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Title: Should Wind Power Be Pursued as a Form of Alternative Energy in Canada?

Different forms of electricity creation have been the hot topic for debate and wind energy is considered as one of the most effective forms of energy production. Wind power or wind energy is the process which makes use of wind to generate electricity. The kinetic energy in wind is changed into mechanical power by the wind turbines and a generator is used to change mechanical power into electricity. The future of this form of energy production seems promising, at a glance. However, the controversial issue is, if wind power is one of the best ways to fight climate changes, why it is not supported by many people. Some argue that it is one of the best ways of producing energy while others discourage it because it causes noise pollution ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"6pV6ixv6","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(AMY CRAWFORD)","plainCitation":"(AMY CRAWFORD)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":742,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/TQMAIGHG"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/TQMAIGHG"],"itemData":{"id":742,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Bad Vibes: Why Some People Are Against Wind Turbines","container-title":"Boston Magazine","abstract":"Find out why some say wind power is their worst nightmare. Learn about wind turbine syndrome, noise, and other issues that bother people about windmills.","URL":"https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2014/01/28/wind-turbines/","title-short":"Bad Vibes","language":"en-US","author":[{"family":"AMY CRAWFORD","given":""}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014",1,28]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,29]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (CRAWFORD, 1). While others highly favour wind energy as a sustainable source of energy production ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"HjveE8u5","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}Social & Economic Benefits\\uc0\\u8221{})","plainCitation":"(“Social & Economic Benefits”)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":732,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/IGB4HG3K"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/IGB4HG3K"],"itemData":{"id":732,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Social & Economic Benefits","container-title":"Canadian Wind Energy Association","abstract":"Wind energy developments are making positive and lasting economic contributions while helping to diversify communities across Canada Host communities are realizing significant economic and social benefits through new municipal tax revenues, plus stable income for farmers and landowners from land lease agreements. Wind energy is creating new high-value jobs, providing employment opportunities for local trades-people …","URL":"https://canwea.ca/wind-facts/social-economic-benefits/","language":"en-US","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“Social & Economic Benefits”, n.p). The association of wind power with economic and social benefits indicates that it should be perused as an alternative source of energy in Canada.

Wind energy is one of the most appreciated sources of producing electricity and it is admired at a greater level. One primary reason for which wind energy should be considered as a potential alternative source of energy production is the economic benefit. Economic benefits of wind energy have been realized and understood by many experts. It has the potential to create a wide array of benefits to the nation and economy through tax income and stable income for the landlords from lease agreements. Countless economic benefits can be produced from the wind energy sector such as high-value jobs, modern employment opportunities for contractors and local trades-persons. Operational wind farms result in many full-time jobs as well. Also, wind energy projects bring direct investment from an infusion of dollars to retail businesses and local services and the contracts of raw materials as well. According to a report released on May 2019 by Clean Energy Canada, Missing the Bigger Picture, the clean energy sector of Canada employed about 298000 jobs in the year 2017 (“Canada’s Clean Energy Sector Is Big, Growing Fast—and Largely Unknown”, n.p). In addition, this sector is known to increase at a rate of 4.8% every year. Moreover, the renewable energy source is one of the largest sectors of Canada that accounts for contributing almost 40% of the GDP ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"LVbP0Rfy","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}Canada\\uc0\\u8217{}s Clean Energy Sector Is Big, Growing Fast\\uc0\\u8212{}and Largely Unknown\\uc0\\u8221{})","plainCitation":"(“Canada’s Clean Energy Sector Is Big, Growing Fast—and Largely Unknown”)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":735,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/9T5GR7RW"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/9T5GR7RW"],"itemData":{"id":735,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Canada’s clean energy sector is big, growing fast—and largely unknown","container-title":"Clean Energy Canada","abstract":"VANCOUVER — A significant part of Canada’s energy sector has been booming in recent years—but has anybody noticed? Canada’s clean energy sector employed 298,000 Canadians as of 2017. What’s more, it’s growing in value by 4.8% every year—a third faster than Canada’s economy as a whole (3.6%). But while political fights over oil pipelines dominate …","URL":"https://cleanenergycanada.org/canadas-clean-energy-sector-is-big-growing-fast-and-largely-unknown/","language":"en-US","issued":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,23]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“Canada’s Clean Energy Sector Is Big, Growing Fast—and Largely Unknown”, n.p). Wind energy is providing high-quality jobs to the fresh graduates, and for every new job created in the industry, spin-off jobs in the other associated degrees are also created. Other results from the Compass Renewable Energy Consulting study of 2015, Ontario’s wind energy industry is expected to generate personal earnings of almost $4.6 billion and addition to $6.2 billion to the GDP of the province by the year 2030 ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"HjveE8u5","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}Social & Economic Benefits\\uc0\\u8221{})","plainCitation":"(“Social & Economic Benefits”)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":732,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/IGB4HG3K"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/IGB4HG3K"],"itemData":{"id":732,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Social & Economic Benefits","container-title":"Canadian Wind Energy Association","abstract":"Wind energy developments are making positive and lasting economic contributions while helping to diversify communities across Canada Host communities are realizing significant economic and social benefits through new municipal tax revenues, plus stable income for farmers and landowners from land lease agreements. Wind energy is creating new high-value jobs, providing employment opportunities for local trades-people …","URL":"https://canwea.ca/wind-facts/social-economic-benefits/","language":"en-US","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“Social & Economic Benefits”, n.p).

