I’ve heard the argument that wind power is not a great solution to our energy needs because it isn’t always windy. Makes sense huh? Except there are two realities that argument ignores.
The first is the energy grid. Most of us get our power from many miles away, often from hundreds of miles away. It might not be windy right here right now, but it is windy somewhere right now, somewhere not that far away. The energy grid moves the power from where it is generated to where it is needed. Wind power needs to be installed in multiple well-researched locations and connected to the energy grid. I live on Vancouver Island and the northwest coast of the island is very windy, yet there is no wind power installations (yet). It is because “BC Hydro” is stuck with a hydro mindset, not appreciating the benefits of wind.
The second thing is return on investment. The amount of energy invested into implementing wind power compared to the amount of energy produced. (The cost of the investment is closely tied to the energy cost.) Today it takes about 1 barrel of oil (energy) input to produce 3 barrels of oil output which explains why the costs of gas keeps going up (and will continue to go up). According to Crash Course wind power is actually one of the most efficient energy investments there is. Wind power has a great return on investment.
