How Will Wind Energy Affect Air Pollution?

Wind turbines generate electricity without directly emitting air pollutants that are known to affect the climate and human health. Wind turbines, however, do not operate in a vacuum. They are integrated into the larger electrical grid that includes coal and nuclear plants, natural gas turbines, hydroelectric dams, solar panels and other technologies. The interactions between these electricity sources are complex. If a new wind farm “displaces” a more polluting energy source for example if the wind farm allows a coal-fired power plant to slow down or close the wind farm could reduce air pollution significantly. Accordingly, the pollution-reduction benefits from wind turbines depend on which, if any, fuels they displace. Now that utility-scale wind farms have been in operation around the world for more than two decades, it is possible to evaluate whether wind farms actually reduce air pollution from the electricity sector.