The Main Objections to Wind Farms
The political — and in some places legal — pressure to move to renewable energy is raising the profile of wind energy and the wind farms and wind turbines that generate it. In locales from India to the U.K., groups have agitated against wind farms for a variety of reasons. The BBC offers a tidy round-up of the top objections, ranging from the plausible (wind turbines kill birds) to the not-so-plausible (turbines break up clouds, drive away monsoons, and cause drought). Some groups have alleged that the “ghostly noise” from wind turbines causes headaches and depression, though no systematic health effects have been shown. Others simply allege that wind farms are ugly and defile the landscape, an objection that may be circumvented by moving wind farms off the coast into the oceans, but then you’ll have to deal with the maritime industry worried about accidents. Getting away from oil is hard!
