Question

Describe the potential land impacts of wind turbine installation.

Answer 1

Harnessing power from the wind is one of the cleanest and most sustainable ways to generate electricity as it produces no toxic pollution or global warming emissions. Wind is also abundant, inexhaustible, and affordable, which makes it a viable and large-scale alternative to fossil fuels.

Despite its vast potential, there are a variety of environmental impacts associated with wind power generation that should be recognized and mitigated.

Building wind energy installations with large numbers of turbines can disrupt landscapes, such as visibility at a distance, and its the aesthetics of the landscape that is often a primary reason for people’s concern about siting new wind energy projects. To some, wind turbines appear visually pleasing, while others view them as intrusive industrial machines. Its the thought of change to the local surroundings and landscape that affects most people, but if you asked them which would they rather live near too, the smoking chimneys of a coal fired generating station, the cooling towers of a nuclear plant, or a wind farm, many would choose the latter.

But wind energy installations can create both positive and negative recreational impacts on the environment. On the positive side, many large wind energy projects are listed as tourist attractions with some sights offering guided tours or providing information about how wind turbines work or about wind energy in general. Some wind farm sites even allow open access to the public providing additional opportunities for camping, hiking, and other such leisure activities.

The vast majority of wind farm projects are located on private farmland. As an average wind farm of 20 turbines may expand to well over an area of one square kilometre, yet less than 5% of the land area would be used by turbines. The rest can be utilised for some other functions, for example agricultural, farming. Then wind turbines can safely co-exist with other living creatures, which means that the land does not have to be restricted from other possible uses. The land of a wind farm can be used for wind generation, but also for crops growing, animal grazing, or maybe left as a natural habitat reducing its impact on the environment.