HEALTH AND CLIMATE BENEFITS OF ALTAMONT PASS WIND POWER
Wind power can save your life!
What kind of air would you like your children to breathe? Pollution from a coal or gas-fired power plant? Or clean, natural air from a wind farm? The decision is obvious! Wind power can save your life!
Wind Power Displaces Toxic Emissions and Pollution. Wind power displaces toxic emissions and pollution from fossil-fired power plants, which reduces the number of deaths and diseases caused by harmful pollution.
In 2007, fossil-fired power plants in the U.S. emitted 5,300 billion pounds of pollutants that cause disease and climate change.
When clean, renewable power generation from the Altamont wind farms displaces natural gas generation, the emissions and pollution savings are estimated as follows:
NOx, lbs/yr 1,710,000
SOx, lbs/yr 5,800
CO2, lbs/yr 1,310,000,000
PM, lbs/yr 43,000
water consumptions, gal/yr 250,000,000
reduced natural gas, cf/yr 3,324,000,000
The emissions and pollution saved during the past 20 years of operation of the Altamont wind farms—over 26 billion pounds—would cover the City of Oakland (54 square miles—see photo) about 427 feet deep!
Wind Power Saves Lives. In a study completed by Don McCubbin, Ph.D., in June 2010, "Health, Wildlife, and Climate Benefits of the 580 MW Altamont Wind Farm," the Altamont Pass wind farms save about four premature deaths each year, plus prevent other respiratory illnesses like bronchitis, asthma, heart attacks, and lung cancer. Over the past 20 years, the Altamont wind farms have saved about 73 premature deaths and 60 heart attacks!
Because of the 26 billion pounds of pollutants the Altamont Pass has displaced during the past 20 years, the following human health impacts were prevented:
annually 20 yrs
premature deaths 3.7 73
chronic bronchitis 1.5 30
heart attacks 3 60
asthma ER visits 0.8 16
acute bronchitis 4 80
asthma exacerbation 46 920
lost work days 335 6,700
minor restricted activity days 1,950 39,000
Proof that wind power can save your life!
Wind Power Saves Birds. The Altamont Pass wind farms save birds, too! Not only does the use of clean, natural wind power save human lives, it also saves the lives of birds and other wildlife. Birds are far more sensitive to pollution than humans due to the thinness of the bird's lung's air-sac gas-exchange tissue, plus the large amounts of oxygen required for flight. Therefore, birds are far more sensitive to airborne particulates and pollution—for example, miners use birds in their coal mines to sense certain gases before it becomes a problem for humans.
In a study completed by Ben Sovacool, in March 2009, "Contextualizing Avian Mortality: a preliminary appraisal of bird and bat fatalities from wind, fossil-fuel, and nuclear electricity," he offered a methodology to approximate the number of birds killed per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity generated, with the following results: fossil-fired facilities are about 17 times more dangerous to birds on a kWh basis than wind.
According to the study mentions above by McCubbin, the Altamont Pass wind farms have saved over 55,000 birds over the past 20 years.
Wind Power Reduces Health Costs. The hidden economic burdens placed on society from air pollution created by fossil-fired power generation is huge—the costs to "medicate" and "repair" our society, based upon the various air pollution values over 20 years, is roughly estimated at $960 million, which comprises health care and disease costs, plus damage to crops, property, etc. Therefore, the clean, renewable power from Altamont Pass wind farms has saved our society roughly $960 million over 20 years in health and societal costs.
Wind Power Provides Economic Benefits. The economic benefits for the local economy from the Altamont Pass wind farms is estimated at $9 billion, including property taxes, payroll, land lease rent paid to farmers, etc.
June 2010