For Those Near, the Miserable Hum of Clean Energy

New York Times ^ | October 5, 2010

[La Lydia]

VINALHAVEN, Me. — Like nearly all of the residents on this island in Penobscot Bay, Art Lindgren and his wife, Cheryl, celebrated the arrival of three giant wind turbines late last year. That was before they were turned on.“In the first 10 minutes, our jaws dropped to the ground,” Mr. Lindgren said. “Nobody in the area could believe it. They were so loud.”

Now, the Lindgrens, along with a dozen or so neighbors living less than a mile from the $15 million wind facility here, say the industrial whoosh-and-whoop of the 123-foot blades is making life in this otherwise tranquil corner of the island unbearable.

They are among a small but growing number of families and homeowners across the country who say they have learned the hard way that wind power — a clean alternative to electricity from fossil fuels — is not without emissions of its own.

Lawsuits and complaints about turbine noise, vibrations and subsequent lost property value have cropped up in Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, among other states.

In one case in DeKalb County, Ill., at least 38 families have sued to have 100 turbines removed from a wind farm there. A judge rejected a motion to dismiss the case in June.

Like the Lindgrens, many of the people complaining the loudest are reluctant converts to the antiwind movement....

[ckilmer]

Same thing happened to people 100+ years ago when trains were put in that ran past their houses. Life became unhappy.

[CharlesWayneCT]

It would make me unhappy because who wants to live in a world where there is a constant annoying background noise all day, every day?

[pingman]

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “breaking wind”!

[Sakity Yaks]

So replace them with nice quiet nuclear generators. Problem solved,

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The only people who benefit from wind energy are the turbine manufacturers, the construction companies and union members who build the windmills, and the investors who collect the federal energy subsidies. Taxpayers and energy consumers just get higher taxes, higher energy bills, and sanctimonious lectures on why their very existence is a burden to the earth and all of mankind.

Wind power is a complete disaster

"Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant. It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone)."

[nutmeg]

VINALHAVEN, Me. — Like nearly all of the residents on this island in Penobscot Bay, Art Lindgren and his wife, Cheryl, celebrated the arrival of three giant wind turbines late last year. That was before they were turned on.“In the first 10 minutes, our jaws dropped to the ground,” Mr. Lindgren said. “Nobody in the area could believe it. They were so loud.”

Now, the Lindgrens, along with a dozen or so neighbors living less than a mile from the $15 million wind facility here, say the industrial whoosh-and-whoop of the 123-foot blades is making life in this otherwise tranquil corner of the island unbearable.

They are among a small but growing number of families and homeowners across the country who say they have learned the hard way that wind power — a clean alternative to electricity from fossil fuels — is not without emissions of its own...

Who didn't see this coming? These windmills look "OK" when viewed from a distance, away from homes and out in the middle of "nowhere", but they're awful up close. How disgusting that these things are now polluting areas of beautiful coastal Maine...

[rmlew]

Who didn't see this coming?
I did. Damn things in the Oresund between Denmark and Sweden give me a migraine. (7-8 hour flight helps. I fly to Copenhagen and go to Malmo).

[N. Theknow]

My first visit to Altamonte Pass in California in 1990's I saw wind turbines for the first time.

They were all over the hills! Couldn't help but wonder what those beautiful foothills looked like before the turbines went up.

Then I saw a large bird circling in the air.

PHOOM! Nothing but a cloud of feathers in one of the turbines!

[Andonius_99]

I thought they played the music you hear in the commercials that advertise them... /s

:)

[Psalm 73]

National Review had a great article on wind power and the ensuing wind turbine grave yards they have spawned.
Oil - pump it, burn it - quiet, clean, and safe.
Drill, baby, drill.

[3catsanadog]

The environmentalists don’t seem to find anything wrong with these white goliaths all over the pristine landscape; yet they scream, wail, beat their chests and tear their outer garments asunder over a a few oil rigs here and there up in ANWR.

[4TimesAYear]

That wouldn’t work. Dyson fans use electricity to generate air movement; in the case of wind turbines, it’s the air movement that generates the electricity.

[FReepaholic]

I was being sarcastic.