There is a major worldwide push for “green” renewable ener­gy, a topic we read and hear about almost daily here in upstate, wind en­ergy being the most talked about. Having researched wind energy extensively, I find more information regarding the negative realities of industrial wind energy (IWE) daily than I have time to read. However, local media tends to overlook reports of the damaging effects on other economies and environments. Because IWE is only available when the wind blows within a narrow range for sustained peri­ods of time, backup sources can never shut down. Denmark has over 6,000 turbines, and re­portedly hasn’t closed one fossil fuel power plant to date. They now require more coal-gener­ated power to compen­sate. A study has shown that their carbon dioxide emissions increased 36 percent in 2006 alone. In Colorado, the American Tradition Institute sued the state in 2011 over re­newable energy man­dates, claiming IWE cre­ates more pollution than it saves.

Each turbine requires hundreds of gallons of oil and lubricating fluid. Multiply that times the 195 turbines at the Maple Ridge facility in Lewis County, New York. Poten­tial for chemical dis­charge during damage or maintenance is ghastly.

And what about dam­aged and aged-out tur­bines? Each one is the size of a 40- to 50-story build­ing. How will thousands of them be disposed of? Just look at Hawaii to see the horror of deserted, rusted turbines. The mammoth blades are made of carbon fiber composite. It can’t be re­cycled or incinerated (too toxic). With the aging of Denmark’s turbines, they are facing a major dispos­al problem. In 2011, Den­mark’s leading business journal stated, “There ex­ists no solution.”

What about the cost to taxpayers? More than thirty federally funded “green” energy compa­nies are failing or bank­rupt. The 2009 stimulus set aside $80 billion in subsidies for “green” en­ergy projects. In 2012, taxpayers contributed $13.5 billion in addition to $5.8 billion in grants, for a mere 3.6 percent of the energy produced nation­wide. And how much of that money goes to manu­facturers in Europe? We then pay again for the en­ergy produced and for the cost of backup energy.

Regarding bird kills, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates half a million birds are slaugh­tered by turbines yearly. American Bird Conser­vancy projects that could more than double in 20 years if the current ad­ministration continues down the IWE path. There is so much more that consumers and tax­payers need to know. I challenge the media to look more deeply.

Albright lives in Greece.