Wind Farm Development in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

? Wind Farm Development in the United Kingdom History of wind farm development in the United Kingdom: Wind farm development in the United Kingdom owes its influence to a few litigations. Among them is the Kyoto Protocol, which legally binds, the United Kingdom to its treaty of reducing greenhouse gases emission. There are a number of recommendations the treaty offers to this effect, but the United Kingdom has made significant steps in energy harnessing from the sun, water and wind. By the beginning of 2012, United Kingdom had the capacity of producing close to 1000 mega watts worth of solar energy. Meanwhile, water mainly generates hydroelectric power with estimated potentials of 5000Gkh (Ahmed & Zobaa 2011, p.4). The other factor is the situation in MENA countries. Fossil fuels are the most widely used sources of fuel even in the United Kingdom. The Middle East and Northern African countries are the greatest producers of oil in the world but at the same time prone to political and economic instability. In this regard, whatever economic or civil situation purges MENA countries, affects the state of oil production. A good example of political instability is the recent rebellion of citizens against dictator leaders in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. This makes relying on fossil fuels such as oil and biogas tricky (Books 2011, p.25). Then, there is the fact that use of fossil fuel leads to production of green house gases reducing the use of oil even further. The United Kingdom sees the need to find a source of fuel that is reliable – not dependant on factors such as political instability, non pollutant and easy to produce. In the world, industries produce at least 21.3 billion tonnes of green house gases such as carbon dioxide. Seeing as only half of this can be naturally disintegrated Britain had to look into new ways of backtracking carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere (Books 2011, p.30). Oil reserves may soon dry out. Oil mining and depletion occurs at a much faster rate than production. United Kingdom has a relatively favourable geographical position for the exploitation of wind energy. For instance, most of Scotland has a hilly, sparsely populated, and windy countryside. The first wind farm built in U.K was in 1991 at Delabole, Cornwall. Since there got some progress in wind farms establishment and subsequent production of wind energy, a lot had to be done (Mackay 2009, p. 79). The year 2009 saw the establishment of 211 of fully functional wind farms. There is a steady progress in wind farm development across the country. For the year 2012, the aim is to increase offshore wind production capability by building at least five wind farms with a potential capacity of producing 1300 mega watts of electricity. This will be a much welcomed addition to the current 6,580 megawatts produced by the 333 fully functional wind farms across the country. Examples of functional wind farms in the U.K include the Burbo Bank wind farm, Scroby Sands and the largest offshore wind farm in the world, Thanet wind farm at the coast of Kent. The government’s commitment to these projects is clear from the current budget allocation of over five hundred million pounds to offshore wind farms (Julia 2006, p. 103). Wind farm development has a large ecological impact both positively and negatively. Positive Ecological impact, of wind farm development in the U.K: Unlike other sources of energy, wind power does not require the use of another fuel or water for it to be produced. This ensures that when producing wind energy one does not require exploiting other sources of fuel (Dragoon 2010, p. 87). Wind power does not produce air pollution during production essentially making it a clean source of energy (Boyle 2004, p. 34). Building wind farms, therefore, means there will be less air pollution; this will give the environment ample time to disintegrate the already existing green house gases in the atmosphere. Studies indicate that, since the embrace of wind energy use, carbon dioxide emissions have reduced significantly to the rate of 0.33 - 0.59 tonne per MWh. Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will help to reduce global warming, therefore, reversing the current climatic conditions hopefully for the better (George 2011, p. 88). Wind energy produced does not need disposal after use. This reduces the burden of governments and individuals of dealing with hazards associated with waste disposal such as in nuclear and fossil fuels (Deffeyes 2006, p. 44). The current procedure for getting rid of nuclear waste is burying it or storing it. Both this procedures are prone to accidents that may lead to a repeat of Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedy. Most fossil fuels (oil) spill into water bodies or on land. Plus their energy production capabilities, wind farms can also serve an aesthetic and land reclamation purpose. In cases where mining causes damage to land, installing wind farms can improve its aesthetic beauty and act as a form of reclamation. Wind farms can easily be made to disappear. In cases where the wind farm needs to be removed it is easy to just to take down the masts and the turbines. This process leaves little or no signs of pollution or degradation on the environment (Ahmed & Zobaa 2011, p.24). Negative Ecological impact of wind farm development in the U.K: Wind farms require that they set up in places where there is adequate land space. In instances where the land is fertile or is suitable for other economic activities this can be termed as an ecological waste. In the case of private land, the developers mitigate this potential waste by allowing the land owners to continue with their previous economic activities for as long as it does not interfere with the running of the turbines (George 2001, p. 13). People still plant their crops and graze their livestock, therefore, saving the land from going to waste. A good example of such a practice is in Yorkshire. Another way of reducing the use of potent land to build wind farms is using already damaged land for instance peat bogs. Building wind farms in such areas can also act as a form of land reclamation. There is, however, a downside to building wind farms in peat bogs. A Scottish MEP claims that tampering with the peat bogs will produce more carbon dioxide than the wind farms are able to