Written on the Wind Farm

Wind farm at Cowley Ridge, Alberta. Photo by Elizabeth Woods.

Alberta produces 656 megawatts of power via renewable wind energy, just behind Quebec's production and lagging behind first-place Ontario by about 600 megawatts. Currently, Alberta's wind farms produce about two percent of our electricity generation. Compared to other forms of power generation, wind is virtually emissions-free. There is some risk of disturbing wildlife habitat during installation and maintenance of turbines, and birds and bats have been killed flying into the blades. But overall, wind presents a far more attractive ecological footprint than nonrenewable energy sources.

Alberta's tempestuous winds could produce far more than 600 megawatts of power, but for a variety of reasons we're a long way off from reaching our wind power generation capacity. A couple of posts ago my friend Jeff lamented the lack of funding for artists, particularly in Alberta, a view I happen to share. Seeing Mom's photo above reminded me that some people see wind farms as an eyesore, and that's one of the reasons wind farms haven't been accepted as widely as they could be.

Perhaps the two problems can solve each other. Personally, I think wind farms look pretty cool, but I have no doubt that artists could transform these austere towers into works of art. I love Alberta, but compared to some other places in the world I've visited, our province seems woefully short on public art. Wouldn't it be something if, five or ten years from now, Alberta's landscape was peppered with works of art producing sustainable energy?

Thanks to the Pembina Institute's The Landowners' Guide to Wind Energy for the figures on wind power.