Wind-power backers say criticism keeps many quiet

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3203150&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20GLINnews%20%28GLIN%20Daily%20News%29

Wind-power backers say criticism keeps many quiet

By DON CROSBY, SUN TIMES CORRESPONDENT

Some local wind-energy supporters say the more they speak out, the more verbal abuse and threats they receive, despite evidence of widespread backing for turbines in Ontario.

Ripley-area farmer and wind energy supporter Jutta Splettstoesser noted an Ipsos Reid poll conducted last July that surveyed 1,361 adults across Ontario and indicated 89% of those surveyed support wind energy in their region of the province.

…

But wind-power supporters say rhetoric from opponents is becoming more strident and personal.

…

"Splettstoesser needs to be tied to a wind turbine blade down at Clear Creek to be spun around a few times to learn something," a person was quoted as saying in a newspaper story posted on the website this spring. The story was later removed from the website at the reporter's request.

…

[madrchsod]

1. almost the same thing here in northern illinois.

someone is pouring money into the anti wind turbine campaign here and tempers have been flaring at the various county meetings. there`s a film and dvd that is circulating that is anti turbine. the film was shown at my local theater with a question and answer after the film. this was`t a grass roots organization.

we have several large wind farms across the area that are in the planning stages but the developers are running into various restrictions that put the into prohibitive cost construction.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. You can see the same attitudes on this board practically every day

As for me, if you want to plant wind turbines on top of all of the hills around me, go right ahead! I’d much rather have them than the old coal burner.

[octothorpe]

2. What exactly are the arguments against it?

The article didn't state what their issues with it are. :/

[octothorpe]

3. What the hell?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNPQFnjEKeQ


Health concerns of turbines? How?

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. There are a number of arguments

“http://www.google.com/search?q=wind+turbines+flicker">Flicker effect”
“http://www.google.com/search?q=wind+turbines+subsonic">subsonic noise”
“http://www.google.com/search?q=wind+turbines+ruin+view">They ruin the view”
“http://www.google.com/search?q=wind+turbines+property+values">They lower property values”

Most of the arguments are specious.

[FBaggins]

6. They're not specious

They're just outweighed by the positive advantages of wind power.

Large transmission towers also ruin the view, but not enough to offset the negatives associated with the cost of burrying cable or paying lots more for the properties int he neighborhood. Airports are noisy and can make people "sick" too. But hundreds of thousands of people having to drive extra miles to a different airport is a bigger overall hassle to society.

There are scores of examples. We live in a nation of 300 million people. Infrastructure isn't usually pretty, but it is necessary. There's bound to be a health impact of living in the shadow of a giant turbine and listening to the steady thrumming noise 24/7... but living downwind from a coal plant is bound to be LESS healthy.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. Have you actually heard a wind turbine?

http://www.acousticecology.org/spotlight_windfarmnoise2009.html
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/new0048
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy05osti/37657.pdf

Wind Energy Myths

…

10 Wind turbines are noisy. Modern wind turbines produce very little noise. The turbine blades produce a whooshing sound as they encounter turbulence in the air, but this noise tends to be masked by the background noise of the blowing wind. An operating modern wind farm at a distance of 750 feet to 1000 feet is no more noisy than a kitchen refrigerator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD0v9_zV2uk

[XemaSab]

9. I have

and I must say that if I lived near one it would drive me nuts.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Interesting…

Was it a recent vintage turbine? (Or an older one?)

I grew up within a few hundred yards of a railroad. Trains literally “shook the windows.” It didn’t disturb my sleep, because I was used to it.


There's this scene in Blues Brothers… Elwood (Dan Ackroyd) brings Jake (John Belushi) home to his apartment beside the elevated train in Chicago.

Jake: “How often does the train go by?”
Elwood: “So often, you won’t notice.”

[XemaSab]

11. They were put up last year

:shrug:

[kristopher]

12. Interesting. You've been vehemently antiwind for several years.

[XemaSab]

14. I don't understand what you mean

:shrug:

[kristopher]

19. it's pretty obvious, isn't it.

[XemaSab]

20. Not really, no

:shrug:

[kristopher]

8. Says the nuclear lobby threatened by wind power development...

[laser_red]

23. you forgot... bird blender, and, screws up FM radio .nt

[Archaic]

13. No unscheduled outages...

My company's wind turbines are always available, even if wind isn't. Same with our solar. Once built, they're done.

Our coal plants lose their water pump, and over a gigawatt is offline. Even scheduled maintenance is 33+% power lost. If the train spur to the coal mine is unavailable? No power after a few days.

Coal power prices will change as EPA rules are tightened, wind and solar won't have that problem.

I loves me some solar/wind.

As more efficient appliances and hvac get into more homes, it will get even better. If we could get some decent building codes to prevent 2x4 construction and improve insulation, we can stop extending leases on old coal and nuclear as more renewable energy comes online.

I just wish some folks wouldn't say no to improvements just so they feel involved in the process. If they don't really care, then they could shut up.

[wtmusic]

15. What percent of your power comes from wind?

You can find if it you google your company's power mix.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[XemaSab]

17. As of 2007:

[kristopher]

18. As of 2010

Would you like to know what happened in 2011?

[Archaic]

21. Our mix sucks

But it is better than last year. It will continue to improve.

As aging coal plants cannot be replaced and gas turbines become too expensive, that mix will continue to shift.

Our customers don't want clean power, they want it as cheap as possible. If dirty gets more expensive and as clean gets cheaper, that shifts the mix.

[laser_red]

24. what good is having 100% turbine 'uptime', whaen there is no wind? .nt

[Archaic]

25. There will be wind tomorrow

If a coal unit is offline, it is offline for a while.

When maintenance occurs on a coal unit, 300+ people live in a dirty ash covered tent city while they repair/overhaul it, and no power is generated. If a wind turbine is damaged, the other turbines are still up, and that one is fixed by 10 people and a crane truck.

[txlibdem]

22. Someone needs some book learnin' real quick (those opposed to wind power)

Ma and Pa sittin' on the back porch in their rockin' chairs, lovin' the view of clean, zero pollution power being created by the nearby wind turbines. Ma is smart enough to know that the only people against wind power is them durn fossil fuels folks who been pollutin' and poisonin' for over a hunert years now. Ma and Pa know those ways'll kill us all and got to be stopped.

I reckon some folk need some book learnin' or a good sit-down by Ma and Pa ("go get me my willow switch").

:hi: (all in good fun of course -- you think that's hick talking? You haven't heard my cousins!)