We need to build a lot of wind turbines. Will Americans agree to live near them?
SalonLate last year, Princeton researchers released a major study modeling different ways the U.S. could reduce its net emissions to zero by 2050 — a target that has been advanced by scientists, and countries around the world, as our best hope for limiting the worst effects of climate change. The study calls "community opposition to visual and land-use impacts of wind" a "potential bottleneck deserving immediate attention." Under one pathway with 100% renewable electricity and aggressive electrification, wind turbines could take up an area as big as Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas combined.Princeton / Net Zero America study Community opposition is already a majorobstacle to the development of wind farms. "These ag-centric communities likely see wind development as one more way for their land to be productive," the authors write in the study. Rand says that as more of the "lowest-hanging fruit" gets taken — sites with good wind that are close to transmission lines and far away from people — researchers expect projects to become more contentious.
History of this topic
Clean energy to meet nearly half of world’s electricity demand by 2030
The IndependentWind farms’ benefits to communities can be slow or complex, leading to opposition and misinformation
Associated Press
Onshore wind more popular with Conservative voters than MPs realise, polls show
The Independent
A key climate question: Are wind farms ugly or beautiful?
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