Wind Turbines: The Good, The Bad, and The NIMBY

The photo above shows turbines in a field and was taken by Angela Rohde for Shutterstock via AZO Clean Tech.

Wind turbines are one of the most controversial forms of green energy–but are we criticizing them for the right reasons?

In past years, wind turbines have been criticized for being inefficient, for killing birds and disrupting migratory corridors, and even for simply ruining the view. As wind turbines are more efficient than ever, and are now increasingly able to be broken down and recycled, the issues surrounding their use have gotten more complex—even the seemingly superficial ones.

A Brief History of the Power of Wind

Humans have been harnessing wind power for centuries. Recorded as early as 5000 BC with boats on the Nile, wind power in the form of windmills and pumps has been used for agriculture, grinding grain, and wetland management, and generating electricity. Wind power use in the US declined in the 1930s after the widespread expansion of electrification into rural areas.

Renewed interest and implementation of wind power began in the 1970s, first following the oil shortage and then increased public environmentalism in the 1990s and 2000s. Wind power energy production in the US has increased from less than 1% in 1990 to 8.4% in 2020, though more zealous efforts across the globe report higher usage—China has the highest wind power capacity of any nation, with nearly 300,000 Megawatts, while Denmark has achieved the highest wind power penetration at 56% (meaning that 56% of all power produced in Denmark is due to wind).

Share of electricity production from wind, from Our World In Data.

Are wind turbines actually energy efficient?

Despite their efficiency (according to the United States Geological Survey, the average wind turbine can generate enough power in 94 minutes to power a US home for a month), there are known negative impacts of wind turbine usage. However, some of the rumors maligning wind power are undeserved, while other, valid, concerns are not often discussed.

Firstly, we must address the accusations that the production and manufacturing wind turbines produces more carbon emissions than are offset by their usage. In brief, this is false. Sara Peach, an environmental journalist and the senior editor of Yale Climate Communications, summarizes reports from 2012 to 2019 that address what is referred to as a “life cycle assessment”—or the total carbon emissions from every life stage of a turbine. This includes the manufacture and transport of raw materials, construction, operation, and maintenance, and finally deconstruction and recycling or disposable of components.

What these reports find is encouraging. Carbon emissions vary depending on country, offshore or onshore location of turbines, and the size of the turbine, but the maximum grams of CO2-equivalent per-kilowatt-hour is 26. Compare this to that measurement from coal usage, which uses 675-168 grams of CO2 per kilowatt per hour. What’s more is that this CO2 emission cost in wind-turbines is primarily front-loaded; carbon emissions produced by wind turbine operation are almost negligible in comparison. On average over a 20-25 year lifetime of a turbine, the carbon emission “payback” time is just 7 months. This puts emissions from wind turbines only higher than nuclear power—even outperforming solar power.

Energy requirements of each life cycle phase of a wind turbine (from Guezuraga et al, 2012).

Apart from construction, the another main cost of emissions from wind turbines come from their disposal. When no materials are recycled, CO2 emissions are higher by nearly 44%, and would have to operate for 1.1 years to pay for itself. The biggest contributors to waste are the blades and stainless steel components. Blades, which are made of epoxy and fiber glass, pose a larger problem, and have been criticized for ending up in landfills. It is true that unfortunately, turbine blades do often end up there—but hopefully not for long.

It is possible to recycle (as well as repurpose) turbine blades, but the methods and technology to do so are fairly new, and have not yet been scaled up to account for wide-scale implementation. Karl Englund, the chief technology officer and a researcher at Global Fiberglass solutions, first published his team’s results in 2019 showing that recycling the material was feasible. Kazem Fayazbakhsh, a professor at Ryerson University, published with his team results in 2019 demonstrating that turbines could be recycled into feedstock for 3D printing, and is working to commercialize the process. Reuters reported in 2021 that Vestas, a Danish-founded manufacturer of wind turbines, had discovered a way to separate the glass and carbon fiber from the resin, which is then in turn separated into base materials than can be used to construct new blades. Furthermore, Reuters reported that Vattenfall, a Swedish-founded power company, committed itself to not only recycling all current and future blades, but also to immediately stop sending blades to landfills. They join Denmark’s Orsted in this goal.

Windmills of Vattenfall at the Dan Tysk wind park west of the island of Sylt, Germany. The photo was taken by Fabian Bimmer for Reuters.

Wind turbine parts assembled at Vestas factory in Tianjin, China. This photo is also from Reuters, taken by David Gray.