Wind energy is also associated with many environmental and social benefits. Creating wind energy is a great way to reduce the negative environmental impacts of generating electricity from other sources. The conventional sources of energy production make use of fossil fuels and result in devastating impacts on the environment. Wind energy needs no fuel and therefore produces no greenhouse gases and pollution. Canada can also obtain a wide range of social and environmental benefits from wind energy production. Geography of Canada makes it most suitable for wind energy production. Increase placement of wind energy will result in a decline in the greenhouse gases and air contaminants. For instance, it is estimated that a sole setting up of six 65 kW wind turbines will be able to produce about 1 million kWh of electricity in one year in Newfoundland. This will reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by approximately 750 tons ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Vcg4YUnz","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Canada)","plainCitation":"(Canada)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":730,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/CMNYK96S"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/CMNYK96S"],"itemData":{"id":730,"type":"webpage","title":"Wind Energy","abstract":"Site menu for NRCan internet website.","URL":"https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/energy-sources-distribution/renewables/wind-energy/7299","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Canada","given":"Natural Resources"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009",8,14]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Canada, n.p). The impacts of other sources of energy production are very devastating for the environment. The heavy utility bills and paid gasoline is merely the monetary cost of fossil fuels. Some of the externalities may not be obvious such as the cost of increasing diseases like cancer and asthma resulting from environmental pollution. Besides, fossil fuels extraction, underground mining and surface mining damage the surface of the earth, kills miners, stripes trees, and also effect the public health at a greater scale. Owing to the environmental cost, distributed energy sources is the need of the hour and wind energy is the most competitive of all ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"J3QtW57b","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Akorede et al.)","plainCitation":"(Akorede et al.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":741,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/3ZCQ35NY"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/3ZCQ35NY"],"itemData":{"id":741,"type":"article-journal","title":"Distributed energy resources and benefits to the environment","container-title":"Renewable and sustainable energy reviews","page":"724-734","volume":"14","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Akorede","given":"Mudathir Funsho"},{"family":"Hizam","given":"Hashim"},{"family":"Pouresmaeil","given":"Edris"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Akorede et al., 728). The cost that can be saved from this renewable and unlimited domestic source of energy can be used in other projects that can be beneficial for society. They can also be used to reduce the impact of pollution and revive the damaged environment through different programs that need investment. Being a clean fuel source, it is considered as one of the most suitable ways of electricity production. Also, it is a domestic and cheap source of energy that can take a nation away from all the dirty sources of energy production. It is a highly sustainable source because it depends on sunlight and wind which can never deplete. Wind energy can meet Canada’s power demands and its significance as the most reliable source of energy cannot be denied. The landscape of Canada and its gusty coastlines have high potential to set up wind power plants and turbines ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"uI1UnSqm","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Pros and Cons of Wind Power | Globalnews.Ca})","plainCitation":"(Pros and Cons of Wind Power | Globalnews.Ca)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":737,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/ZSJKRE2N"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/ZSJKRE2N"],"itemData":{"id":737,"type":"webpage","title":"Pros and cons of wind power | Globalnews.ca","abstract":"<p>Wind has emerged as a natural super power as Canada continues to develop more environmentally friendly sources of energy but the increase in popularity has sparked a debate about the impact of wind as a reliable source of energy. </p>","URL":"https://globalnews.ca/news/165249/pros-and-cons-of-wind-power/","language":"en","issued":{"date-parts":[["2011",10,12]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,29]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Pros and Cons of Wind Power | Globalnews.Ca, n.p).

