Wind farms

Sep 29, 2010 23:07


I wanted to take an opportunity to respond to some of the more usual complaints against wind farms, generally found in newspaper letters pages, and here is as good a place as any.

* "Wind farms are ugly". This is a statement of opinion, not fact. Other people find them serene and calm, perhaps even beautiful. Roads may be ugly but because they are ( Read more... )

via ljapp

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Comments 24

banhe September 29 2010, 22:40:21 UTC
"Wind farms are ugly"

You are entirely correct about this being subjective - to the extent that I know someone whose first response (as a recent arrival to the UK) to seeing a wind-farm at close quarters for the first time was to delightedly assume that the turbine blades near the road were part of some kind of art installation. I approve wholeheartedly of that response, by the way.

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plucky_lass September 30 2010, 08:49:03 UTC
There are some beautifu wind turbines on the route from us to the ferry - the bottom is painted in gradiated green so it gently blends in with the background and it works really well.

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jobob_80 September 30 2010, 19:58:28 UTC
On the other hand, I think that German law requires bands of red paint to be applied to the blades at particular intervals to make them more visible. In China, of course, you do what the government says and keep your mouth shut :) We are allowed to paint them in the UK if we want, but actually white turbine against a White sky works fairly well.

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jobob_80 September 30 2010, 20:14:33 UTC
On the topic of personalizing wind farms, one of our wind farms has each turbine with a name painted on the outside. Apparently they were submitted by local primary school children at the wind farm opening. Some of the more memorable names include "Tina Turbine" and "The Turbinator" :)

Community outreach at its simplest and perhaps its most effective.

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randomdiversion September 29 2010, 22:48:38 UTC
Wind farms kill birds.

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hubcap_reloaded September 30 2010, 15:25:05 UTC
So does my Dad, but no-one in the countryside objects to his presence.

Same with Tescos, come to think about it. :-)

George Q

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biggingerdave October 1 2010, 21:16:14 UTC
Err, *Zing*? I'll have to keep that in my bag-o-witty-retorts.

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jobob_80 September 30 2010, 17:57:39 UTC
They do, but not as often as you might think. To injure a bird, the bird has to actually fly into some part of the turbine, and although they're large they are mostly empty space. Sky scrapers also kill birds, and far more for a given height than wind turbines.
Besides, in the UK we undertake extremely detailed surveys of each proposed site in conjunction with the RSPB to identify local nesting and migration routes. If issues are raised, the layout can be changed to minimise the danger.

Bats have it harder, as simply flying too close to a wind turbine can cause catastrophic lung failure in a bat. This is less of an issue in the UK as bats are relatively uncommon, but I've seen examples of wind farms on the continent where bat activity has required the wind farm to close down each sunset during the summer months.

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captain_caveman September 29 2010, 22:55:57 UTC
Windfarms look awesome but people look at me funny when I stick a bucket on me head and challenge them to a fight. :D

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rose_kolodny September 30 2010, 10:52:57 UTC
XKCD did a version of this joke already

Link to XKCD Windfarm Strip

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randomdiversion September 30 2010, 15:53:59 UTC
I love XKCD.

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Wind farms... ctrlalttabby September 30 2010, 01:44:35 UTC
I should make my husband read your post... one of the local hardware stores has a wind turbine on sale, and he was talking about getting it for your yard ("Windy City" suburbs and all). Not that I should really encourage him to spend money, of course.

If LiveJournal had "Like" buttons, I'd LIKE Captain Caveman's comment.

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Re: Wind farms... jobob_80 September 30 2010, 18:01:09 UTC
City locations aren't generally the best for wind power: as anyone who's ever walked through town with an umbrella knows, city wind is distorted by buildings into something gusty and prone to direction changes. Unless you've got a good grant or a nicely exposed garden with few trees/ tall buildings nearby, a wind turbine may not be the best renewable solution.

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Re: Wind farms... ctrlalttabby September 30 2010, 18:09:41 UTC
We actually have the nicely exposed garden, in a residential area with hardly any tall buildings. :)

Besides, the solar panels for the roof will cost a lot more, and it'll be a few years before we need to bother with the roof anyways.

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Re: Wind farms... jobob_80 September 30 2010, 19:53:37 UTC
Sounds great!

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hubcap_reloaded September 30 2010, 15:23:43 UTC
As you say, any solution to the energy problem must be multi-faceted - while I'm a big beleiver than nuclear must be a big part of any solution, I'll also admit that renewables supporting that must also be in place and that the environmental hassle involved in nuclear is enough that we can't eschew using other greener alternatives where possible. The battery analogy is a good one, I think - tools all have a purpose and it's essential to keep that in mind ( ... )

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jobob_80 September 30 2010, 20:10:35 UTC
You may be right: we may get further if we try to reintroduce a sense of wonder at what we've achieved so far in just delivering reliable electricity to all homes. Perhaps then "doing it differently" wouldn't seem so impossible.

It's a good point about the urban/rural dichotomy. But on the other hand, many rural locations are crying out for an identity and something which provides local jobs for local people. Rural power stations and the associated grid infrastructure they require could provide that and enable more people to relocate /away/ from cities and commuter belts. The most significant rural industry may be tourism, but that doesn't mean other industries have to be banned. Besides, Whitelee windfarm near East Kilbride has a very successful visitor's centre.

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hubcap_reloaded October 1 2010, 08:34:09 UTC
...many rural locations are crying out for an identity and something which provides local jobs for local people. Rural power stations and the associated grid infrastructure they require could provide that and enable more people to relocate /away/ from cities and commuter belts. I think that's probably an argument worth pressing with critics - even if they don't like windfarms for one of a variety of reasons, the boon to the local economy may be something they're willing to put up with them for. At the very least, the trickle down effect from all those workers stopping at petrol stations on the way in and out of work has to count for something ( ... )

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