mitigate (Dan 2009, p. 76). Experts suggest the construction of offshore wind farms to solve all the above land problems. In most cases, offshore land is the governments’ property; therefore, there is no interference with private owned properties. Secondly, there are lesser complications associated with clearing land peat bogs. Carbon dioxide and a few other green house gases produced during the manufacture of the materials required in turbine assembly and their transportation to the site of installation. In 2006, the carbon dioxide produced from these processes is between 14-33 pounds. A likely solution to reduce this amount of carbon dioxide produced is through the use of transport means that use electricity, for instance electric trains, electric cars (Komor 2004, p. 89). This electricity has to be off course produced through renewable non pollutant sources (Committee 2007, p. 54). Some experts argue that, the new found wind energy has reduced the reliance of fossil fuel to some extent (Etherington 2009, p. 12). This lightens the fossil fuel budget enabling the government to use the salvaged funds to cope with unavoidable instances of air pollution such as this. Within nine months of installation, the green house gases emission from the energy used during installation is “balance out”, this is an example of how off shore wind farms offset their initial carbon dioxide emission; an instance that is also applicable to inshore wind farms (Craddock 2008, p. 67). Turbines in wind farms have effects on bats’ and birds’ habitats. There are cases of birds dying when they collide with the turbines especially at night. The other areas that should be avoided by wind farm builders include breeding, feeding, and roosting areas (Jay 2009, p. 105). They argue that much as there got need to produce clean energy, the urgency to protect wildlife and their habitats is equally adept. However, the threat caused on birds due to climate changes is more appalling that that caused by wind farm turbines. Secondly most bird habitats encompass locations that are convenient for constructing wind farms (Jim 2003, p. 43). If the wind farm has an energy production potential as high as 9 G.W, the safety of the birds in my view should take a back seat. Despite all the fuss on wildlife mortality caused by the turbines, a survey in Europe indicates that fossil fuel power stations are responsible for ten times more wild life deaths than wind farms (James 2009, p. 33). For the case of bats, they face mortality in the same way as birds, that is, colliding with the blades or the masts. Their deaths are at an increase because they fly at night. There is little data and knowledge of the possible migration routes for night flying birds. The bats could also die when they fly through a low pressure point caused by the propelling turbine blades. There are three ways that can be used to reduce their deaths. Firstly, turbines should be turned off during low wind conditions because this is when bats are most active. Secondly, wind farms should consider installing microwave transmitters on their turbines (James 1999, p. 16). Bats will always avoid radar transmitters; ergo as they avoid the radar transmitters they will avoid colliding with the spinning turbines. Thirdly, offshore wind farms they should be located not less than ten kilometres away from the shore this way the bats are less likely to get close to the wind farms. If there are no other solutions to the mortality of wildlife caused by the wind farms, governments give developers the option of conserving other ecosystems. Black Law Wind Farm in Scotland near Forth, Lanarkshire receives acclamation for its ecosystem preservation methods. Case study of Black Law Wind farm: Scotland hosts large and extensive wind farms. The Whitelee wind farm, opened recently is, in fact, the largest wind farm in Europe with 140 turbines and a power generation capacity of 322 Mega Watts. Before the construction of Whitelee, Black Law Wind Farm was the largest wind farm in Scotland. The Black Law Wind farm did a lot in regards to ecology and ecological conservation. Its mere construction involved turning the area from a site destroyed by open cast coal mining to a shallow wetland. Habitat restoration in and around Black Law Wind farm is aims at creating a new home for birds and bats, it involved first planting deciduous woodlands and shrub. This first procedure is for encouraging the return of Black Grouse. The first phase also involved installing nest boxes for birds such as owls to ease their breeding. Then in around 2006 planting of trees and hedges commenced. This second phase targets farm. The aim is to encourage them to start breeding in the area, birds such as waders and farm land ducks are returning to the restored sites. With regards to climate, meteorologists give conclusive results that there are changes in the weather conditions of areas near wind farms. As the turbines spin, they cause turbulence. Turbulence facilitates the increase of vertical mixing in water vapour and heat. These mixing causes a meteorological condition downwind to change that is there will be warm nights and chilly days (Munteanu 2008, p. 90). This condition can be mitigated by setting up farms in areas where there already exists natural high turbulence. However, warm night may prove to be beneficial to farmers who live in areas prone to frost because warm weather checks the damage caused by frost is and lengthens the plant growing season. Cutting down of trees may pose as a risk to the climatic conditions of an area. When installing turbines, the developers sometimes cut down trees. The ecological value of trees is indisputable but since they act as wind breakers they have to be cut down (Goodstein 2005, p. 138). Vegetation cover helps reduce soil erosion and act as habitats for thousands of animal, bird and insect species. An appropriate way of dealing with this situation is to introduce other types of vegetation such as grass in place of the trees. Recent research has shown that wind farm development in the U.K may have ecological impact outside the U.K. Until recently, manufacturers rely on rare-earth metals for the manufacture of magnets used in the turbines. Neodymium, rare earth metals used in the manufacture of permanent magnets are primarily from china. China produces over three times the amount of toxic gases such as sulphur dioxide than all U.S mines and refineries compiled (Jameson 