It is nearly impossible to produce, transport, or consume energy without significant environmental impact. However, wind energy could have the least amount of contribution to climate change, compared to other electricity generators.
‘LOSS OF FARMLAND’
Solar power carries an upfront cost to the environment via production, but, like wind, offers clean energy throughout the lifespan of the solar cell. But, as demonstrated by the NDFS proposal, large scale electricity generation using photovoltaic power requires a large amount of productive land, due to the low power density of photovoltaic power, although land use can be reduced by installing panels along motorways, on buildings and other built-up areas.
There are studies suggesting that large scale wind farms could increase local temperatures if built on land, while reducing local temperature if built on water. Using wind turbines to meet 10 percent of global energy demand in 2100 could cause local temperatures to rise by one degree Celsius in the regions on land where the wind farms are installed, while DECREASING it by one degree Celsius in regions where wind farms are installed over water.
But when it comes to reducing global warming, wind is the big winner. The Carbon Intensity of wind generation at 21 CO2-eq kg/MW·he) is over five times lower than PV at 106 CO2-eq kg/MW·he. And, as noted previously, wind has Carbon footprint some eleven times lower than PV solar.
‘PICKING UP THEIR SHARE!’
The greatest domestic demand for energy is from urban areas. One of our regular Facebook contributors suggested that every community should ‘pick up their share’ of production. It might make sense to reduce transmission costs and cover the towns with solar panels – maybe even a few wind turbines!