Quotes On Wind Power

 

"Soon we "celebrate" the 20,000th wind plant, without replacing even one single small plant of conventional energy."__ Ferdinand Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein, Chairman, Bundesverband Landschaftsschutz (Federal Association for Landscape Protection), Germany

"To us these windfarms are a disaster in the countryside, we know their effect on ‘global warming’ is pathetically tiny, but to the Government they are seen as ‘proof positive’ to a gullible populace that something really is being done to reduce CO2 emissions."__ Edward Luscombe, C.Eng., B.Sc. (Eng.), MIEE

"So I support comprehensive legislation that would overhaul our energy taxes; signal the market we're in this for the long run by extending for 10 years the production tax credit..." "We absolutely need the turbines."__ Senator Hillary Clinton, NY

"In the end, we remain convinced, the entire state [Va.] will see clearly that wind power ... is wrong for our mountains and that those who pursue it are driven not by concern for the environment, but by the opportunity to pocket huge profits offered by huge taxpayer subsidies. When the smoke clears, there can be no other conclusion. Whether reason will triumph over the leverage of powerful special interests remains to be seen." __ Editorial Staff, Roanoke Times

"Increased development of wind turbines does not reduce Danish carbon dioxide emissions." __ Flemming Nissen, Head of Development, Elsam, Denmark

"Wind farms don't live up to the hype that they are an environmental saviour and a serious alternate energy source, and the effects they can have on their neighbours are so serious it means they should not be allowed to get away with the exaggerated claims. Their claims are fraudulent." __ Peter McGauran, Australian Federal Agriculture Minister, former Minister for Science

"The turbines are the worst desecration of our countryside since it was laid waste in the 30 Years War nearly 400 years ago."__Hans-Joachim Mengel, Berlin University professor

The dream of environmentally friendly energy has turned into highly subsidised destruction of the countryside."__Germany's influential magazine Der Spiegel

"As our continental neighbours have discovered, and we in the UK are quickly learning, the infrastructural costs needed to support wind power generation appear to hugely outweigh the advantages. It provides a trickle of green energy but is against all the principles of sustainable development."__Clive Aslet, Country Life Magazine Editor

"The Whinash project, by replacing energy generation from power stations burning fossil fuel, will reduce carbon dioxide emission by 178,000 tonnes a year. This is impressive, until you discover that a single jumbo jet, flying from London to Miami and back every day, releases the climate-change equivalent of 520,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. One daily connection between Britain and Florida costs three giant wind farms." __George Monbiot, visiting professor of planning at Oxford Brookes University and 1995 recipient of the United Nations Global 500 Award for outstanding environmental achievement

"Wind turbines don't make good neighbors." __ John Zimmerman, Northeast U.S. Representative Enxco.

"Federal tax benefits pay as much as 65% of the capital cost of wind power projects in the United States." __ Keith Martin, Chadbourne and Parke, LLP, Financing Wind Power conference, Dec. 3-5, 2003, New York, N.Y.

“We urge the governor to work with the Legislature in developing a comprehensive energy policy that encompasses proper planning and public involvement and that provides both economic and environmental efficiencies.”__Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Energy Committee Chair Paul Tonko in a joint statement issued on September 16, 2005, concerning the Governor’s Power Transmission Legislation.

"These aren't wind farms, they're tax farms."__Congressman Pete Stark of Hayward, who led the fight to terminate the investment tax credits in California.

Wind farms are "environmentally damaging money wasters whose large scale use increases power demand. The New Age dream of a world operated by wind farms will remain a dream because the laws of physics do not allow it in an industrialised world. If wind power were economic then oil tankers would be sailing ships". __Dr. Richard Courtney, internationally recognised expert on Energy and climate change

“With the right subsidies, wind could become a viable energy source. And, with the right subsidies, gasoline could be made free, and 2-carat diamonds could be given away in cereal boxes. How is it that wind, with a 4000-year head start, is such a small player in the energy scene? Could it be — just possibly — that the answer has something to do with physics instead of economics and politics?“__ Dr. Howard Hayden, Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Connecticut