2011, p. 55). In light of this, even if the U.K does not opt for another substitute for neodymium, China is already at the verge of decommissioning its mining and production practices until they can curb the associate environmental hazards. The U.K governments have set out to explore alternative turbine designs that reduce or permanently do away with the use of neodymium. An excellent example is Enercon, a turbine manufacturing company, took a different strategy by avoiding the use of permanent magnets altogether (Lynn 2011, p. 45). The human population is subject to a number of hazards linked to the installation and subsequent running of wind farms to the human population. Installation and maintenance: workers may get involved in accidents such as getting caught or strangled by the machinery or falling from the turbine masts as they work on the turbines. Though the numbers of such accidents are rare to a point of insignificance, damage is damage, and there need to address these safety needs of wind farm maintenance crews (Black 2008, p.23). If there is a case of turbine failure, two things may occur; the turbine may spin to disintegration or catch fire. Catching fire has the most hazardous effects on the general public. During fire incidents in wind farms, the turbine masts may be too high making it impossible to extinguish the fire. Secondly the fire may cause other secondary fires in the surrounding areas. This may lead to destruction of property and even loss of life in extreme cases (Goodstein 2005, p. 34). As the fire burns, it causes air pollution by producing carbon dioxide and other toxins such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. With the advancement in technology, this situation can be rectified by installing automatic fire extinguishers to the turbine. This allows for the shutting down of the turbines in case of such situations and the subsequent extinguishment of the fire. In the recent past, there has been hearsay about noise pollution caused by the turbines as wind propels them. This noise pollution according to reports from various sources causes stress, headaches, insomnia and irritability for the people residing close to the given wind farms. The turbines cause a whirling sound as they rotate while the motors create a slight mechanic buzz. These sounds cause irritation to people living adjacent to the given wind farms. The extent of how irritating or harmful these sounds can be is debatable, but so far the claims have not been substantiated by any authority (Dan 2009, p. 78). In fact, U.K Renewable argues that noise from turbines approximately 1000ft from residential areas produce less noise as compared to traffic noise from the same distance. Alternative support evidence on the same is in British Acoustics Bulletin. The writing asserts that all the symptoms “experienced” by people living near wind turbines can be attributed to psychological and social stress factors. They further explain that in instances where individuals who live near turbines receive remuneration for hosting them, the stress symptoms “disappear”! A few solutions exist in such situations. For instance in New South Wales Australia, a directive that requires the nearest turbine to residential areas to be two kilometres away beating the 1000 ft said to be inconvenient. Still, other people claim that wind farms can degrade the aesthetic value of the environment. They view the turbine structures as an eyesore. Though this is a subjective opinion, manufactures, and developers have taken the initiative of trying to change this opinion. For instance, tubular or slender refined nacelle shaped masts holding the turbines for h have replaced lattice towered masts. Some construction firms also seek the advice of landscape designers to make the constructions and arrangement of the turbines more appealing to the eye. It is crucial to note that most if not all negative ecological effects of wind farms associate with inland wind farms. There is a lesser probability of the wind farms conflicting with the human population. Accidents that may occur will not cause significant damage and the winds are as plentiful as or even better than the inland ones. Perhaps it is high time the United Kingdom nations considered investing more in offshore wind farms than on inland ones. There are main reasons why I recommend Wind Farm development is the positive economic impact these farms can afford a nation. The first economic impact is that having alternative sources of energy reduces the likely hood of other sources of power such as hydroelectric power to be overpriced. Secondly, time and resources previously used to clean up the environment after the use of environmentally unfriendly fuels such as fossil fuels has reduced (Ewing 2006, p. 72). These salvaged resources can now be channelled to improve and developing new wind farms across the country. However, some nations feel that wind farm development is an expensive venture. There are ways to mitigate negative economic impacts: maximization of wind farm land can be achieved through the process of double utilisation. This is where the wind farm incorporates other activities such as farming animal grazing and raring (Gipe 2004, p. 61). The land space between the turbines is therefore utilized in an economic venture allowing that there is maximum profitability. The price of generating wind power will only significantly fall if there is large scale of wind power production. Therefore, the issue of wind farms can be solved by the passing of time and the subsequent development wind farm efficiency and productivity (Langston 2004, p. 56). Since the beginning, of technological advancements, there have always been situations where people see positive inventions in a negative light, and this does not exclude wind farms. There got need to weigh out the options and clearly determine whether the negatives have more magnitude than the positives (Ahmed & Zobaa 2011, p.40). In light of the above discussed points, I argue that wind farms are more beneficial than they are hazardous. My opinion is in earnest attributed to criticisms of wind farm developers. Critics claim that developers lie about the amount of energy wind farms are able to produce and benefits associated to them thereof. In conclusion, wind farms despite their ecological friendly shortcomings, in the United Kingdom, have a bright future. 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