DeKalb county is looking at wind energy options in the southwest part of the county. City of DeKalb Citizen’s Environmental Commission held a wind energy symposium to discuss the impending project. The farm would consist of a number of windmills that would be connected to generators to create energy. The energy generated would be used in homes and businesses in the county. This will also help in combating the energy crisis.
“We need more energy due to an increase in population,” David Goldblum, assistant professor in the Department of Geography said. “There are about three million people born per year, and with this comes greater future demand that we can’t meet. I believe we are in a paradigm shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.”
“Wind Energy will remove a lot of carbon from the atmosphere which in turn will help with combatting the global warming problem,” Lee Schreiner treasurer of Rockford Urban Ministries and owner of Just Goods in Rockford said. “We have the wind turbine up and we are really happy with the results, we have a great deal of interest.”
“On the second floor of our building [there] are six apartments and none of them have ever complained about noise from the turbines,” Schreiner said.
In regards to property value, it is a personal perception and few studies have been done to show an effect, Goldblum said.
Bird deaths are inevitable when constructing windmills, but plans are in the works to address the issue.
“Only 20 to 40 thousand birds are killed per year due to wind turbines, compared to 190 million killed by automobiles,” Goldblum said. “There are studies that are being conducted to determine if layouts could prevent these deaths.”
“Germany has set a goal to be 40 percent dependent on solar energy in the next few decades. The Spanish, Danish and Dutch all plan on wanting to be almost completely off of fossil fuels,” Goldblum said. “When Germany decided to increase their solar electricity by 40 percent, a majority of United States’ companies transferred to Europe because the market is not developing here.”
“Wind energy is an absolute must,” said Stillman Valley resident Mark Anderson. “It’s now or never and if you care at all about your children or the environment, then we need to do this.”