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0 pointsangelgonzales3d ago0 comments

Does the offshore wind energy costs include externalities of fabricating, assembling, shipping, installing, maintaining and decommissioning the turbines? Does it also include bird losses and whale harms?

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triceratops2d ago

Does the gas turbine include externalities of fabricating, assembling, shipping installing, maintaining, and decommissioning oil drilling rigs? And of shipping, storing, and burning the gas? And the climate change caused by gas leaks? And the harms to humans, the fishing industry, and bird losses and whale harms by oil spills (I know you really care about those)?

hedora2d ago

I really want to know how in the hell whales are getting stuck in wind turbine blades. I want to see a video of this happening.

There's also the externality of paying for the natural gas, which is passed on to the consumer in the form of higher energy bills.

It probably also makes sense to include the $800M we are burning per day right now on patriot missiles (assuming the stockpile hasn't been depleted yet).

thunfischtoast2d ago

The argument is that vibrations of the wind power plants at sea disturb the whales.

Paying for the gas itself would not be an externality. Externalities are for example the worldwide damages caused by extreme weather which is caused by climate change, health problems caused by air pollution or the usage of clean water for cooling

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myvoiceismypass2d ago

The biggest harm to whales is indeed human-based, but more along the lines of being collateral damage from the fishing industry.

thunfischtoast3d ago

The project life cycle cost: yes. The birds and whales: no. But neither do the fossil power plants.

bjourne3d ago

Yes.

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