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CLAIM
Windmills could turn until it falls apart but never produce the energy taken to make them.
A Video shows a windmill shattered during a storm.
FACT
Windmills can easily produce the energy taken to make them and surpass it to successfully run for many years offering net benefits. A modern windmill will offer a net benefit within five to eight months of operation.
The video of the Windmill shattering is actually a computer-generated video and not real.
WHAT THEY SAY
Multiple posts consisting of a video of a Windmill Turbine exploding and breaking during a storm are going viral across social media platforms. Users are sharing it believing it is genuine footage of a windmill shattered during a storm. The particular post mentioned below has a “#ClimateScam” which points to the fact that it has been uploaded as part of the ‘climate change denial’ narrative.
Here is one such Twitter post:
Another content going viral in a meme or a text format states ‘Wind farm windmills are made up of 260 tons of steel that require 300 tons of iron ore and 170 tons of coking coal, all mined, transported and produced by hydrocarbons. A windmill could turn until it falls apart and it will never produce the energy taken to make it.’
Here is one such Twitter post:
WHAT WE FOUND
We have of late noticed that there is a sudden wave of misinformation/disinformation and misleading information involving windmills on social media. Some of them are being used as a part of the larger ‘climate change denial’ narrative. Here, we try to debunk and explain two such claims involving windmills that are going viral on Twitter.
We found that the video of the turbine exploding is actually CGI and also the meme or text stating that a windmill can never produce the energy taken to make it is not accurate.
CGI Video used for a false claim
The video of the Windmill shattering is actually a computer-generated video and not real. We searched online for the origins of the video and found a website that stated ‘This footage originates from the Reddit category called “simulated”. The video is therefore VFX/CGI work and not real. Possible source: yo_dojo (Travis Sattler) on Instagram.’
We looked up the Instagram profile mentioned on the site and saw that it was indeed uploaded on February 21, 2019. Among the hashtags in the post, we noticed some that make it clear that it is actually a simulated video. The Instagram profile has many such videos of 3D simulations. Here’s the post.
Text selectively excerpted, taken out of context
While using reverse image search for information on the viral meme with the passage about windmills, we came across an article, published in May 2018 on a website that looked like an explainer for the misleading contents of the viral meme. The article was published by Professor and Author Thomas Homer-Dixon with the headline “No . . . I did not say wind energy is ‘Idiot Power’”. The article had an image that had a photo of windmills as well text that is similar to the viral meme, the only difference being, that it was attributed to Thomas Homer-Dixon, Carbon Shift.
Homer-Dixon termed the contents as fraudulent, explaining that the text is selectively excerpted from a chapter written by David Hughes in Carbon Shift (2009), a book Homer-Dixon had co-edited. The article has the full text and the words omitted on the circulated poster are enclosed in square brackets:
Screenshot taken from Thomas Homer-Dixon’s website
Energy payback of Windmills
Energy payback of a Windmill is the period of time for which a windmill needs to be in operation before it has generated as much electricity as it consumes in its lifecycle. The lifecycle of a windmill refers to the entire production cycle of a wind turbine, including the extraction and manufacturing of raw materials and the subsequent manufacture of wind turbines, setting up, operating and finally dismantling and disposing of the windmill.
A 2015 study says that the energy payback of a modern windmill is between 6-9 months considering factors like how windy the location is.
The duration of time taken for the negative environmental impact from the laying of peat for the construction of a wind farm to be offset by the positive environmental impact of generating clean energy is called Carbon Payback.
A study, published in 2019 states that the carbon payback for wind turbines is in fact shorter than what was previously believed. The research, carried out at the largest community wind farm in the UK by a German student, Katharina Lutz, found that instead of the previously widely accepted estimate of 2.3 years, the turbines at Beinn Ghrideag had a payback time of just 47 days!
For offshore wind turbines, however, the payback time may take a little longer considering their marginally higher generation outweighed by the extra steel required.
Another study of emissions of windmills in Texas (USA) says that compared to carbon dioxide intensity of 792grams CO2 /kWh of electricity produced by an average coal power plant, wind power generation produces 1.8% emissions, a substantial 98.2% reduction in emissions. ‘Wind power has a carbon footprint 99% less than coal-fired power plants, 98% less than natural gas, and a surprise 75% less than solar,’ states a report on a study by Bernstein Research’s Analyst Deepa Venkateswaran.
