Wind power just doesn't make sense...

The Financial Post published two opinion pieces on wind power...one for wind by Amory Lovins, and one against by Michael J. Trebilcock excerpted below...

1 If electricity generated by wind power is competitive with other forms of electricity generation, why does it require such large subsidies? In 2008, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported the following relative subsidies, on a dollar-per-megawatt-hour basis, for 2007: natural gas at 25¢, coal at 44¢, hydro at 67¢, nuclear at $1.59 — and wind at $23.37. And why is the proposed feed-in tariff for wind power in Ontario ($13.5 per kilowatt hour) and related costs at least twice the prevailing price for electricity in the province? If wind power is competitive, why doesn’t the wind industry renounce all subsidies?

2 If wind power has had such a dramatic impact on carbon emissions in Denmark, why is it that European Environment Agency data show that carbon emissions in Denmark have been essentially flat over the period 1990-2007 (with some year-to-year variation), while wind production has increased dramatically over this period? Why “adjust” these emission figures downwards to reflect electricity exports (sold at a substantial loss) when these are displacing carbon-free hydro and nuclear power in neighbouring countries?

3 Given the meagre and intermittent electricity output from wind turbines, how can it possibly displace most conventional sources of power? In his recent book, Sustainable Energy — Without the Hot Air (UIT), reviewed by The Economist magazine, David Mackay’s estimates imply that to replace 90% of existing electricity generation in the U.K. with wind power, the entire country would have to be blanketed with wind turbines. Even if wind turbines can displace some conventional sources of electricity, what is gained by this when, as in Ontario, 75% of current generation output is already carbon-free and when hydro-abundant provinces could substantially increase clean electricity exports to the United States (displacing dirty electricity there) if domestic electricity were priced at its opportunity costs (with rebates to low-income consumers)?

4 How credible are claims that wind power can create significant new “green” jobs, when either higher production costs to electricity-intensive industries, or higher subsidies and hence tax burdens, are likely to kill far more jobs?