Wind turbines provide clean an effective way of producing power for home or business. Wind turbines are built in the form of vertical axis and horizontal axis. The more common type of wind turbines built across the world is the horizontal wind turbine. Wind turbines have its own impact on wildlife and surrounding environment which contribute towards disadvantages of wind turbines.
Here’s are some of the major disadvantages of wind turbines.
1. Noise Disturbances : Though wind energy is non-polluting, the turbines may create a lot of noise. This alone is the reason that wind farms are not built near residential areas. People who live near-by often complaint of huge noise that comes from wind turbines.
2. Threat to Wildlife : Due to large scale construction of wind turbines on remote location, it could be a threat to wild life near by. Few studies have been done by wind turbines to determine the effect of wind turbines on birds and animals and the evidence is clear that animals see wind turbines as a threat to their life. Also, wind turbines require them to be dig deep into the earth which could have negative effect on the underground habitats.
3. Wind Can Never Be Predicted : The main disadvantage of wind energy is that wind can never be predicted. In areas where large amount of wind is needed or winds strength is too low to support wind turbine, there solar or geothermal energy could prove to be great alternatives. That is one of the reasons that most of the companies determine wind turbine layout, power curve, thrust curve, long term wind speed before deploying wind turbines.
4. Suited To Particular Region : Wind turbines are suited to the coastal regions which receive wind throughout the year to generate power. So, countries that do not have any coastal or hilly areas may not be able to take any advantage of wind power. The location of a wind power system is crucial, and one should determine the best possible location for wind turbine in order to capture as much wind as possible.
5. Visual Impact : Though many people believe that wind turbines actually look nice but majority of them disagree. People consider wind turbines to have an undesirable experience. Petitions usually comes in court before any proposed wind farm development but few people think otherwise and feel they should be kept in tact for everyone to enjoy its beauty.
Although these disadvantages make it look that wind energy may not suitable for every country but its advantages make it a great source of energy