Whitefield Wind Turbine

[forestgnome]

well...my bad...I was thinking of the wind factory that's being built on the ridge a mile south of Dixville Peak, where their is a golf course, hotel, etc. That one sucks.

The pics in the link to MVG show a tower that actually is right next to a big hotel, and not a mile away on a forested ridge. Fine. If it works, that's great. A forested ridge has not been stripped for that tower to save the world from carbon dioxide.

Wherever a forested ridge or peak is to be stripped for a wind factory, the Earth loses another chunk of finite natural habitat to this madness.

 

[Lou Hale]

I guess my point for discussing all this is, if we don’t know what’s happening regarding the migration to renewables we may find our playgrounds gobbled up by those looking to make a buck.

You know, it’s a wind turbine on Whitefield today, a natural gas well and pipeline in the pemi tomorrow and before you know it, BAM you’re housing 1,000,000 people in Gorham to Windex the zillions of solar panels spread across the WMNF.

I some how think we are safe form a zillion solar panels in the WMNF, but I have been wrong before. I think we may see a few more wind mills but thats the price we pay, there is a lot to be said for generating the engery near the point of use.

The good news (for me) is that I’ll be dead before this happens and the bill arrives.
The bad news (for you young’ns) is the baby boomers are about to hand off a pretty big football to ya. Good Luck…Make us proud.

I won't be and you have now put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day! I now feel the need to yell at my parents and grand parents today. The thought of paying for their unfunded pension liabilities and entitlements they voted themselves makes me want to head to the woods and not come to for 50 years

 

[Tim Seaver]

Hmmm...how many wind factories do they have? Are they industrializing their forested mountain tops and ridges, or are they putting them up in cities? Do all Germans marvel and applaud the sight of a windfactory on a previously forested mountain, or are there Germans who are sad like me to see the destruction of high-elevation forest?

I am sure the debate is much like in the US, with people all over the map, opinion-wise. Some people are probably ardently pro-wind, and others are probably dead-set against it. Whether those reasons are logically or politically based is anyone's guess, with as much disinformation being spread like cow manure by all sides.

They do study public attitudes about wind, with rather unsurprising conclusions. Here is a summary from a German study ( pdf).

Summary
The contribution addresses the public acceptance of wind turbines from an environmental psychological perspective. Besides technological issues, social processes within the implementation come out to be more and more important for the future. For example, parts of the population perceive the long distance visible wind turbines to be an aesthetical and mental burden and thusly feel severely limited in their quality of life. As a consequence, in some regions citizens form initiatives against wind turbines. Main arguments within the current controversy are changes of the natural scenery, expected increasing energy costs as well as worried bird strikes. A case-comparison study of three different German counties was conducted. Research questions concerned the psychological determinants that make residents support or reject wind energy projects and at which stage residents decide to form up a local initiative. Regarding the results, a strong connection between the economical estimation and a reported public acceptance towards the wind turbines became evident. The changes of the landscape came out to be not as important as they were expected. Furthermore, the consideration of procedural justice criteria during the planning and installation process such as transparency, early and accurate information as well as possibilities to participate were important influencing factors. Especially the administrative zoning, planning, and licensing procedures were often perceived as rather unjust. Moreover, residents criticised that their interests were not represented by local politicians, particularly when compared to economic interests. All in all, the results emphasise the importance of social factors in the field of wind energy projects.

People want to feel included in the process, that is for sure.

 

[Jasonst]

It seems a foregone conclusion here that burning fossil fuels = climate change. Does everyone buy this? Follow the dollar - there's a lot of money to be made in "alternative" energies & their politics...

 

[Mike P.]

It seems a foregone conclusion here that burning fossil fuels = climate change. Does everyone buy this? Follow the dollar - there's a lot of money to be made in "alternative" energies & their politics...

Actually, coal & big oil has plenty of dollars & friends in Washington, many are in the minority party at the moment, hence alternative is in these days, well see what happens in 2010 & 2012.

There's some debate in whether burning fossil fuels = climate change but then again there was research done in the 1980's & even 1990's that debated whether cigarette smoke was bad or not.

