Will Wind Power Save Us from Foreign Oil?

Highland New Wind Development says on the company website that utilities such as theirs will end our dependence on foreign oil.

That would certainly be wonderful, if it were anywhere close to the truth.

Yes, wind is a renewable source of electricity that does not depend upon Saudi Arabia.
However, electricity accounts for a tiny fraction of our oil use.

According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), oil was used to produce 2% of the electricity consumed in the entire United States in 2007. And the vast majority of that use was classified as "emergency," meaning it accounted for oil and/or fuel used to power back-up generators when electrical grids failed.

Oil, foreign or domestic, simply does not provide electricity to America on an on-going basis.

For more information on electricity production, check out this instructive DOE website:
"http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=electricity_in_the_united_states-basics"

Wind power will not staunch the demand for foreign oil, period. There is quite literally no way it can.

A real reduction in the demand for foreign oil will only be achieved when per capita consumption of oil is reduced. And that will only happen when we stop requiring so much gasoline and other petroleum-based fuels. Reduction in our demand of plastics and plastic-packaging will help reduce our consumption, but is almost insignificant when compared with our insatiable demand for oil-based fuels.

For a complete breakdown on how we use oil in this country, and where it comes from, see another very informative DOE website:
"http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=oil_home-basics"

Wind power utilities are oil consumers.

Oil is used in several places within each wind turbine as well as in the transformers at the facility substations.

These are the places oil is used or stored in a 30 megawatt wind power utility with Gamesa 87 wind turbines located in Vermont:

1. Gear boxes located inside the wind turbine structures, each of which contains 105 gallons of lubricating oil.
2. Pendulum Dampers located in the top tower section, each of which contains 106 gallons of hydrualic oil.
3. Hydraulic Units located inside the wind turbine structures, each of which contains 42 gallons of hydraulic oil.
4. Substation main transformer uses approximately 7,000 gallons of mineral oil.
5. Grounding transformer uses approximately 232 gallons of mineral oil.
6. Miscellaneous oil products in 55-gallon drums (average 4) stored in an Operations and Maintenance building.

Based upon these numbers, one can assume that the Highland New Wind Development will store an absolute minimum of 12,259 gallons of oil products on site at any given time.

Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 112.1 requires facilities with more than 1,320 gallons of aboveground oil storage capacity, where oil discharges might potentially reach navigable waters as defined by Part 112.2, to maintain a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plan. The Highland New Wind facility meets the criteria for needing such a Plan, which must be certified by a registered professional engineer, and reviewed at least every three years and after every spill event.

Click here to view the SPCC Plan for a Vermont utility that is smaller than, but similar to Highland New Wind.