The evil that is WIND POWER!!!!

Tmy

Philosopher
Tmy
Joined
Oct 23, 2002
Messages
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Here in Mass. theres been alot of talk of putting wind turbines in areas off the Nantcuket, cape Cod , and other Coastal zones.

Youd think more popel would be into it. THe town of Hull (near Boston) has a widnmill that supposably saves the town $100,000 a year in electric payments. Its right next to the highschools ball fields. (wont someone think of the children!!!)

People really freakout over the idea. That the windmills will kill birds, or the "deafining" whooshing sound it makes, then theres the old property devalue of having a big old windmill around.

I think they are kinda cool looking. Much nicer than the cell phone towers that dot the landscape.

Is this just more NIMBY (not in my backyard) bitching?? Or are windmills the new version of the evil NukePower plants
 
Tmy said:
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Is this just more NIMBY (not in my backyard) bitching?? Or are windmills the new version of the evil NukePower plants
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It's that windmill waste product that's so bad. Where are they going to store it? Spent wind is ... well ... stinky.

:p Heh heh. Scatology is way underrated.
 
Tmy said:

Is this just more NIMBY (not in my backyard) bitching??
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Yep. As someone who likes to protect the environment, It really vexes me that after years of crying "Stop building power stations! Start using renewable energy instead!" environmentalists are now whinging about the visual impact of windmills.

Words fail. Really. There was a Welsh bloke on the news today complaining about a plan to put up a small wind farm on a hill near his house. Certainly it would be preferable to have another coal-fired power station instead - well, so long as it was built on somebody else's hill :mad:
 
Is it environmentalists who are upset about the visual impact of windmills?

Personally, I think the modern ones look incredible. I would so support their usage. It's a shame St. Louis doesn't have a steady stream of air to make it work. Places like Kansas would make a killing though, I imagine.
 
We've got the very same ruckus going on in my town in western Michigan. We get decent breezes off Lake Michigan, and some truly enormous (300+ foot diameter) turbines have been proposed by a wind-power company. We've got the usual opponent cries of birds being killed, property values being killed, whooshing noise, and what happens if the rotor disintegrates.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10452839&BRD=2052&PAG=461&dept_id=381172&rfi=6

did
 
Re: Re: The evil that is WIND POWER!!!!

richardm said:


Yep. As someone who likes to protect the environment, It really vexes me that after years of crying "Stop building power stations! Start using renewable energy instead!" environmentalists are now whinging about the visual impact of windmills.
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Some environmentalists care about the environment, as evidenced for their strong support for nuclear power as opposed to, for instance, coal power.

Some obviously don't care about the environemnt, because they object to any kind of energy, when it comes around to actually building it and using it.

What they seem to be is anti-energy-supply. Why, really, I don't know.
 
Tmy said:
Is this just more NIMBY (not in my backyard) bitching??
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I've heard that there is a term that is related to "NIMBY" called "BANANA": Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone. (Has anyone else heard this term bandied about?)

There are some large windmill installations in the northern midwest. I think they look neat, almost hypnotic.
 
In Ireland people are learning about some adverse environmental side effects of windfarms.

One farm, being constructed in Galway has led to an entire mountain becoming destablised. a massive mudslide has ensued, engulfing houses, road, just about anything in its path.

The worst bit is that the sludge has (or way about to) spill into the local lake, killing off all the wildlife and ruining the water supply for the region.

Maybe a nuclear reactor would have been a safer environmental bet.
 
Of course the most absurd thing about windfarms is that they don't replace much in the way of conventional electricity production, because you need to keep coal/gas/nuclear fired generators operating at the same time to make up the supply shortfall when the wind decides to stop blowing.
 
Re: Re: The evil that is WIND POWER!!!!

Brown said:
There are some large windmill installations in the northern midwest. I think they look neat, almost hypnotic.
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Yes, and there are some big farms out in the CA desert, between Joshua Tree and Palm Springs. I love that drive because of the windmills. OTOH, it's a real bear keeping the car on the road with the winds they get there.
 
Re: Re: Re: The evil that is WIND POWER!!!!

roger said:
Yes, and there are some big farms out in the CA desert, between Joshua Tree and Palm Springs. I love that drive because of the windmills. OTOH, it's a real bear keeping the car on the road with the winds they get there.
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I hear that! Get rid of the damn things so I can make that drive without the wind.;)
 
I always wondered this, but why dont they contruct wind generators on top of skyscrapers?
 
Drooper said:
In Ireland people are learning about some adverse environmental side effects of windfarms.

One farm, being constructed in Galway has led to an entire mountain becoming destablised. a massive mudslide has ensued, engulfing houses, road, just about anything in its path.

The worst bit is that the sludge has (or way about to) spill into the local lake, killing off all the wildlife and ruining the water supply for the region.

Maybe a nuclear reactor would have been a safer environmental bet.
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Being that I live in Ireland I have heard plenty about the destruction and devastation that these mudslides have caused. Terrible.
Thing is it sounds more like planning errors were the cause than the windmills...

toni
 
There is that brand of environmentalism that seems to be against anything that supports human life, that finds fault with everything and refuses to compare any technology with its alternative.
 
Re: Re: Re: The evil that is WIND POWER!!!!

roger said:
Yes, and there are some big farms out in the CA desert, between Joshua Tree and Palm Springs. I love that drive because of the windmills. OTOH, it's a real bear keeping the car on the road with the winds they get there.
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Hey, I live there! I ride my bike next to the windmill farms every morning. There's a frontage road next to I-10 that I ride on. As for the windmills being loud, that doesn't appear to be the case. When it is very windy, you can just about hear them, but the wind itself is much louder.

--Terry.
 
I love the idea of wind generated energy. Solar power, too.

I've driven past the wind farms on I-10 about 100 times. When I was a kid we used to pass them on the way to visit relatives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Does anyone know which large corporations are working on these technologies? I'd really like to buy their stock. I'm pretty sure Kyocera is one of them. Does anyone else know of others?
 
diddidit said:
We've got the very same ruckus going on in my town in western Michigan. We get decent breezes off Lake Michigan, and some truly enormous (300+ foot diameter) turbines have been proposed by a wind-power company. We've got the usual opponent cries of birds being killed, property values being killed, whooshing noise, and what happens if the rotor disintegrates.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10452839&BRD=2052&PAG=461&dept_id=381172&rfi=6

did
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Birds also smack into autos and die on power lines and electric fences. Are they going to do away with those items, as well?

There are quite a few of these wind powered generators in Southern California. They are kind of cool looking. I-5 would be more boring than it already is without them. (It is a long straight stretch with almost nothing to look at and a few cattle farms to smell)

I understand the newer designs are more efficient (OK duh) than these old beasts.
 
When I last flew into Denmark, there seemed to be a large wond farm just off the coast near Copenhagen, it looked amazing.

I also like the way that the turbines have been spread throughout the landscape, makes each one seem a little less weird.

I know they're a small country with a relatively small population and low energy needs (efficent buidlings, few energy intensive industries, expensive energy (good way of encouraging less energy use)) but they really seem to have tackled this with enthusiasm
 
Upchurch said:
Is it environmentalists who are upset about the visual impact of windmills?
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Yeah, they are, as well as the people who will live near them. I phrased that badly, originally. I'm sure that the environmentalists who were campaigning for a move to windmills are not the same ones who are campaigning against them ;)
 
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