Despite the numerous benefits of wind energy as the most admirable source of energy production, the opponents have various pints to discourage the wind power turbines and setting. One of many causes is that wind power turbines cause damage to the ecosystem. Wind turbines are highly rejected because migrating birds can be damaged due to their wings. However, a study indicates that the number of birds that are damaged due to the wind power turbines killed about 20,000 birds in the US but 330,000 birds got murdered due to fossil fuels and nuclear sources of energy production ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"e8pBak7a","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Sovacool)","plainCitation":"(Sovacool)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":734,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/6223HD6M"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/6223HD6M"],"itemData":{"id":734,"type":"article-journal","title":"The avian benefits of wind energy: A 2009 update","container-title":"Renewable Energy","page":"19-24","volume":"49","author":[{"family":"Sovacool","given":"Benjamin K."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Sovacool, 23). Global warming and other sources of energy production are going to cause more damage to wildlife and the ecosystem ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"UWc6cSxk","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Sovacool)","plainCitation":"(Sovacool)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":734,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/6223HD6M"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/6223HD6M"],"itemData":{"id":734,"type":"article-journal","title":"The avian benefits of wind energy: A 2009 update","container-title":"Renewable Energy","page":"19-24","volume":"49","author":[{"family":"Sovacool","given":"Benjamin K."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Sovacool, 22). A few birds are a small price to pay for the clean renewable energy considering the benefits it can produce. Moreover, opponents are concerned that wind turbines cause noise pollution and disturb the aesthetics of the environment by blocking the serene view of the environment ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"6pV6ixv6","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(AMY CRAWFORD)","plainCitation":"(AMY CRAWFORD)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":742,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/TQMAIGHG"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/TQMAIGHG"],"itemData":{"id":742,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Bad Vibes: Why Some People Are Against Wind Turbines","container-title":"Boston Magazine","abstract":"Find out why some say wind power is their worst nightmare. Learn about wind turbine syndrome, noise, and other issues that bother people about windmills.","URL":"https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2014/01/28/wind-turbines/","title-short":"Bad Vibes","language":"en-US","author":[{"family":"AMY CRAWFORD","given":""}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014",1,28]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,29]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (CRAWFORD, 2). The facts prove that the nuclear forms of energy production are causing major damage to the beauty of the environment by damaging forests and earth surface.

To sum up the discussion, a detailed analysis of the economic and social benefits of wind energy has been conducted. The need of the hour is distributed sources of energy and mother earth cannot rely on nuclear forms of energy. Canada can obtain various advantages from the renewable and domestic sources of energy. Other social and environmental benefits are also countless. A few precautionary measures and little investment is needed to save the ecosystem. The analysis reveals that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and the little cost of noise and damage to birds is nil in comparison with the externalities caused by the other sources of energy production.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Akorede, Mudathir Funsho, et al. “Distributed Energy Resources and Benefits to the Environment.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 14, no. 2, 2010, pp. 724–34.

AMY CRAWFORD. “Bad Vibes: Why Some People Are Against Wind Turbines.” Boston Magazine, 28 Jan. 2014, https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2014/01/28/wind-turbines/.

Canada, Natural Resources. Wind Energy. 14 Aug. 2009, https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/energy-sources-distribution/renewables/wind-energy/7299.

“Canada’s Clean Energy Sector Is Big, Growing Fast—and Largely Unknown.” Clean Energy Canada, 23 May 2019, https://cleanenergycanada.org/canadas-clean-energy-sector-is-big-growing-fast-and-largely-unknown/.

Pros and Cons of Wind Power | Globalnews.Ca. 12 Oct. 2011, https://globalnews.ca/news/165249/pros-and-cons-of-wind-power/.

“Social & Economic Benefits.” Canadian Wind Energy Association, https://canwea.ca/wind-facts/social-economic-benefits/. Accessed 28 July 2019.

Sovacool, Benjamin K. “The Avian Benefits of Wind Energy: A 2009 Update.” Renewable Energy, vol. 49, 2013, pp. 19–24.