Who are the impartial researchers who will determine if climate change is real or not? (I do believe it's changing & fossil fuel is part of the issue - cars also but I'm aware much of the research on both sides is paid for by people interested in certain outcomes. - I'm in no hurry to buy property at or below 25' above sea level)

Virgin forest in NH? I was unaware any existed anymore. I still like the forest there very much though. Windmills in the city? makes sense as far as being close to where it's needed, however a city block may cost about the same as 30 -40 acres in ME, NH. (I value the ME or NH land more but I don't set property values) I personally like the idea of windmills being off the coast. Another problem in having the huge towers & blades in a populated area, on rare occasions they do fall. If they should be located close to a school, the resulting lawsuit would be enormous. (Built near a school no one is that dumb - any guesses what was built on top of Love Canal.....)

What's the answer, I don't know. I agree with the thought that we need to stop sending billions of dollars overseas for oil. Many of these people aren't real fond of us either.

 

[smitty77]

It seems a foregone conclusion here that burning fossil fuels = climate change. Does everyone buy this? Follow the dollar - there's a lot of money to be made in "alternative" energies & their politics...

I don't know if I buy it. I mean, the spot I'm typing this from was under a glacier less than 10,000 years ago which is just a blink of an eye in the age of the earth. Our impact is significantly less than that. The earth warms, the earth cools, and I think our impact is rather insignificant when viewed over the next million years. Will it accelerate the extinction of mankind - maybe.... But I doubt even my great-great-great grandkids will be around the witness that.

But that's not to say we shouldn't do what we can to live a cleaner life for our own short-term benefits (<100 year time horizon). The supply of fossil fuels is finite unless someone discovers a massive reserve somewhere, so weaning ourselves off of it and onto something else will mean less cost for energy down the road, along with cleaner air and waterways.

 

[Stash]

- I'm in no hurry to buy property at or below 25' above sea level)

There goes my property value...

I personally like the idea of windmills being off the coast.

Anyone recall the proposal a number of years ago to lay a power cable across Long Island Sound? Not that I agree/disagree with the issues brought up but they included potential navigation hazards and unknown harm to sea life from electricity flowing through the cable. Any chance that these would come up with offshore wind proposals?

 

[jniehof]

Virgin forest in NH? I was unaware any existed anymore.

Great Gulf and The Bowl.

 

[erugs]

You know, I like wind. In my face, at my back, pushing my boat, swirling leaves and generating electricity. The hum of a wind turbine is fine in its place, just as the hum of a generating plant is, when it produces what we need to live our lives. The thing is, we (the majority of us) can't go backwards with what conveniences have been brought into our lives; we can only work to figure out how to better go forward.

For example, cars were made safer by adding airbags. But airbags killed children sitting in the front seats. So then children were required to sit in the back seats, where, statistics show, some parents "forgot" they were there, and died from environmental factors.

Let's add to this complicated issue the fact that we are polluting our Earth by moving steel around. On ships, trains and trucks to produce heavy cars that keep us safer. Huh? What if we all were kept less safe by driving lighter vehicles that are more fuel efficient and emission-reducing? If we all drove them, then we would have reduced the danger factor by the same percentage and save fuel and pollution.

Do some of my words above sound familiar? I've been reading Laurence Gonzales' book, Everyday Survival. Gonzales also authored Deep Survival about mountaineering type disasters, and has had a column in the National Geographic's Adventure.

 

[Little Rickie]

I live with stuff I don't like. Usually because it's the lessor evil. I change what I have the power to change and deal with what I can't.

I find no happiness in banging my head against the wall.

Change is the only constant and evolution takes a very very long time. Longer than I seem to have patients for.

Everything always seems to work out just fine.

Wait and see.

 

[NewHampshire]

Great Gulf and The Bowl.

And the Mt. Nancy virgin spruce forest too!

Brian

 

[Mike P.]

And the Mt. Nancy virgin spruce forest too!

Brian

I really like the 1st & 2nd growth stuff too!

 

[sardog1]

Some perspectives worth reading today in the NYT on the general question at hand.