Just the facts …
It’s a line Jack Webb made famous on the old TV show Dragnet years ago.
There has been a lot of stir about solar vs. wind turbines and I must admit after seeing TV scenes with rows of the devices in an ugly picket line they were not really very appealing.
But on a drive through the state of Indiana on Route 36, I had an experience I will never forget: A wind farm where the towers were randomly scattered about a mile apart.
During the 20-minute drive through this area one could look from one horizon to the other and not see more than five or six at a time — like Oak trees in pastures. This coupled with the fact I could not understand the push by the fed for solar power, which requires many acres of potential food-producing land.
So, I did an online research for the “facts.”
Here’s some of what I found:
Solar panels lose 93 percent of their efficiency over 10 years and must be replaced every 20 years.
So the government sees an endless job market of tax-paying employees to manufacture and replaces these panels. They require many acres to produce the same as a wind turbine.
The average wind turbine can produce 8 megawatts of energy. It requires 5,000 standard solar panels or 3,200 of a newer high output model to produce just one megawatt of power. Thus to produce 8 megawatts would require 544 acres of land (it takes 68 acres to produce 1 megawatt).
The average concrete base of a tower is 50 by 50 to 72 by 72 feet — not even a quarter acre.
Once erected, turbines require little maintenance and no chemically dangerous storage batteries.
Keep in mind that in Scandinavia there are wind turbines over 70 years old still putting out the same or higher output today that have been maintained but never replaced.
I like meat and potatoes. Please don’t make food prices higher by taking farm land.
James W. Rhea
Bucyrus, Ohio