"Alternative technology permits us to imagine that we can build our way out of trouble. By responding to one form of overdevelopment with another, we can, we believe, continue to expand our total energy demands without destroying the planetary systems required to sustain human life. This might, for a while, be true. But it would soon require the use of the entire land surface of the UK. __ George Monbiot

"The Prince of Wales believes that wind farms are a "horrendous blot on the landscape" and that their spread must be halted before they irreparably ruin some of Britain's most beautiful countryside. Prince Charles, who has an abiding interest in environmental issues, has told senior aides that he does not want to have any links with events or groups that promote onshore wind farms."__ (news.telegraph, October 25, 2004)

"I am delighted to learn of the Prince of Wales's views. His Royal Highness's support on this matter would be invaluable. He understands there is nothing incompatible with being green and being opposed to wind turbines. We oppose the huge, dominant use of wind farms onshore because they won't do the job. I am sure the Prince is concerned by the aesthetics of wind farms. The great thing about the Prince is that he doesn't just shoot from the hip. He studies the facts and makes carefully formed judgments." __Campbell Dunford, chief executive of the British Renewable Energy Foundation, 2004

"I was asked to open the windfarm at Delabole. At that time nobody was talking about a gigantic programme, getting 15 or 20 per cent of the country's energy from wind turbines. It was a kind of nice green gesture. I think, now that I know as much as I do, I wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole."__ James Lovelock, founding historical and cultural leader of environmentalism for environmentalists around the world and originator of the GAIA concept.

"The trouble with wind farms, they have a huge spatial footprint for a piddling little bit of electricity. You would need 800 turbines to replace the output of a coal fired power station" __ Sir Martin Holdgate, former chairman of the British Renewable Energy Advisory Group

"Renewable energy (hydropower, for example) can have horrendous impacts on fish and wildlife. But I can think of no proposed project more devastating to fish, wildlife, and the local economy than plunking a wind farm in the middle of Nantucket Sound." __ Ted Williams, Audubon Magazine (May 5, 2004)

"I favor renewable energy sources, including wind turbines, if they can be located in situations away from major migration pathways, and if scientific, peer-reviewed on-site studies of degree of hazard to migratory birds are conducted prior to construction." If a facility does go up, Robbins added that "a fine system should be in place for each bird killed or wounded by the turbines."__ Chandler S. Robbins, Maryland's preeminent expert on migratory birds (Maryland Public Service Commission testimony, 2002)

“The cumulative impacts on bat populations from proposed and/or constructed wind farm developments, especially in the eastern United States, may lead to further population declines, placing multiple bat populations at serious risk of extinction.” __ Dr. Thomas Kunz, Director of the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, Boston University

"Windpower is a big lie. The windmills sprouting all over our countryside are a giant nonsense." (Reader's Digest August 2003) __German professor Otfried Wolfrum, "a long-time Friends of the Earth supporter"

"Huge amounts of tax payers money for scant environmental and electrical benefit make them a scam. Wind-farms are inefficient, destroy the landscape and far more could be achieved through energy efficiency. If you lagged the roofs of 500 homes it would have the effect of putting up one turbine. They can only work 30% of the time at very best, in Denmark it is only 17%. We have to keep other stations running, spinning in reserve, inefficiently pouring out carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. These turbines are 22 storeys high put on hills where everyone can see them. They kill bats and birds and need 1,000 tonnes of concrete as well as a road infrastructure. It beggars belief that some environmental groups can say they are 'green'."__Professor David Bellamy

"The landscape is being raped [by large wind turbines] with governmental collusion and fraudulent claims." __ Dr. John Etherington, Llanhowell, Pembrokeshire in 'Founded on a lie', The Scotsman 12/27/05

“At a time when America needs large amounts of low-cost reliable power, wind produces puny amounts of high-cost unreliable power . . . Clearly there are more sensible ways to provide clean energy than spending $3.7 billion of taxpayers’ money to destroy the American landscape . . . Wholesale destruction of the American landscape is not an incidental concern. The Great American Ourdoors is an essential part of the American character. Egypt has its pyramids, England has its history. And we have the Great American Outdoors.” __ Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in an address to Congress, 13 May 2005.

"Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been eaten. Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten". __Cree Indian saying