HEALTH AND CLIMATE BENEFITS OF ALTAMONT PASS WIND POWER

WIND POWER CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE!

What kind of air would you like your children to breath? Air emissions from a coal or gas-fired plant or clean, natural air from a wind farm? The decision is obvious - clean, natural air from a wind farm! Wind power can save your life! See more below.

Wind power generation displaces generation from fossil-fired power plants (such as, coal, oil, and natural gas plants), and thus, displaces the resulting emissions and pollution. In 2003 (latest year data is available), power plants in the U.S. emitted 22 million pounds of SO2, 8.9 million pounds of NOx, and 4,560 billion pounds of CO2—pollutants that cause smog and acid rain, plus lung and heart disease, including nearly 24,000 deaths each year, as well as, 38,000 heart attacks each year. Therefore, the increased use of wind power will displace and reduce emissions and pollution, and thus, reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by fossil-fired power plants. 

Human Lives Saved.   The Altamont Pass wind farms, totaling 580 MW of clean power, save roughly five premature deaths each year, plus other respiratory illnesses, including chronic bronchitis and asthma attacks, as well as, cardiovascular illness and lung cancer. Further, over the past 20 years, the Altamont wind farms have saved about 98 premature deaths and 164 heart attacks!

As background, gas, oil and/or coal-fired power plants emit the following harmful pollutants:

• Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), which combine with other pollutants to form ground-level ozone, one of the most noxious parts of the smog brew, plus acid rain. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a deep lung irritant, including lung damage.

• Sulphur Oxides (SOx), which contributes to the yellow haze over many major cities in the U.S., is a major factor in causing acid-rain damage to our lakes, rivers, and forests. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a reactive, soluble gas that is rapidly absorbed by the respiratory tract, causing lung disease and breathing problems.

• Particulate Matter (PM) is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets, composed of many different chemical compounds, including acids, organic chemicals, metals, and dust particles, and also form from other pollutants, such as, NOx, SOx, and acid rain. The larger-diameter PM can be seen as dust, soot or smoke exiting a smoke stack; smaller PM can only be detected using an electron microscope. The smaller PM particles in gases formed/emitted from power plants, pose the greatest health problems because they can lodge deep into your lungs, then move into your bloodstream. Exposure to PM has been associated with a broad range of health effects, including mortality, cancer, asthma and respiratory infections, and cardiovascular problems, such as, heart attacks and heart rhythm (arrhythmias).

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2) causes global warming and climate change (pdf), thereby disrupting ecosystems and causing unstable and dangerous weather patterns. 2005 was the hottest year on record globally, according to NASA. The U.S. EPA reports that global warming is expected to raise the temperature in California by 5° over the next century. As the temperature increases, heat-related deaths increase, smog increases, respiratory illness increases, spread of infectious diseases increase, serious droughts increase, certain species go extinct, crop losses increase, subsurface ocean temperatures become warmer, hurricanes become stronger, icecaps and glaciers melt, sea levels rise causing flooding and billions of dollars of damage to beaches and property along the California coasts, California forests decline, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains snowpack is expected to decrease by 30% to 70%, thereby decreasing a primary source of both water and electrical power, all with a warmer, drier climate.

For more information about global warming and climate change, please visit the following web sites:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency global warming
• State of California Climate Change Portal

• Mercury pollution from fossil-fired power plants is the largest source of mercury pollution (pdf) in the U.S., releasing an estimated 104,000 pounds of the toxin annually into the atmosphere, with the mercury then making its way into lakes and streams and accumulating in fish and wildlife, and humans who consume them. Mercury, even tiny amounts, can have a devastating impact on the human nervous system, especially for children. Exposure to mercury can cause birth defects, and brain and kidney damage—and even death. “Don’t Eat the Fish” warnings now occur at thousands of U.S. lakes and streams, alerting people that eating fish from those bodies of water could result in neurological damage from the contamination of fish with toxic mercury. California has advised against consuming fish caught in 40 miles of its rivers and 64,024 acres of its lakes due to mercury contamination.

When 580 MW of clean, renewable power generation from the Altamont wind farms displace fossil-fired generation, the emissions and pollution savings are estimated as follows:

The emissions and pollution saved during the 20-year life of the Altamont wind farms—over 24 billion pounds of NOx, SOx, PM and CO2—would cover the City of Oakland (54 square miles—see photo) about 400 feet deep! 

Further, these air pollutants would cause the following estimated human health impacts:

(However, please note that the values above are based upon complex epidemiological and toxicological studies that provide extrapolations and best estimates of morbidity and mortality, which are effected by differences in population distributions, meteorological patterns, assumed health effects, and other model components.)

Most recently, a study completed in the Los Angeles basin by University of Southern California in 2006, indicates that deaths and heart attacks caused by Particulate Matter could be two to three times higher than previous estimates. That is, compared to the values above, the Altamont wind farms could be saving upwards of 300 deaths and 500 heart attacks.

Therefore, clean, renewable power generation from the Altamont wind farms prevents the health impacts shown above, assuming displacement of gas-fired generation; coal-fired generation (which makes up about 29% of the power mix in California [2006 forecast]) has substantially more health impacts compared with gas or oil.

Further, both children and the elderly are more susceptible to health problems and death caused by air pollution. For a better understanding of the health impacts from air pollution, please see the brochure Effects of Common Air Pollutants (pdf).  For more information about the impacts of air pollution in California, please see the Health Effects of PM and Ozone Air Pollution (pdf), prepared by the California EPA and American Lung Association of California.

For more information about air pollution and its health impacts, please visit the following web links:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• California Air Resources Board
• Bay Area Air Quality Management District
• Clear the Air

Birds/Wildlife Benefits. Not only does the use of clean, natural wind power save human lives, it also saves the lives of birds and other wildlife. Birds are far more sensitive to pollution than humans due to the thinness of the bird’s lung’s air-sac gas-exchange tissue, roughly half of the thickness of mammals, plus the large amounts of oxygen required for flight. Therefore, birds are far more sensitive to airborne particulates and pollution—for example, miners use birds in their coal mines to sense certain gases before it becomes a problem for humans. Birds absorb almost twice as much air pollution in their respiratory system as humans. Therefore, the Altamont Pass wind farms save birds!

The National Audubon Society strongly supports wind power because of its clean energy benefits to the climate and thus birds – please see the article, For the Birds: Audubon Society Stands Up in Support of Wind Energy (pdf).

For more information about climate change and its impacts on wildlife, see the paper Season Creep, How Global Warming is Already Affecting the World Around Us (pdf).

Huge Health Savings. Further, the economic burdens placed on society from air pollution created by fossil-fired power generation is huge—the costs to “medicate” and “repair” our society, based upon the various air pollution values above over 20 years, is roughly estimated at $1 billion, which comprises health care and disease costs, plus damage to crops, property, etc., as well as, impacts to public services. Therefore, the clean, renewable power from Altamont Pass wind farms save our society roughly $1 billion over 20 years in health and societal costs. (In addition, the economic benefits for the local economy from the Altamont Pass wind farms is estimated at roughly $1 billion, including property taxes, payroll, land lease rent paid to farmers, etc.)

In conclusion, society has greatly benefited from the Altamont Pass wind farms!