Do the economics of wind power justify the visual and sound damage to the environment ?
Wind power has no economic justification before you even consider visual and sound damage, or killing birds either. The average cost to build a wind turbine per Megawatt of capacity is much higher than any traditional form of generation. On top of that wind generation only produces when the wind is blowing. Wind blows mostly at night when power isn’t needed. In order for the electrical grid to accommodate the variability of wind there are high costs associated with doing that. The only reason we have them now are that the government pays large subsidies and because certain states are enacting renewable energy requirements on their local utilities. The costs of which we’ll see on our electric bills.
