Re: what are apparent enviromental impacts associated with wind energy?

Haley,

OK. Start with the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Energy#Environmental_effects

This talks about a few different items, mostly 1) wildlife, 2) noise, 3) materials needed. You'll notice this article is not very well-researched (very few links to outside sources)-- maybe after you've finished your research you can go in and add something!

1) Wildlife. There's a good article on this at howstuffworks: http://science.howstuffworks.com/wind-turbine-kill-birds.htm
Basically, a) yes, wind power turbines can kill birds; b) this can be minimized with proper turbine design and wind farm location; c) most of the stories about this relate to one single wind farm built 20 years ago.

2) Noise. This is a more difficult question, because noise issues, unless you are on an airport runway, are subjective in nature-- some people hear better than others. Hard data on this are hard to come by, especially because nearly all wind power installations are in remote areas with very few people. There is a good discussion here: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/03/listening-to-wind-farm-noise- concerns

3) Materials. In its simplest form, this is the question: "how long must the turbine operate to pay for the cost of making it and installing it?" The answer to this question can be quite complicated, with the answers ranging from 3 to 30 years. The reason this can be hard to calculate exactly is that power output is strongly dependent on wind speed input (for some of the mathematics behind this, try reading about Betz's law).

Expect to learn a lot more about the environmental impacts of wind power over the next few decades. Fossil fuels will become more expensive, and demand for alternatives will grow, almost inevitably. At the present time, the evidence seems to indicate that wind power is relatively much less harmful that the alternative means of obtaining energy by burning fossil fuels.