News :  A Certain Aroma: Part II – Cutting the Bull about Wind Energy (By Kenny Bruno, 3/30/25)

A Certain Aroma: Part II – Cutting the Bull about Wind Energy

(Read Part I: Cutting Through the Bull About Solar Energy)

As we outlined in Part I of this blog mini-series, there’s a whole lot of nonsense floating around about wind and solar energy. Some concerns about these relatively new energy sources are legitimate, but some of it has, well, a certain aroma that we rural people are familiar with.

Let’s start with how power is generated now. Fossil fuel corporations not only dominate the energy market, but have tended to treat rural residents with disrespect and disdain, bullying landowners with eminent domain abuse, denying the impact of oil spills, and evading responsibility for clean up and removal of old pipelines. Energy Builders got its start in Nebraska, where we saw up close and personal how a foreign company tried to shove its dirty tar sands oil pipeline down the throats of farmers, ranchers, and tribal nations by lying about safety and abusing eminent domain. We didn’t let that happen.

Now if a wind company were to come in and bully folks as badly as fossil fuel companies have, we would oppose them just as strongly. But we believe the US can and must transition away from complete dependence on fossil fuels to a future of homegrown clean energy that brings authentic benefits to local residents. 

And wind power will bring benefits if County Commissions and rural towns know how to ask and negotiate for those benefits. We’ll talk more about that in a future post.

But first, we have to shovel away some of the BS.

Electromagnetic radiation levels from wind turbines is lower than most household appliances. EM radiation sounds scary until you realize wind turbines are not that different from an electric can opener. Unless you’re living directly under the turbine blades. Which is not recommended.

Wind turbines are solidly built, and the blades don’t pose a risk of impaling you. There’s a lake near our place that has snapping turtles. People ask, “How do you know they won’t snap swimmers?” Well, it could happen, but in 50 years of hundreds of people swimming thousands of hours, it hasn’t happened. There are 150 Gigawatts of wind energy installed in the US, with tens of thousands of wind turbines spinning all day and night, year after year. They don’t suddenly fall down and chop your head off.

Burning coal, on the other hand, is an actual severe threat to human health. 

Cats, building collisions, poison, and oil pits kill more birds than turbines. It’s always clever when opponents of clean energy try to turn the tables by using environmental awareness as their pretext. Where is their love of nature when coal, oil, and gas are killing wildlife, poisoning our communities, and heating the entire planet? 

Wind energy efficiency compares favorably with other sources. 

Coal’s efficiency is about 33%, gas ranges from 35-60%, oil is about 40%, and wind ranges from 35%-47%, with solar at 18%-225% and rising. [1]

Wind turbines generate noise comparable to a residential air conditioner at 50 or 60 feet; depending on how the measurement is taken, somewhere between a whisper and a refrigerator hum. This is why residents sensitive to persistent noises should be living 500 yards or more from the closest turbine. 

From a scenery lover’s view, a valid criticism of wind energy is that in order to warn pilots of the presence of a tall structure, red lights go off at night when aircraft are detected. In areas with a lot of air traffic, this change in the night sky is visible for several miles.

But, like solar, wind energy is not going take up all our farmland and it’s not a plot to ruin our rural way of life. The groundwater will be protected, our access to electricity will be reliable, and our economy will be stronger. The scenery will look a little different, but every time we drive past a wind farm, we can think about how homegrown energy is revitalizing our towns and ending dependence on foreign countries and greedy companies.

If we can feed the world, we can power the world!

For more information: 
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law: Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles

REFERENCES

[1] “Power Plant Efficiency: Coal, Natural Gas, Nuclear,” PCI Energy Solutions, 4/17/23 (Updated 2025)