ReviewEnvironmental issues associated with wind energy – A review
Introduction
Combustion of fossil fuels is believed to be one of the primary factors contributing to global warming. Energy researchers, industrial professionals, and government decision makers have increasingly turned their attention to renewable energy sources in an effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Energy technologies such as biomass, wind, and geothermal are developing very fast and are becoming more commercially competitive [1]. According to the predictions of the European Renewable Energy Council, about half of the total global energy supplies will come from renewable energy in 2040 [2]. Johansson et al. [3] predicted that there would be a large increase in renewable energy production and efficiency before 2050. This increase of renewable energy use should lead to a substantial decrease of carbon dioxide emissions.
As one of the most mature renewable energy technologies, wind power has seen accelerated growth during the past decade. Wind power has become the preferred option of energy for planners and national governments, who are seeking to diversify energy resources, to reduce CO2 emissions, to create new industries, and to provide new employment opportunities. According to the latest Global Wind Report, the total global wind power installation was 318.105 GW at the end of 2013 [4]. However, wind energy developments are not free of adverse environmental impacts. A poor understanding of these environmental impacts is a serious concern for the wind energy industry especially in developing countries and ecologically vulnerable regions [5], [6].
In this paper, the authors reviewed potential environmental issues caused by wind farm developments, summarized evidence collected through existing case studies, and identified methodologies to mitigate these adverse environmental impacts. This review study provides energy industry planners and developers with an understanding about how an inappropriate wind farm project design could adversely affect a local environment. Mitigation efforts should be completed during the design, construction, and operation phases of a wind farm in order to avoid damages to vulnerable ecological systems.
Section snippets
Wind energy induced environmental issues
A wind power plant uses wind turbines to convert wind energy into electricity or mechanical energy. The output power of a turbine is the function of the density of the air, the area swept by the turbine blades, and the cube of the wind speed [7]. The primary environmental issues related to wind turbine usage include wildlife safety, bio-system disturbance, noise, visual pollution, electromagnetic interference, and local climate change [8], [9]. These issues can be grouped into ecological
Mitigation of wind energy environmental risks
Wind farms may generate various environmental issues as reviewed in aforementioned literature. Those issues should be considered during the design and development phases of wind farms. Recent publications have explored public concerns about the negative effects of wind turbines [9], [11]. Mitigation strategies are discussed in the following sections in order to involve more researchers and engineers in this campaign.
Conclusions
Renewable energy is one solution for the global energy problem. In addition, renewable energy has beneficial socioeconomic impacts such as diversifying the energy supply, increasing regional and rural development opportunities, and creating domestic industry and employment opportunities [142]. However, renewable energy can create environmental issues in a habitat or a community. Even though the environmental impact of wind turbines is still a controversial topic, the impact should not be
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the support offered by the following programs: Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES2011A04), National Natural Science Foundation of China (51208382), Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20120072120001), Shanghai Science Foundation (12ZR1433500), Shanghai Pujiang Scholar (13PJ1407900), Shanghai Science and Technology Supported Program (13dz1203402), and the State Key Laboratory of
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