George Roof is a resident of Magnolia.
One of the biggest scams ever foisted on the American public is the concept of “green energy” or “renewable energy.” The saddest part is that most, if not all, of it was part of brainwashing exercises in our school systems. People who graduated after 1980 have been programmed to believe teachers and professors without questioning and, as a result, never learned the basics of science, biology, chemistry or physics. Now, there’s a rabid movement here in Delaware to build wind turbines along our small segment of coastline.
Forget for a second, if you can, about the aesthetics and how these ungodly gantries will spoil the richness of the natural and pristine view that has existed for centuries. You need to accept that, to build these Don Quixote monsters, the seabed must be prepared. At the same time, underground/underwater cables will have to be laid to shoreline transformer stations. Several acres of the ocean floor will be reinforced with pilings, and then, tons of concrete and reinforcement cages will be installed. Once hardened, the gantries of the turbines will be bolted in place. The main supports, reaching over 250 feet above the water’s surface, will be constructed, and the generating gearboxes will be put in place. Then comes the big job of installing the blades, which are 40-90 meters in length. So, what’s the big deal?
Ecologically, these devices create a nightmare no one wants to discuss. Aside from scarifying the ocean floor, preliminary research is showing that the harmonics set up by these monsters reduce the ability of certain fish and whales to migrate, with some showing increased mortality of these creatures. Next is the contradiction of values. Under the guise of eliminating “fossil fuels,” each generator takes about 50 gallons of grease and 90 gallons of oil to operate. These petroleum products must be changed every three to five years, with the inherent danger of spillage into the ocean. The turbine blades are advertised as lasting “up to 25 years under the right conditions.” Those “right conditions” are seldom met, and few last over 10-15. The real danger is twofold: The blades must be changed before catastrophic failure, as such an imbalance would lead to unpreventable destruction of the entire unit. And, secondly, there is currently no way to dispose of the old blades. They cannot be recycled, and landfills no longer accept them. Each year, windmills kill between 234,000 and 573,000 birds, among them bald eagles and, to a greater degree, golden eagles. In 2024, it was confirmed that 136 eagles were killed by wind turbines.
Almost as bad as the wind turbines are the solar farms. These aberrations take up massive amounts of open land and fields. The issue most Americans ignore is that, once constructed, the land they’re built on can never be used for anything else. Built in communist China, the panels are made with monocrystalline silicone. Highly refined silicone sheets act as photoelectric cells, converting direct sunlight into electric current. This process produces incredible heat, which cooks the soil beneath it. Nothing can live in the soil because of that. Worse is the fact that, as the efficiency of the unit degrades, the silicone leaches into the soil. Over the years, this soil becomes nonarable and could qualify as a Superfund site. Americans have been convinced that, as a public service and a hedge against household electric bills, smaller units should be placed on domestic roofs. In many cases, homeowners are convinced that the service will be subsidized by taxpayers and are “free.” There is often a sad awakening when, within two or three years, the units’ efficiency begins to falter. Units seldom last over 15 years, and when they reach that point, they must be replaced. Homeowners are shocked that the lifespan of their homes’ roofs have suffered and will require repairs and reshingling, added to the cost of replacement panels.
Any of you who have flown across the Great Plains and the Great Basin areas of this country can relate to the miles and miles of wind and solar farms stretching through those areas. In western Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, many of the “scenic overlooks” are now festooned with wind turbines.
There are two basic premises in scientific laws. One is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed by ordinary chemical means, and the other is Isaac Newton’s law that, for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. With the topic of “global warming” always being thrown around, why are these ignored? America’s prevailing winds are from the northwest. If that wind is being assaulted by wind turbines and heated by solar farms in the West, has anyone ever considered that our climate may be adversely affected by these actions?
Perhaps the saddest thing is that the most abundant, the most environmentally friendly and the most economical energy source is ignored. Americans were scared to death by a movie. The use of nuclear energy was discarded after the movie “The China Syndrome” did to energy what “Jaws” did to beach-going. Incidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima have emboldened that rejection. Yet modern nuclear energy plants would prevent any such cataclysmic events. (I’m not sure who thought placing a nuclear plant on or near a tectonic fault was a good idea.) The plants produce no “carbon footprints,” and the power source will last for decades without replenishment. The facilities take up infinitesimal space compared to the millions of acres used for the less reliable sources. The Salem nuclear power plant in New Jersey is more efficient than all the solar and wind farms in Delaware, and embracing expansion of that and other nuclear facilities could save the scenic views and the environment, and may actually save the whales.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
