Harnessing the Wind

I recently watched a movie named, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a true story about William Kamkwamba, a 13 year old boy who taught himself how to construct a wind turbine in order to save his Malawian village from famine. This wind turbine was used to power a pump that would bring water up from a nearby well, so that the village could plant crops even in the dry season.

William Kamkwamba standing atop his windmill he built in 2001 (source)

This caused me to start thinking about the use of wind turbines in New Jersey, and what impact they have on the state. To search for these answers I went to The US Wind Turbine Database. Remarkably, I found that there are only 6 wind turbines operating in New Jersey, 1 in Bayonne as part of The Bayonne Wind Energy Project, and 5 in Atlantic City as part of the Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm Project. Moreover, none of these 6 wind turbines are offshore!

Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm Project in Atlantic City, NJ (source)

To my surprise, I found from the American Wind Energy Association that, as of April 2019, of the 41 states that have wind turbines, NJ ranks 39th in the number of wind turbines and the energy in Megawatts (MW) produced: ahead of only Connecticut and Delaware. As a result, I asked myself, what is New Jersey doing to increase the amount of wind energy they harness?

Phil Murphy signing the executive order (source)

Recently elected NJ governor, Phil Murphy, signed an executive order on January 31st, 2018 that outlined how his administration would be working towards growing the amount of MW produced from wind energy sources, in an effort "to establish New Jersey as an environmental leader". As stated by this article from Dustin Racioppi and Scott Fallon, the order called for:

• 3,500 MW of offshore wind energy by 2030 (enough energy to power 1.5 million homes)
• The "environmental protection commissioner and utilities president to establish a strategic offshore wind plan".

So far, it seems as if Governor Phil Murphy is sticking to his promise of converting New Jersey to entirely clean energy by 2050, with this specific bill focusing on offshore wind turbines.

Offshore Wind Turbines (source)

Afterwards, I asked myself, why does New Jersey rank so low in the first place?

After further research, I found that part of the reason why is because of actions done by former NJ Governor Chris Christie after he signed a 2010 law known as the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act. Governor Christie, instead of working to increase renewable energy sources in New Jersey and help the aforementioned bill succeed, turned his focus away from climate change as he "embarked on a presidential bid to appeal to conservative voters in states heavily dependent of fossil fuels". This resulted in New Jersey missing out on becoming the first state to harness offshore wind energy through turbines, with Rhode Island instead reaching that distinction.
With climate change awareness increasing on the world stage, it is great to see New Jersey work towards becoming a state known for being environmentally friendly once more. 

Pros and cons graphic (source)

However, there are also a variety of environmental consequences of wind turbines. For example, as detailed in a report titled "Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects", 20,000 to 37,000 birds per year (other sites say greater than 400,000) are killed by wind turbines. Although this is a startlingly high statistic, it pales in comparison to the death rate of birds colliding with other objects like buildings, cars and high-tension wires: with an estimated 97-976, 80 and 130-1000 million deaths respectively. Bats, however, do in fact see a large percentage of their deaths from collisions as a result of wind turbines. According to an article in BioScience by Mark Hayes, 600,000 to 900,000 bats every year are killed, either through collisions or barotrauma. Barotrauma occurs when "spinning turbines create changes in air pressure as they move, which can essentially cause the animals' lungs to explode", as defined in a Popular Science article by Rebecca Boyle.

Wind turbines interfering with birds (source)

Apart from the power they generate, wind turbines benefit the environment in other ways as well.

Wind turbines/Wind energy in general, as stated by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (OEERE), now has the "largest renewable generation capacity of all renewables in the United States" and is an "inexhaustible" resource. In addition, this process does not require the release of any greenhouse gases as no fossil fuels are burned. Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere, effectively keeping the Earth 33 °C warmer than it should allowing life to survive on Earth. Meaning that, wind turbines enable us to harness energy while letting the biosphere thrive at the same time.

Not releasing extra greenhouse gases is vital, as an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would cause the temperature of the Earth to rise beyond normal levels. This negatively effects animals such as Polar bears, who are starting to see their habit melt beneath their feet.

Polar bears suffering in their depleted habit (source)

Moreover, the wind energy industry also positively impacts the economy. For example, the OEERE notes that in 2016 the "U.S. wind sector employed more than 100,000 workers"; with the Wind Vision report stating that 600,000 could be employed by 2050.

Wind turbine technicians (source)

Finally, many people who support Wind turbines and recognize their potential benefits, actually oppose their construction when there are plans for them to be built near their homes. This phenomenon is known as NIMBY, or Not in My Backyard. Believe it or not, this is another big reason for the lack of windmills in many places as people commonly do not like the way wind turbines look or the noise they can possibly create. 

NIMBY (source)

Considering the positive and negative effects of wind turbines, I am in support of the increased production of wind turbines offshore and on land in New Jersey, the United States, and around the world. However, I believe there should be regulations on when they are allowed to function and where they can be constructed. For example, I believe they shouldn't be allowed to operate in areas with large bird/bat and other flying animal populations, or to function during the height of migration seasons.

A good 'ol meme (source)

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