Air Quality Keeps Getting Better, But Wind Turbines Do Have Drawbacks

Remember how smelly diesel trucks used to be and how loudly their engines clattered? Remember those photos of the Pittsburg skyline with smokestacks belching black smoke from the steel mills and the dense black clouds that hovered over the hills of the city? Do you recall the firehouses on the Cuyahoga River that runs though Cleveland, firehouses built because the river was in the habit of catching fire four times a year?

These were a few of the memories that came to mind as I read yesterday's Energy Bad Boys' column titled Harvard Study Finds Wind Turbines Will Cause More Warming Than Emissions Reductions Would Avert. And the clever subhead: Hot air from the wind indusry.

The column begins, "A few weeks ago, we wrote about how Gallup polling found 66 percent of Americans think the environment is getting worse despite the fact that air quality in the United States has improved dramatically since the 1970’s. This improvement was due in large part to the Clean Air Act and its subsequent amendments, as a reader noted."

The authors argue that if the goal is to avoid harmful warming, why build something that causes immediate, noticeable local warming for people, animals, and plants living near the turbines today — especially when the climate benefit is small and far in the future?

They estimate the extra warming from all those turbines could cost the U.S. economy $72–75 billion per year in damages (based on earlier studies of warming costs).

Here's another consideration when discussing wind and solar. The size of their physical "footprint" compared to the energy they produce.

Click chart to enlarge

Bottom Line

Wind (and solar) are often hyped as planet-saving technologies, but they come with their own real, immediate temperature impacts. Instead of spending trillions on wind, the authors strongly suggest we should choose nuclear power instead, because it produces reliable electricity with almost no emissions and no local air-mixing warming effect.

I mention these things because our current Minnesota energy policies include a moratorium on nuclear (based on fear driven by misinformation) and a mandate to be "Net Zero" by 2040. [Fwiw, "Net Zero" in environmental law and policy refers to a state where the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted into the atmosphere by human activities is balanced by an equivalent amount removed from the atmosphere over a specified period.]  

And however you slice it, wind and solar still have that major issue of intermittency so that it may not be there in the moments you need it most.

Related Links

Harvard Study Finds Wind Turbines Will Cause More Warming Than Emissions Reductions Would Avert

Groups align to lift Minnesota's nuclear energy ban

Is Our Energy Grid at Risk?

Wind farms pictured: Northern Iowa, Southern California, West Texas, San Gorgonia Pass

The Gas Can Incident

It’s Monday, my last day with my Mom and family in Emmaus, PA. I decide to run to the store to pick up a gas can because the two that she has both have issues (which we learned when my brother had run out of gas and needed a bit to get to the gas station.) The one does not have a cap so that if someone tipped it there would be a spill with potentially serious consequences, not the least of which might be a fire that destroys… well let’s not go there. The second gas can has no spout at all, so there is no way to pour the gasoline into a car engine.

Alas, I drove to Wal-Mart, parked and walked to the furthest corner of the supersized super store. Indeed there were red plastic gas cans, but upon inspection they were definitely changed from my own gas can. They had a spout that seemed too short to be effective, and also a springloaded method of holding the cap on while dispensing gas. But for some reason it seemed too complicated for me to understand. The instructions did not make sense to me and I asked for assistance getting an explanation. The customer service rep essentially said, “I’m not sure how it works, but this is all we sell now.”

I left the Wal-Mart seeking an auto parts store, hoping for a more suitable gas can for Mom. A few blocks down the road I stopped at the gas station to ask directions to nearest auto parts store so I could buy a gas can. “We sell gas cans,” the friendly woman behind the counter said while pointing to the lower shelf behind me.

I placed the gas can on the counter and looked at the dispensing tube. Like the Wal-Mart dispensing unit it was likewise complicated, but even more complicated than the Wal-Mart version. It had a double spring plus some kind of means of “locking” the spout before it would release gas. After reading the instructions I finally asked the two women there for help. The one said several times that her husband could explain it. I didn’t realize that he was there on the premises, so when she fetched him I thought I was making progress.

Unfortunately, despite the good intentions, he could not get the spout to lock properly, which meant you could not get the gasoline to come out. All the while I am wondering how to explain this to my mom or brothers. After thanking them, I went back to my original query… how to find an auto parts store.

From here I drove to Wenz Hardware where they had a shelf of gas cans in a range of sizes. I purchased a two gallon plastic can which appealed to me because it appeared less complicated… but after filling it, the lid leaked. While reading instructions, I also notice the label which read, NOT FOR USE FOR VEHICLES THAT GO ON THE ROADS. When I asked the gas station attendant where I could dispose of the gasoline, she said that was not possible. I did not think it wise to put the gas container in the trunk, which would spill and smell up my mother’s car. Nor could I risk putting it on the seat and holding it upright, which would likely also dribble a bit of gas smell into the car. So, I offered the free container of gas, filled, to the first guy in a truck who came along, believing he would not care about a little spilled gas. Sure enough, he took it.

I drove back to Wenz, and discovered that ALL of the gas cans had that message. What’s a car owner to do?

I’m not sure if this is a problem that Pennsylvania environmentalists have created or whether it is a national matter, but it does seem we’re going a bit far with government meddling. My guess is that the worst is yet to come.

Heroes or Goats?

The oil change business is by nature an extension of the oil industry, an industry that is considered by many environmentally conscious people to be “the enemy.” It’s a strange situation, because everything that has moving parts needs lubrication, hence the lube folks have actually played an essential role in the advancement of civilization.

Journal Note

There is good reason to be concerned about the environment. This is the only planet we've got.

As for our oil dependency, it is one facet of a basic energy dependency. It takes energy to move a body from one place to another. Our bodies burn energy to do it. We obtain the fuel to do this via eating. Likewise it takes energy to heat a house, or to create electricity. Frankly, I like these conveniences. Otherwise I would not be very warm in Minnesota's winters and could not power up my computer to write this blog.

Sources of energy are limited. The automobile became the vehicle of choice for Americans because horses and bicycles had certain drawbacks as a means of commuting to work. Trolleys and trains also have limitations. Our whole way of life seems to require transportation to and from the stores (supply chains) and places we are employed.

Are there alternatives? I read a lot of articles suggesting this and that solution to reduce dependence on oil, but guess what? Most of those solutions are either two to three decades off or simply not practical. All involve trade-offs and may require sacrifices Americans do not want to make.

I work for a synthetic oil company called AMSOIL that has a partial solution that we can implement today, without waiting two to three decades to make a difference. AMSOIL synthetic motor oils have two features that make a difference with regard to environmental impact. The company was first to introduce the concept of extended drain intervals, in 1972. You only have to change your oil once a year or in 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. Oil change intervals for conventional petroleum oil are once every 3,000 miles.... which creates a heckuva lot of extra used oil to dispose of or deal with. A second environmental benefit of AMSOIL synthetic oils is their fuel efficiency. Because AMSOIL synthetics reduce friction, slide more easily inside the engine, and because they don't break down to create sludge or varnish (which increases engine drag) the engine runs more efficiently. It takes less energy to create the same amount of power.

In short, if we want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce the environmental damage we're doing through excessive amounts of oil being disposed of, check out the AMSOIL website at http://www.amsoil.com/.

Let's not just talk about making the world a better place. Let's do something about it.