- Wind industry officials and lobbyists continue to understate greatly the full, true cost of electricity from wind and have been successful in creating a false “popular wisdom” about wind energy.
- The public, media and government officials have been misled and repeat false and misleading claims.
- Government officials – particularly legislators and regulators – are providing tax breaks and subsidies for wind energy without understanding or considering the benefits and costs of their actions, and they are helping to hide costs in tax and electric bills.
- Government agencies, including the US Department of Energy (particularly its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – DOE-EERE), the DOE National “Laboratories” (particularly NREL and LBNL), other DOE contractors, and state energy agencies and public utility commissions are conducting and supporting activities and issuing information about wind energy that helps mislead the public, media and political leaders.
- Claims that the hundreds of millions of tax dollars being thrown at “wind farm” projects are an efficient and effective way of creating jobs in the US are FALSE. (The fact that a large share of those tax dollars are flowing to foreign countries — turbine manufacturers and “wind farm” owners – should be a clue that would give some pause to Obama Administration officials and members of Congress.)
- Some investors in “wind farms” are highly likely to be making financial commitments without understanding the facts about the high true cost and low value of electricity from wind.
- Land owners are leasing land to “wind farm” developers without understanding the adverse impact that “wind turbines” have on environmental, ecological, scenic and neighbors’ property values.
- Local government officials, misled by “wind farm” developers and lured by potential short-term financial benefits, are fracturing their communities, destroying home owners’ property values, and ignoring long-term costs when they encourage or condone wind energy projects.
- Energy economists and analysts in government and the private sector, as well as reporters and editors, need a far better understanding of the facts about wind energy cost and values than they have displayed thus far.
http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/true-cost-of-electricity-from-wind-is-always-underestimated-and-its-value-is-always-overestimated/