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<br />, <br /> <br />i( <br /> <br /><<i;~ <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />Prepared for presentation at the Topical Meeting of the American Nuclear <br />Society on Environmental Aspects of Non-Conventional Energy Resources II, <br />September 26-29, 1978, Denver, Colorado <br /> <br />PROJECTED IMPACTS OF A VERY LARGE WINDPOWER COMPLEX <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~.. <br />",1....'. 'j,., <br />.r " .1' ~ ( t f/ <br />!'~,,1,;;1". li it. <br />~ -tv l!A.. f V}<l- <br />.J.1"r/-ft,.., 6P ljF'i','y:" ~ <br /> <br />j . A/ to..1 . L ~r(Ct'fF 1 <br />~ ~/" 'M t,(;dJ <br /> <br />A thought-experiment is performed to examine the envirj~en1tal <br />iInpacts of building a very lara"e windpower complex comprising wind-. <br />farms dispersed over northeastern North America, pumped-hydroelectric <br />. storage using Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and power lines linking <br />these' elements with the northeastern megalopolises. . The focus is not <br />on feasibility, which may change, but on the effect of eventually <br />exercising this option. <br /> <br />ABSTRACT <br /> <br /> <br />Wallace E. Howell <br />'Certified Consulting Meteorologist <br />Golden, CO 80401 <br />(303) 277-9125 <br /> <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />The impact of the windfarms on climate woiJld be slight and micro- <br />local only. Their effect on wildlife would be severe only for species <br />intolerant of any encroaching civilization and would require further <br />study of them. Windfarms would interfere only slightly with land use, <br />wl1ich. is mostly forestry and nomadic. herding. Noise, aesthetics:. and <br />wireless interference are not expected to be problems in the remote, <br />scantily populated settings, The pumped-storage complex would have <br />construction-related impacts. Water-level changes would have to be <br />kept within tolerances established by natural fluctuations, mostly <br />apout 1 m, and ecological impacts of waterborne organisms pumped up- <br />stream'would have to.be examined. . Impacts of added transmission lines <br />in remote areas would not be large. In populous areas, underground. <br />superconducting:transmission would probably be required, substitut- <br />.ing impacts similar.to those of a large pipeline for today's overhead <br />lines. Indirect impacts would be mainly the ripple effect of holding <br />down the price of electricity and displacing conventional generation. <br /> <br />The conclusion is that large-scale 'windpower would involve no en- <br />vironmental show-stoppers and could displace serious adverse impacts <br />of conventional power generation. This implies that the option.is <br />worth preserving, and that there may be a role for centralized and <br />dispe.rsed power.systems evolving symbiotically. <br /> <br />:... .-+ <br /> <br />A. <br /> <br />PURPOSE <br /> <br />One accomplishment of the environmentalist movement has been to emphasize <br />the long range environmental and sociological consequenceE; of adopting new <br />technologies that may grow very 'large and, in doing so, may have cumw~ative <br />consequences not apparent to people engaged in the research and developmental <br />stages. A new technology may be irreversible launched .before a rational <br />assessment will have been made of the effects of its widespread and prolonged <br />use. The purpose of this presentation is to project, as well as we can do now, <br />the likely environmental impacts of very large growth of one of the alterna-' <br />.tives for generating electric power from an inexhaustible resource" namely <br />. wind power. <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />\ <br />I <br />i <br />j <br />, <br />.' <br />! <br />