Why Wind Turbines Have Caused Such Controversy in Puerto Rico

In this day and age, we have new energy sources that could be used to power our homes and transportation. Wind and solar power are used all over the world, but are still used far less than fossil fuels. Most would say it’s not reliable or it doesn’t make any profit. While both statements are true, it doesn’t mean we can’t make a better future using renewable energy. In fact, the only reason we don’t use renewables for everything is that we don’t want to change. The hard truth is we need to change. Fossil fuels are great right now, but if we run out, humanity must have another source of energy.

(Fossil fuels were not put on the list, with the exception of clean coal, because of their CO2 emissions that lead to global warming) Wind power is often called the “best of renewables” because of its inexpensive startup costs and lack of CO2 emissions. It beats solar because materials needed to build solar panels often come from war-torn child labor countries in Africa, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yet wind has a major downfall: it takes up huge swaths of land. The study did not take into account the opportunity cost that using a gargantuan amount of land would have on the US. This land could be used for farming, housing, national parks, and more, but the land is instead wasted on enormous eye-sore turbines. In fact, it would take two times the size of Massachusetts of wind turbines to equal the space required for 99 nuclear reactors in the US (Bryce 1). Nuclear reactors would take up 500 times less land, even with waste disposal included. (Bryce 2). With droughts, rising sea levels, and outward city growth threatening the amount of useable land, it would be unwise to construct wind farms. Thus, nuclear energy would take up much less land and would be better for the environment than wind

The world around us mostly runs on fossil fuels in order to produce electricity; however, there will be a period that comes where we will run out of those fossil fuels. We only have so much time before a crisis hits and we have nothing left to produce the energy we need. In order for our country to produce the energy and electricity we need, we must do something about it. As a country, we must figure out how we can make the switch to using more renewable energy before it is too late and we run out of fossil fuels.

It drops almost 90 percent. (Brown 2005) (See Figure 2) However, the U.S was still behind Europe, because of some political and financial issues. Many European countries had started on building windmill projects. Europe comprised two-thirds of the global use of wind electricity-generating capacity. (Brown 2005). The leading countries that use wind power are Germany, Spain, USA, India and Demark. In addition, other countries are now started to utilize wind energy. Asia’s growth is up to 7000KW in 2005. (Florence 2006).

Fossil fuels are having great impacts toward nature such as global warming and greenhouse effect. Plus, the depletion of it contributes to the rising price of petroleum. Therefore, wind power rise as it is a source of clean, non-polluting renewable energy (Nash, 2008). This type of energy generation provides us with loads of benefits environmentally and economically.

Wind energy has many advantages over other natural resources. Turbines do not pollute the environment at all, unlike fossil fuels and they use a fuel that is free and inexhaustible. It cannot be charged a ridiculous amount like oil and other fossil fuels. Though wind only accounts for a small fraction of the world’s total electricity production (2.5%), the field is rapidly growing at a rate of about 25% per year, creating lots of manufacturing and technical jobs, improving the American economy. Wind also has enormous potential. It could possible generate 20 times more than what the human population needs at full capacity. Because turbines must be spread apart, the spaces of land in-between the turbines can be used for other things, unlike the bulky, close together rows of solar panels needed to harness solar energy. Due to better technology and advances in the field prices of turbines have significantly decreased (80% since 1980).

Over millions of years the fossilized remains of plants and animals have decayed and been stored in the form of petroleum, natural gas, or coal underground for our later extraction. This stored energy can then be burned to use as fuel (DOE 2008). Because these fuels take millions of years to form, the available supply is limited for our ever-progressing industrial society. Our usage is causing a lot of concern among the energy conscious all over the world due to the fact that many developed nations could not function without fossil fuels. The main solution to this problem goes by the name of “alternative”, “renewable”, or “clean” energy. This energy comes from sources apart from fossil fuels, this includes wind, solar, and geothermal among others (Utah 2013). These

It's sustainable. Wind is actually a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the rotation of the Earth, and the Earth's surface irregularities. For as long as the sun shines and the wind blows, the energy produced can be harnessed to send power across the grid. Wind turbines can be built on existing farms or ranches. This greatly benefits the economy in rural areas, where most of the best wind sites are found. Farmers and ranchers can continue to work the land because the wind turbines use only a fraction of the land. Wind power plant owners make rent payments to the farmer or rancher for the use of the land, providing landowners with additional income (“ Early 1900 technology.”) Within all of the electricity household electricity is about a third of it total. US uses a lot more electricity than the UK to be exact they use two and a half as much. Also the US uses four times as much as the Italians. Then US uses ten times as much as the Indian household. We all tend to use electricity the same way while there is a huge amount used gap. The percentage for the UK is 25% on entertainment, 19% on heating, 15% on lighting, 13% on refrigeration, 12% on cooking, also 12% on washing which includes clothes to. As in for the US they use 29% on entertainment, 22% on air conditioning, 15% on lighting, 9% on heat, 9% water heating, and then 13% on refrigeration. On average the amount of money spent a year on electricity is $1,400 a year

