Opposition to Wind Power: Can it be a Catalyst for Improving Public Understanding of Energy Usage?

plans for new electricity generating and transmission facilities have often provoked fervent opposition from the public, particularly environmentalists. With renewable energy often put forward as a benign alternative to conventional energy sources, it has surprised many that some proposals for wind farms are now the targets of bitter disputes. Coastal wind farms proposals in particular have led to local communities arguing that landscape values must be preserved. Meanwhile, the wind industry has been anxious to encourage a pro-wind sentiment among the broader community, and to marginalise the wind farm opposition movement, depicting them as a very small group of NIMBYs. Some opponents of wind farms in scenic areas are making the more general argument against wind power that greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can be obtained by reducing electricity demand, rather than by increasing renewable energy supply. They also claim that the greenhouse benefits of wind farms are overestimated: since wind is intermittent, conventional plant is still required as a backup and may operate less efficiently due to the variability of wind. Many environmentalists are dismayed at this conflict over a technology that they have long advocated. While I to some degree concur, I also regard such conflict as inevitable and as a possible opportunity for public learning. Arguments put forward against wind power have some validity; however, they are also related to the structure of the electricity market and the supply-side focus of energy policy. In this paper I put forward suggestions on how advocates of sustainable energy can use the opportunity of conflicts over wind power to increase public understanding of energy supply and usage patterns