wadesworld]

Wind turbines also have to be shut down when it gets too cold, too hot, and ironically, too windy.

[sussell]

I was a tourist in the States in 1983 and came across a disused wind turbine farm in the middle of California. My host told me it was too expensive to demolish so it hadn’t been demolished yet.

[stuartgraham]

I used to deliver cabins and containers onto wind turbine farms and was told on more than one occasion they never pay for themselves, as each full turn off the blade they get six pence, at that price they take fifty years to pay for themselves, but the turbines only last a max thirty to forty years.

[afatpenguin]

waiting you to make a Nuclear energy video on the new tech.

[RedHaloManiac]

Here we are in Texas where 35% of the grid is wind and it’s only supplying 7% of the energy needed leading to blackouts. Solar is providing 3%. It’s not reliable at all and leads to consumers having to make sacrifices

[KrisOfTheSky]

It's important to ask the question "is it worse than the current option?"

[Dustp]

You forgot to mention the amount of gear oil and grease that the gearboxes and bearings require . They need regular oil changes and maintenance just like any other mechanical apparatus.

[stevemiller]

As one of the owners of a 106 turbine wind farm I worked on they have a 20 year payback. The main reason they built them was for the tax breaks. The ones i worked on were 1.5 MW and cost 1.5 million bucks a piece. Keep in mind also that if the grid goes down they shut down. The sub Sonics from blades is not pleasant. The fiber glass blades are not reclaimed. And they are not simple to work on. Try working on them. I have and don’t like it.

[jazjobse]

Some years ago I came to a similar problem with a manifold of an air seeder where the seeds travelling at some speed in an air duct had to change direction to be distributed into 5 or 6 secondary ducts and to avoid smashing them we used a thin layer of poly eurathane on the surface . It also stopped the erosion of the detector that was counting the impulses of seeds passing that point. It could be used on the blade leading edge if coated thinly and with a smooth finish so as no to add drag.

[jamesa]

We must always keep in mind that while the source of energy is renewable, the infrastructure is not. When renewable energy can completely power our grid all the time and also we can build renewable infrastructure without fossil fuels then we'll mostly be using nuclear power. That's the reality.

[pliskenmovie]

Also, check out some of the stories of decommissioned wind turbine blades. They just cut 'em up and bury them. And they take an enormous amount of land to do so.

[CrimeVid]

What the “F” is wrong with farming and grazing ?

[tonyromano]

We will all be living in old turbine blades eating grass and blue mussels.

[hrushikeshavachat]

1. Hybrid power plants (using both wind and solar)
2. More offshore than onshore winf turbines
3. Coloring the wind blades so as to avoid bird strikes.
4. Finding ways to reduce the use of diesel or petrol in construction and installation of wind farms. Inr way can be using wind turbines or solar panels for constructing newer turbines and/or panels.
5. Pyrolysis is one way to reduce landfilling. The easiest manner is the use of wind turbines in cement production as well as road construction. Their are claims being made now that we have found ways to profitably extract resins from wind turbines in an electricity positive manner.

[samuellidington]

Great Video Matt. I’m a civil engineer with a utility company in Colorado and am just wrapping up construction on a 500MW wind farm on the eastern side of the state. I hear a lot of pretty wild theories about wind turbines and read some comments below and thought I might weigh in. The pace of innovation in this industry is staggering, and turbines efficiency and reliability is constantly improving. Production can vary but generally our farms can produce some power about 80% of the time, while this might not be full production it is substantial considering the fuel is free. Additionally there are very few issues with “overproduction” as the turbines can be shut on or off in a matter of seconds depending on demand. A big problem with conventional power plants is the amount of time it takes to ramp up, even a NG peaking plant will take up to 15 minutes to come online and often have to remain in a state of “hot standby” just in case there is a sudden demand spike.

Maintenance on windmills is substantially lower than conventional power plants as well, they operate at low RPM’s and generally only require annual service. Natural gas and coal power plants must operate at incredibly high temperatures and pressures in order to make top efficiency and require frequent service and constant monitoring. Added into this is economy of scales, where a single gas plant may take 300-500MW off the grid during an maintenance outage, wind farms can continue to operate while individual turbines are maintained on a rolling schedule. Fuel costs are a much bigger factor than people realize as well as the complicated and vulnerable infrastructure that is required to supply coal or natural gas to plants.

Wind farms definitely have their drawbacks as you have pointed out, but as they are constructed and operated we continue to make constant improvements. Thanks for the great videos!