Wind Power, Ecology and Human

Wind Power, Ecology and Human

        Since the commencement of industrialization, energy consumption has increased far more rapidly than the number of people on Earth. The consumption of energy is amazingly high and the non-renewable fossil fuels will be used up in the near future. Hence, renewable energy is playing an increasingly fundamental role in handling the demand of the energy required along with environmental friendliness. Among the renewable energy, wind power has rapidly increased in capacity in recent years.

        What is wind power? According to Encyclopedia Britannica, wind power is “a form of energy conversion in which turbines convert the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be used for power.” The strength of wind power depends on wind speed and air density (“Wind Power”).

        The popularity of wind power is widespread and expanding, a result of its rising profitability and potential for further development. From the environmental point of view, it is because of simple fact that, unlike fossil fuels and nuclear energy, wind is a widely and readily available natural resource. It is considered a renewable energy source and does not pollute the environment like fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum, and nuclear power. Under the critical depletion of conventional energy sources and the deterioration of the world's ecological environment, wind power has tremendous potential to be developed as a new energy source that is highly-effective and environmentally friendly.

        From the economic point of view, wind power also has its superiority. Generally speaking, the cost for generating electricity has been lowered a lot in recent years. While the global rate of adopting wind power as a way for electricity generation was approximately 25% in 2002, it is now increasing at a rate of 38% per year. In 2003, the growth rate of wind power exceeded the average growth rates of all other electricity generators like hydroelectric, solar and geothermal power in the U.S. Starting from 2004, wind power has become the most economical renewable energy among all. In 2005, the cost for wind power generation has been declined to only one-fifth of that in 1990. Also, along with the adoption of wind turbines of larger sizes and greater watt capacity, the declining trend will continue (Updated Capital Cost Estimates).

        Some people have the concern that the energy consumed to manufacture and transport the material used to build a wind power plant may be huge and it is not worth to build the power plants. But in actual situation, that amount of energy is equal to the new energy produced by the plant within a few months of operation (“RenewableUK).

        Although using wind power as an alternative energy source is beneficial to human and to the environment, it is not perfect and has its drawbacks and limitations. First and foremost, a large piece of land is required for wind farm construction so that more electricity can be generated, thereby lowering the cost to production ratio. Moreover, strong wind is not consistent in some places. So the amount of electricity produced is not guaranteed. In Hong Kong, for instance, the electricity demand is greater in summer time and during day time, in which the wind is weaker and less. The electricity produced is therefore accordingly less. Developers will have to research for the ways for wind energy storage so as to solve the problem. Furthermore, the operation of wind turbines creates a great amount of noise which will cause disturbances to neighborhoods. The wind farms, therefore, have to be built in remote or rural areas before developers have design new models which produce less noise.

        As stated in the “Global Wind 2010 Report”, there are now tens of thousands of wind turbines operating worldwide, with a total power capacity of 194,400 MW. The number of countries using wind energy for electricity generation increased in the first half of 2011 to 86. The top ten countries where wind turbines are used most efficiently are The United States of America, Germany, India, France, The United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Portugal (“Top 10 Countries”).

        Europe, being the leading producer of wind energy, accounts for 48% of the total installed capacity (10). The UK, for instance, will rapidly increase the number of planned and operational wind farms in the near future. Using the newest turbine technology, the installation of 2,000 onshore and 1,500 offshore turbines should enable the UK government to achieve its 2010 targets. As of November 2010, the Thanet Wind Farm in the UK is the largest offshore wind farm in the world at 300MW, followed by Horns Rev II at 209 MW in Denmark (Drewitt 29-42). Larger and more efficient turbines are kept on developing such that generative capacity will increase to meet the growing demand in the future.

        In one of the reports from an organization called Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), “Global Wind 2010 Report”, the global cumulative installed wind power capacity increased by 24.1% during the year, and now stands at 197.0 GW (See Appendix A) (10). As estimated by GWEC, the cumulative capacity will exceed 450 GW and the annual capacity will reach 62.5 GW in 2015 (See Appendix B) (19).

        Under this swift growth trend, there is the need to identify the biodiversity consequences of this development, address the concerns from different parties, and promote the importance of human responsibility.

        The first possible negative impact on biodiversity is habitat loss or degradation. Habitat loss due to MREI vary depending on the type and size of the installation, the location, and the stage of the development i.e. the exploration, construction, operation and decommission phase. The construction and decommission phases cause greater harm as the building and demolishing of hard structures used to support offshore turbines or to protect their foundations underwater results in a loss of original bottom habitat due to direct physical destructions of the seabed. At the same time, the seabed has to be drilled deeply such that the base of the installations can be stably embedded in it. The stir up of sediments increases the turbidity of water, leading to alteration of the local marine community, which will bring further consequences on ecology such as changes in food chains and food webs.