Wind Turbines on the Local Level

By Landen Pope and Emerson

Gifford
10-14-16

Wind Turbines
- Wind turbines are efficient in creating energy for the
people in the area, but many people are against them.

For
Why are people for wind turbines?

They cut down on fossil fuels and coal that is usually used in power plants to make electricity.
One wind turbine in a moderately-windy area can power 1500 homes annually, bringing in and
saving $720,000 on average to the electric companies.
They can add an interesting color and design to the landscape.
In the long run, they are more cost effective for producing energy, saving money for the electric
consumers.
At first, our GDP would go down because of (X-M), but then it would go up after we supply more
electricity.

Against
Why are people against wind turbines?
-

They can ruin the beauty of the landscape, causing the price of the land to go down.
Building them in the first place can raise the electric rates for the people in the area.
If strong winds occur, or if there is a malfunction, wind turbines can cause catastrophic damage to
the land.
They can often kill birds such as bald eagles.
They are incredibly massive, possibly covering and/or creating unwanted shade and sound.
This would cause us to import millions of pounds of more steel from other countries.
Our GDP would go down at first because of (X-M).

Explanation of X and M
Definition of (X-M) is as follows; Producing output at the minimum possible cost. This is not enough to
ensure the best sort of economic efficiency, which maximises society's total consumer plus producer
surplus, because the quantity of output produced may not be ideal. For instance, a monopoly can be an
X-efficient producer, but in order to maximise its profit it may produce a different quantity of output than
there would be in a surplus-maximising market with competition.

Before Supply/Demand Graph of Coal

ly

)
(S

p
up

Market Price
E

De

an
d

(D

Quantity

After Supply/Demand Graph of Coal

ly

)
(S

p
up

After Wind Turbines take over, our need

for energy from coal will go down
immensely. Coals demand line will
drop all the way down, with the market
price following.

Market Price

em

an

(D

Quantity

Risk vs. Reward

Risk vs. Reward is used to compare the expected returns of an investment to the amount of risk undertaken to capture
these returns.

Risks
-

The risks of building wind turbines is that companies will spend a lot of money to build each
individual one.
They can ruin the beauty of the landscape, causing the price of the land to go down.
Building them in the first place can raise the electric rates for the people in the area.
They can often kill birds such as bald eagles.
They are incredibly massive, possibly covering and/or creating unwanted shade and sound.
Rewards

They cut down on fossil fuels and coal that is usually used in power plants to make electricity.
One wind turbine in a moderately-windy area can power 1500 homes annually, bringing in and
saving $720,000 on average to the electric companies.
In the long run, they are more cost effective for producing energy, saving money for the electric
consumers.

Opportunity Cost
Definition: Opportunity Cost means that the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.
Note that opportunity cost is not the sum of the available alternatives when those alternatives are, in turn, mutually exclusive to
each other. It is the next best alternative given up selecting the best option. The opportunity cost of a city's decision to build the
hospital on its vacant land is the loss of the land for a sporting center. Use for any one of those purposes gets rid of all the others.
If someone loses the opportunity to earn money, that is part of the opportunity cost. If someone chooses to spend money, that
money could be used to purchase other goods and services so the spent money is part of the opportunity cost as well. Add the
value of the next best alternatives and you have the total opportunity cost. If you miss work to go to a concert, your opportunity
cost is the money you would have earned if you went to work plus the cost of the concert.
Opportunity Cost
-

They cut down on fossil fuels and coal that is usually used in power plants to make electricity.
One wind turbine in a moderately-windy area can power 1500 homes annually, bringing in and saving $720,000 on
average to the electric companies.
Bring more jobs when they are being built and through maintenance purposes.
Save both people and electric companies money.

