It’s painful to watch politicians talk about energy independence and investing in alternative fuels, etc. You just made a great case as to how the whole wind power and biofuel industries are built on a flawed set of assumptions, government subsidies and economics. Not to mention that if you compare the various energy sources from creation through operation and distribution, the real footprint of these alternative energy generators after all this investment isn’t impressive…at all.

What kills me is that one of the best potential sources of alternative energy isn’t either of these two boondoggles. Its biogas…not to be confused with biofuels. And why haven’t we heard more about biogas??? Because biogas is made from waste…from landfills, wastewater treatment plants, dairy farms, and food industry/agricultural waste. As anyone can imagine…waste isn’t sexy. Cow poo, raw sewage and landfill refuse don’t make for nice posters, brochures or photo opps for the green crowd, the political crowd or even the media. And of course, waste, sewage and garbage don’t have groups promoting their use as a superior energy source and they don’t have lobbyists trying to create tax breaks, grants and subsidies for converting them into productive energy sources. I don’t recall the united waste creators for alternative energy coalition being formed.

The funny thing is, someone said that the current alternative energy focus is all bullsh*t, well it is, but the real potential is actually in “sh*t” itself! In landfills around the country, methane gas is being released by a natural anaerobic process that pumps a potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere that is 20 times more harmful than CO2. And we have all sorts of waste that has the potential to throw off methane, a gas that can be cleaned up and used to produce energy in co-generation, or it can be cleaned up to pipeline quality.

Why do I know this? Because Biogas is a growing multibillion dollar industry in Europe with real results. Germany by 2010 will generate 17% of its power from biogas…and the source for this gas is sewage, refuse, organic waste, etc. The US isn’t even in the game yet on this power source and unlike just about every other alternative fuel, Biogas actually has a negative carbon footprint!

Maybe when reality sets in on the current approaches, someone will wake up and see the huge opportunity to turn our waste into energy with the dual benefit of capturing methane before it gets released into the atmosphere and converting it productively and economically into a viable and sellable energy source. No single alternative energy source is the answer, but when we have one this easy and this smart, we should be investing in it and we are not.

“This year, Siemens expects installed capacity of 2 to 2.1 gigawatts. A gigawatt is equivalent to one billion watts, enough to power about 300,000 U.S. households.”

Yes, a gigawatt is equivalent to one billion watts; but, no, a gigawatt of wind capacity alone is not enough to power 300,000 homes. Saying a certain wind capacity is “enough to power X households” is misleading, as it indicates that wind power is all you need to ensure the light comes on when you flip the switch. If you are not concerned with whether the power will work at all times, then, sure, your home can be powered solely by wind energy.

You’re smart, funny and a good writer, but you clearly know just enough about these subjects to be dangerous. Sorry I don’t have time to correct all your conclusions, but here are a few thoughts…

Wind is the only alternative energy technology that can go toe to toe on price with new coal. A vast majority of wind projects in the states have a positive ROI without subsidies, which make up about 30% of operating revenue. Subsidies just make them more attractive to (greedy?) investors.

As for turbines being ugly… have you spent much time in Texas? Most of our wind resource is in the midwest from TX to MN and that’s where these things are getting built. Forgive me, but I can’t think of another good use for this land… which can still be farmed under the props. Perhaps you’re part of the yachting crowd that doesn’t want to see a wind farm in Nantucket sound, but hey even I’ll admit they don’t belong everywhere. And come on, no one who works in the Wind Industry claims they operate at 30-40% capacity, the goal is 20% in Germany capacity averages 8%.

In terms of biofuels… No one who knows anything about this thinks ethanol is the right molecule and no one, absolutely no one thinks corn, soy or other food grains are the right feed stock. Even the etoh facilities cranking it out to meet the RFS mandates know its shit, but hey, they’re making money. Yes, the corn lobby needs a spanking, but this is colossal, will take decades to get right and the country has to start somewhere. Out of time.

Best,

Sam Nejame
Promotum

Chris Noble
MIT Technology Licensing Office

The empirical and factual evidence I have researched to date reveals that a significant impact occurs, as homes sit on the market for 800 or more days, once would-be buyers view the “neighborhood”, or will sell at a steep (20-30%) discount after the market has almost entirely rejected such an overlaid “industrial” home setting. Clearly, the turbines are having a significant negative financial impact on homeowners, and only the tip of this iceberg has thus far emerged.

The wind energy developers are somehow able to place their projects on thousands of acres in rural residential and agricultural settings, without any consideration of the pre-existing residents with homes on 1 to 5-acre lots, or any official requirement that the home owners at least be offered a buy-out or property value guarantee. Having worked on numerous large scale development projects, I can think of no other example that mirrors the wind industry lack of consideration toward the existing residents. I feel quite comfortable in asserting the truism that if any developer tried to build a shopping center, etc., “around” any residential lot and home, without buying them out or convincing the sponsoring governmental agency to employ eminent domain powers for the “public good”, the chance of obtaining zoning approval would be slim to none.

The majority of the public has only been exposed to the positive aspects of wind farm produced energy. However, when the financial and social gain to the public or even just the profit margin for the energy companies is achieved at the expense of a (increasingly large) handful of non-participating property owners, and the destruction of their property values results, then that is tantamount to a large scale shelving of the long established legal requirement that just compensation must be paid to a property owner when they lose the use, enjoyment and value of their property for the public purpose or use in question.

No one wants to live among the towering giants sent to save us from dependence on Arab oil. Case in point: Even T. Boone Pickens was quoted as saying he will not build any part of his $10-billion Texas wind farm on his 6,000 acre ranch….”because they are ugly”.

Mr. Obama and other influential proponents of wind energy would be fully justified in making sure the rural residents of this nation are protected from a property value “meltdown”, rather than simply rolling out the red carpet for poorly planned growth and energy production. Otherwise, it will be too late for 30, 40 or 100 times as many people as have been ignored thus far, and the parallel lessons of the mortgage crisis will have been too quickly forgotten.

There are other experts familiar with noise and health impacts, which would “round out” the issue with counter points to the wind energy PR statements. I provide this snapshot of wind farsm through the lens of my expertise, and it is not the pretty picture the wind energy PR has talked about.

Sincerely,

Michael S. McCann
McCann Appraisal, LLC
Chicago

Cheers.

About the biofuels, you’re damn right. It’s a bunch of bullsh*t from thermodynamic, economic, social and ecological perspectives.

One biomass energy technique that I think has promise is decentralized gasification. I think a small farm can divert a portion of its resources (you’re right–it’s not WASTE and it NEVER WAS) to a small gasifier that creates biochar (an incredible, very stable soil amendment) and producer gas, which can be used in place of propane or natural gas, though it doesn’t have nearly the energy density. This only makes sense when done locally (as in all the inputs come from the farm and all the outputs go to the farm) and it makes even more sense if the gasifier is cogenerating (for hot water and/or space heat at the farm house). One major obstacle to this is the inherent threat to agribusiness and energy companies, who would stand to lose revenue from fertilizers, biocides and natural gas.

I am curious, in your time as a cabinet aide, (or your farming family background) did you ever hear the word “permaculture?” A major part of the solution to our energy problems lies there.