ELECTRICITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Energy generated from a new wind project will displace the same amount of energy produced within the power grid. In most cases this is from fossil fuels -- in the northeast U.S., it’s primarily natural gas, with lesser amounts of coal and oil. Our heavy reliance on these fossil fuels as a part of our energy supply portfolio is a problem.

The burning of fossil fuels for electricity cause climate change. Most of the electricity generated in the U.S. comes from coal, nuclear, and natural gas sources, with lesser amounts of hydroelectric and oil. Coal, natural gas, and oil, when burned to create electricity, emit carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides – two greenhouse gases – and are responsible for a third of the total U.S. manmade emissions contributing to global warming. The scientific community and most governments now overwhelmingly recognize that increasing man-made greenhouse gases are contributing to climate change, and dramatic measures must be made immediately to at least slow down the rate of global warming. Signs of ecological and societal changes attributed to climate warming are already taking place.  It is important to remind ourselves that global warming is a global issue – our collective actions here can be widely felt across the planet.

Despite the compelling evidence and serious consequences of global warming and climate change, there remain some who argue that climate change is not caused by man-made actions but is part of earth’s natural cycle. If you have researched the issue and are not convinced that we must act to reduce our fossil fuel consumption solely because climate change impacts, we ask that you consider the other impacts caused by conventional power plants:

• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxides emitted from power plant smokestacks are precursors to acid rain. Acid rain’s primary affects include damage to water and forest ecosystems widely dispersed downwind of each source. 
• Other air pollutants, primarily from coal fired power plants, are known to cause particulate air pollution, mercury, and smog.
• Solid wastes from coal plants require transportation infrastructure, landfill area, and groundwater/runoff protection.
• Land use, equipment, and energy needed to mine, deliver, and store the huge volumes of coal, natural gas, and oil to run power plants is significant. This infrastructure impacts communities throughout the chain from source to sink.

There is an abundant amount of information available on this issue – numerous web sites, books, magazines, and journals.  More recent reporting on the issue is very insightful and highly recommended reading. Public presentations on the issue are occasionally held regionally, which can provide an opportunity to engage with the public, individuals, and organizations interested in climate change. We encourage you to take as much time as you can afford to learn the current status of climate change – one of the most important issues our generation, and certainly future generations, will face. We have provided some useful links below, but we believe it is much more effective to investigate and learn about the issue on your own.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/index.html U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change web site.  Broad overview of climate change. www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/links.html U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change web site. Good site for kids. http://climatescience.gov/ U.S. Climate Change Science Program. Scientific research sponsored by several U.S. federal agencies. www.ipcc.ch/ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Extensive work by the science community among UN countries. www.epa.gov/airmarkets/acidrain/index.html U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Acid Rain web site.

Back to Energy Supply page.

©2006 Wind Works LLC