We all depend on energy to provide us with electricity for our daily activities. The energy that comes from coal, oil, and natural gas are called fossil fuel and these are nonrenewable energy sources. All electronics used electricity in order to be useful, and they all come from nonrenewable energy sources that cannot be replaced when is being used up or get flatted in our lifetime. Due to the fact that the nonrenewable energy sources cannot be replenished when is used, it would be very much important to shift to other energy sources like renewable energy sources. These are energy resources that can be replaced at any time. It is much more nature-friendly than non renewable resource. Renewable energy resource can be grouped into five major categories namely hydropower, solar, biomass, geothermal and lastly wind energy. Renewable energy resources could, if developed and implemented can provide 90 to 100 percent of the energy demand for the world in the next four decades (Harvey). Now, we get almost ten percent of the energy we use from renewable sources. So, one may ask if it does not harm the environment and will not get finished, in this case, then why should we not used them everywhere and all the time? It is because is expensive to produce, or because of its demerit? This has made people wondering if it will be possible to provide the world with enough energy from this renewable

So far, all of Argentina’s renewable energy sources have been left unexploited. According to advisory group Ernst & Young, wind energy sources in Patagonia

During the course of history, this country has been seeking new forms of energy that will provide clean energy and also preserve Earth’s lifespan. The use of renewable and non-renewable resources has been a major controversy throughout history. Renewable energy such as wind power has been a main focus of this issue. Many believe wind energy is the best renewable power source over many others because it is the cleanest and most efficient, whereas, others view wind energy as a time bomb that will soon destroy the planet. Alternative energy sources should replace non-renewable energy with wind energy.

Global warming has taken a significant toll on the environment and heath of human and animals. The use of non-renewable fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, crude oil, tar sands and oil shales are finite resources on the planet and will one day run out because they are regularly used. Subsequent pressure and heating while being buried consisting of organic matter and dead plant over millions of years are what created these fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels form greenhouse gases from carbon dioxide, acid rain from sulfur dioxide, and photochemical pollution from nitrous oxides. The use of renewable energy is cleaner and safer for the environment and promotes investments. Some examples of renewable energy are Solar, Wind, and Hydro. Renewable energy is any energy that does not intake limited resources of the Earth and can be conveniently and instantly restored.

Currently, the global power demand has risen by 2%, while the annual growth of wind power generation is 12%. According to the European Wind Energy Association, the world 's wind power installed capacity in 2020 will be 1.2 BKw, and will be 2.7 BKw in 2030. Then wind power will account for 12% and 21% of the world 's total energy. Wind power will gradually become the main alternative energy power sources. In foreign wind power industry, the US mainstream unit is 1.5 Mw, some of European countries reached 1.5-2.5 Mw. Wind turbines has been more and more popular in foreign countries, and some of the developed countries has started researching on 3-4 MW huge wind turbines. Wind power generation will gradually approach the conventional thermal power generation. China 's wind power industry started earlier, but the development is very slow until the 1990s. With the strong support of national policy, the wind power industry has made great progress, and gradually formed an emerging market. Figure 1-1 shows China 's wind power installed capacity growth trend in the past 10 years.

According to United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) the term green industry is defined as an industry that ensures sustainable and viable future with no harm on our environment (UNIDO 2016). In Puerto Rico, manufacturing industry accounts for about 46.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This indicates that Puerto Rico is highly dependent on different manufacturing industries for its revenue. Similarly, according to Puerto Rico 2015 profile, about four-fifth of the energy comes from petroleum products which fuels largely transportation, electricity generation and manufacturing industries. In 2015, it was found that 51 percent of the

Looking at renewable energy sources that will benefit the budget of countries and help out the environment is simple. "There is enough wind power, in fact there is plenty of wind power in Quebec alone to power most of North America (Marsden).” In the middle west where we live we have wind almost every day. Towards Chicago there are hundreds of wind turbines that produce energy, but why aren’t we using this for all our power? Wind power is reliable and pays for itself in a short period of time. “Bringing wind power and other reusable energies is quicker and easier to accomplish (Marsden).” Some may think that wind energy is more hassle than it is worth but actually is more beneficial because with wind there is no worry for fracking and other