--- title: "Donald Trump Doesn’t Seem to Know Anything About Wind Power" description: "U.S. President Donald Trump claimed in a single speech that he both \"doesn't understand wind\" and has \"studied it better than anybody.\"" date: "2019-12-23" modified: "2019-12-23" authors: - name: "Kristin Houser" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin" url: "https://futurism.com/donald-trump-doesnt-know-wind-power" categories: - "Energy" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" - "Wind" tags: - "donald trump" - "renewable energy" - "wind power" - "wind turbines" --- # Donald Trump Doesn’t Seem to Know Anything About Wind Power ![U.S. President Donald Trump claimed in a single speech that he both “doesn’t understand wind” and has “studied it better than anybody.”]() *\Image: Ivar Leidus/Victor Tangermann\* U.S. President Donald Trump is simultaneously an expert on wind power and completely baffled by it — by his own estimation, anyways. "I never understood wind," Trump said during a [speech]() at conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit on Saturday, according to the [official White House transcript](). "You know, I know windmills very much. I have studied it better than anybody." But the rest of Trump's speech implies that only the first part of that statement is true: he knows very little about wind power other than the fact that [he's against it](). Trump also cited the process used to produce turbines as a mark against them. "They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none," he said, "but they are manufactured, tremendous — if you are into this — tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere." But as [pointed out by *The Hill*](), researchers from the American Wind Energy Association [found that]() a "typical wind project repays its carbon footprint in six months or less." Meanwhile, the benefits of the devices can last for a typical lifespan of [20 to 25 years]() — a good investment no matter how you look at it. Another of Trump's beefs with wind turbines? They kill birds. "You want to see a bird graveyard?" Trump asked the audience. "You just go. Take a look. A bird graveyard. Go under a windmill someday. You’ll see more birds than you’ve ever seen ever in your life... A windmill will kill many bald eagles. It’s true." Though it's hard to say for sure how many bald eagles fall victim to wind turbines, the devices do [kill approximately 234,012 birds]() in the U.S. every year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But for comparison, collisions with glass buildings — like the ones Trump has made a career stamping his name on — kill 599,000,000 birds every year. That's *2,559 times more* birds than turbines. Trump didn't mention that during his speech, but he did trot out another frequent claim: that wind turbines negatively impact property values — and once again, it's clear he [doesn't have his facts straight](). "So they make these things and then they put them up," he told the audience. "And if you own a house within vision of some of these monsters, your house is worth 50 percent of the price." While some [smaller studies]() have found that a nearby wind farm can decrease a home's value, larger studies — including a [2013 analysis]() of more than 50,000 homes in nine states — concluded that turbines have no negative impact on property values. Still, given that Trump has previously claimed that wind turbines decrease home values [by 75 percent](), this new 50 percent figure does get him closer to the truth — so while he clearly doesn't "know windmills very much," his claims about wind energy do appear to be getting slightly most accurate than they've been in the past. Very slightly. **READ MORE:** [Trump rails against windmills: 'I never understood wind']() \[*The Hill*\] **More on wind power:** *[New Research: Texas Could Ditch Coal Entirely for Wind and Solar]()* ### Author social links [LinkedIn]()