The Birds and the Bats

But of course, there are valid reasons for concern in wind turbine operation. A primary criticism has been the negative impact of turbines on wildlife—namely birds and bats. The potential impacts on wildlife have been discussed since the early 1990s, with research increasing in the early 2000s and on until today. Soaring birds are among the most negatively affected groups of wildlife affected, through both fatal collisions as well as occupation of migratory corridors and habitat reduction. Bats, likewise, are impacted through collision and foraging habitat reduction. The rate of mortality varies with season, taxa, local environment, and concentration of turbines in an area.

The black kite is a soaring migratory bird that is negatively impacted by wind turbine placement. This photo was found via ebird, PMDE ESTEVES, Macaulay Library ML 25504811.

The little bent-wing bat is also negatively impacted by wind turbine placement. This photo was found through CQUniversity via ABC News Australia.

Because of this, increasingly research suggests that habitat loss be incorporated into the determination of wind farm sites, or curtailing operation during high-activity seasons. Additionally, recent work has demonstrated that implementing radar-based or vibration-based sensor nodes can lessen the negative impact, by aiding in refining shut-down algorithms —for example, theoretically instead of shutting down the entire wind farm when a bird is detected, shutting down only those turbines in its direct path. Mitigation of wildlife fatalities and impacts on behavior has been and will continue to be a concern as reliance on wind power increases.

Not in my–wait, ancestral land?

Birds and bats are not the only species suffering habitat loss—groups of humans have railed against wind turbines since their debut as a green energy source. This debate has often been ridiculed as many of the opponents to wind farm development voice issues that are viewed as superficial or trivial, such as concerns over how turbines will impact the landscape from a tourism perspective, effectively reducing turbines to a nuisance and allowing for the easy dismissal of these voices. This opposes the often largely legislative or capitalistic green energy companies that have a vested interest in consuming as much land as possible to convert to energy production. This reductive version hides far more complex and valid concerns.

In 2002, the affluent suburban community of Nantucket Sound mobilized to oppose wind turbines. It was not unique in doing so, with affluent communities reacting similarly have been documented across the United States, Europe, and Mexico. Concerns included a negative impact on business, tourism, and leisure activities. However, in 2010, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe joined the opposition and requested that the land in question be registered on the National Register of Historic Places. This unlikely allyship highlights the too-rarely discussed environmental justice aspects of land use for renewable energy. It is known that there is an “uneven distribution of environmental burdens” on marginalized groups based on social class, ethnicity, and gender. Sometimes called "sacrifice zones," these are the result of disparate distribution of wealth, resources, and political power.

Sunrise on disputed land in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Photo by Julia Cumes for the Associated Press.

Jovsset Ante Sara, a Sámi man, cares for his reindeer herd. Photo by Nadia Shira Cohen for the New York Times.

A new aspect of this is the issues surrounding the transition to cleaner energy. Projects such as wind farms or solar energy farms require land—and often the land that is proposed or used for such projects is tribal land, or used by indigenous groups in traditional lifestyles. This leads to conflict between state or corporate entities with local communities, often in the global south. Conflicts over tribal or ancestral land use for wind energy have been documented in Mexico, Kenya, Brazil, India, Honduras, and many other nations. The northern hemisphere is not exempt; in Sweden, the Sámi people argue that expansion into forests will reduce their winter grazing lands. In other cases, wind turbine land use has expanded or has been proposed to expand into natural conservation or community managed forest lands, and would disrupt ecosystems—or in some cases, not even benefit the local community, and instead provide power for distant regions. In several of these cases, the indigenous groups state that they are not opposed to wind power—only that the use of their land is another example of exploitation.

The Path Forward

Moving forward, it is clear that the issues surrounding land use for renewable energy is more complex than it can appear to those not immediately local to sites. As the transition to lower-emission forms of energy heralds a new era of global awareness, it will be essential to extend that awareness to how this will further impact marginalized groups.

Sources and Further Reading

The following is a list of works that directly informed or are related to this piece. It is comprised of books and academic peer-reviewed journal articles, popular science articles and news stories, and information from environmental organizations. In the case of popular articles intended for the public, remember to always verify the source of information.

Wind Turbines: The Good, The Bad, and The NIMBY

A Brief History of the Power of Wind

Are wind turbines actually energy efficient?

The Birds and the Bats

Not in my–wait, ancestral land?

The Path Forward

Sources and Further Reading

Environmental Justice

Resources

Get Involved

Debunking

News

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