Our Views
What are our views when talking about wind turbines in the area?
-

If our neighborhood had space for a wind turbine, I would be all for one being built. -Landen P.
Although there are rumors that they cause massive bird deaths, on average wind turbines kill
around 200,000 birds a year, however radio towers kill around 1.5 million, and house cats can kill up
to 3 billion.
It is very good for the environment.
Although the GDP would go down, it would eventually go up after a while, so it would end up great
for us.
Most of the components of wind turbines that are installed in the U.S. are manufactured in the
states which supports 80,000 people to have full time jobs.
By 2050, the United States has the potential to avoid the emission of more than 12.3 gigatonnes of
greenhouse gases and save 260 billion gallons of water by continuing to increase the amount of
wind energy that powers our homes, schools and businesses.

Quotes from Trump and Hillary Related to Wind Power

In March 2012, Trump said, "Right now, green energy is way behind the times. You look at the windmills
that are destroying shorelines all over the world. Economically, they're not good. It's a very, very poor form
of energy."
Trump's opinion of wind power stems from an unsuccessful legal battle he has fought against an off-shore
wind power project near one of his golf resorts in Scotland. Just last month, Scottish courts found that
Trump had no grounds for accusing Scottish ministers of illegally agreeing to license the 100 MW
experimental wind farm.
In 2005, Hillary said, --like John McCain, and some Democrats, frankly. What I would like to see us do is, if
we have $4 gas, then we should have a windfall profits tax on these outrageous oil company profits, and put
that money back into the highway trust fund, so that we dont lose out on repair & construction & rebuilding.
Hillarys opinion said that we are going to investigate these gas prices. The federal government has tools
that this administration will not use, in the Federal Trade Commission, because I believe there is market
manipulation going on, particularly among energy traders. Weve seen this movie before, in Enron, and
weve got to get to the bottom to make sure were not being taken advantage of. I would quit putting oil into
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and I would release some to help drive the price down globally. If there is
any kind of gas tax moratorium, as some people are now proposing.

Quotes from Politicians

Legislation

The topic on Wind Turbines did pass legislation in most states because there was a
greater need for the renewable energy than the people that had ideas against not
building them. Some states do require the wind turbines to be only be built in certain
areas due to scenic views and the habitat living around them.
2 Weird Facts

1.

Somewhere between 140,000 and 328,000 birds die a year due to them having
head on collisions with the fan part of the wind turbines.
2. The sound and vibration of a single wind turbine can be heard and felt for 5 to 10
miles.

Legislation
Government

Exports for
wind turbines
mostly go to
Scotland,
Ireland, and
Netherlands.

As the graph shows, all

imports = exports which
equals out.

Exports

Producers

Bank

Consumers

Imports

Imports for wind

turbines mostly
come from India,
Taiwan, and
Thailand.

Sources

http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/north-america-wind-turbines-kill-around-30000
0-birds-annually-house-cats-around-3000000000.html
http://www.puco.ohio.gov/puco/index.cfm/be-informed/consumer-topics/how-to-generate-win
d-power-in-ohio/#sthash.vjrVEVNU.dpbs
https://books.google.com/books?id=WIPGM2KEvEQC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=gdp+relati
on+to+wind+turbines&source=bl&ots=OcFfHd6hmF&sig=C3S7eOElcDtJoyQnVZmzwObqq8
E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjb47LL6dLPAhXJ7oMKHRBWBJgQ6AEIXTAJ#v=onepage&
q=gdp%20relation%20to%20wind%20turbines&f=false
http://energy.gov/articles/top-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-wind-power
http://www.windustry.org/pros_cons_wind_energy
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/09/ohios_largest_wind_farm_sprout.html#0
http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1997963,00.html
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/smart-news/how-many-birds-do-wind-turbines-re
ally-kill-180948154/

Poster
Pros:
They cut down on fossil
fuels and coal that is
usually used in power
plants to make electricity.

Cons:
Building them in the first
place can raise the
electric rates for the
people in the area.

Most of the components of wind turbines that are installed in the U.S. are manufactured in the
states which supports 80,000 people to have full time jobs.