Welcome back, Marilla
"Turbines will always be tall, they will always be on high points of land and they will always be obvious. And there will always be people who object to them."
Denmark, arguably the world's largest consumer of wind generated electricity (Wind power provided 18.9% of electricity production and 24.1% of generation capacity in Denmark in 2008, Denmark was a pioneer in developing commercial wind power during the 1970s, and today almost half of the wind turbines around the world are produced by Danish manufacturers such as Vestas - Wikipedia)
Optimal water depth is between approximately 15 - 50 feet of water. I wonder, has any thought been given to locating these windmills in the water?
Do Your Homework Marilla
View the videos and read of personal experiences on "National Wind Watch" and "Wind Concerns Ontario".
Learn how Ontario municipal councils have lost any say on industrial wind turbine site selections, and how real estate values drop 40-60%.
Watch the videos of folks who were forced to leave their homes due to wind turbine low frequency noise (LFN), and remember that LFN is used as a military weapon - against enemies...
Remember how the Halifax wind company honcho, Ministers of Environment, local councillors, et al, turned their backs on the D'Entremont family of Pubnico Point, and how our media ignored their call for help.
You failed the industrial wind turbine test Marilla, but so has McGuinty. Watch as he's blown out of power.
let's get our priorities straight
To hear people agonizing over "eyesores" is really sad. That is such a subjective issue. We've got cellphone towers and billboards all over the place. Health issues are certainly worth worrying about. Wind turbines produce noise, and agencies all over the world - esp WHO - have produced clear guidelines as to how much noise is too much, with "too much" being that which affects your health. As long as the turbines are parked in places where the noise levels fall below these limits, no one should need to complain. Typically, standards usually specify 35 dBa at night and 55 dBa in the daytime as levels which, when exceeded, hurt people. As far as eyesores go, get over it. Beats having another coal belcher and we probably can't afford nuclear.
Denmark Fails to Reduce Emissions
Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information on Climate Change, AGW, IPCC Report-Errors, nor Industrial Wind Turbines.
One of their honchos has been removed/fired for removing Climate Change information.
Denmark's emissions haven't been reduced after spending taxpayers' billion$ on wind energy, while their power rates increased by 30%. They can't afford to upgrade their power grids, and have wasted years on this most inefficient, expensive, and unreliable source of non-dispatchable energy.
It will be decades before wind energy storage solutions are discovered, so in effect the wind turbine cart has been put before its horse - go figure.
Wind Won't Replace Coal/Gas Fired Power Plants
Many believe industrial wind turbine projects will replace NS Power plants, not realizing these plants will be required to run 24/7 as back-up during low wind or calm periods.
Wind energy is not dispatchable. There will be no reduction in NS Power plant emissions - period.
What's the Problem
Everyone whats cheaper power bills but they don't want anything to change. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Turbunes and solar power are here, get used to it. They are trying a tidal generation in the Bay of Fundy also. I wish we could get tax breaks to have something installed for home use. The by-laws and costs right now are far too restrictive. Also in most other provinces if you generate more power than you use the supplier must buy it back from you. IE you can make money off it. Where as here in NS, NS Power is not obligated to buy back and they can cap how much they buy back. Imagine where NSP would be if we all had the capabilty of producing our own power? OOP's I forgot where I was for a minute. Forgive me.
I wonder why the NIMBY crowd
I wonder why the NIMBY crowd are acting as if Wind Turbines have never been erected anywhere else in the world, and that research has never been conducted? This is a well-established technology. Any historical data from past studies, and the resulting legislation in other countries should be no less applicable to Nova Scotia. Yet it remains untapped as a resource for wind turbine placement guidelines and examples of good legislation? I don't get it. CountryHick mentioned WHO as a source of actual guidelines based on science?
Common Sense - Where are these 40-60% drops in property value occurring? Everything I read says that property values are at all-time highs, are highly over-inflated, and the bubble is yet again about to burst. Perhaps your claimed drops are attributable to real estate simply being massively over-priced. And, did the media turn their backs on the family in Pubnico, NS? It seems to me that the media gave them as much coverage as they wanted. What about Every other homeowner in proximity to that particular wind project? Only 1 family seemed to have issues? Have property values plummeted in NS communities near wind projects?
stop piddling around
start building the Nuclear Plant now!
Mr. Blades, I believe I read a comment from you on another site, where you stated the SW Shore was a perfect location for industrial wind turbines. Do you realize we are trying to reinvent a decade old farce that will not remove our dependence on coal/gas fired plants? Go to the videos on "National Wind Watch" which cover wind energy operations in Australia, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Britain, U.S.A., and Canada. Take note that today's news shows Denmark's national power company has been forced offshore for all future wind turbine projects. How would your fishing communities deal with that threat? See from the videos how real estate values drop like a bald eagle hit by a turbine blade, and note that the majority of the homeowners are not wealthy people who can afford to take such a loss on the largest investment in their life. In the few cases where the wind companies have been forced to buy the affected homes, it has been at 60% or below the appraised real estate value. No sir, it appears the true wind lovers are those who have monetary gain in mind, not the environmental well being of rural communities. When your neighbours educate themselves and their friends on the truth behind the wind turbine industry and then follow the money, I doubt if they'll hop on your bandwagon Mr. Blades, and will be the first to question their municipal councils on all industrial wind turbine decisions made without their approval.
Stick With What Works
The 2 huge problem for wind power is the cost first, and then the variability, second. In Ontario the power companies are forced to pay between 13.5 cents and 19 cents/KWH to buy wind power from the suppliers, average this at 15 cents, add in all the other costs and you have about 20.5 cents to the consumer, we now pay about 12 cents, so this is about a 66% increase in power rates, guaranteed to drive businesses and jobs out of the province. And then there is the variability, you get power provided, the wind is blowing, provided it blows at a speed that will generate peak power, not too strong, not too slack, provided the blades don't ice up in winter, or are not knocked off line by lightning, or wrecked by a hurricane, or not down for expensive refurbishing, every 12 years or so, not all that reliable, so you end up needing an alternate, reliable back-up plan, you pay twice for facilities, not the greatest deal I wouldn't think. Dirty coal, well look out your window, you will see clear blue sky, fresh clean air, we have pure water and fertile soil, so why drive up our rates with expensive sources when we already know how to generate clean power.
By MARILLA STEPHENSONWed, Sep 1 - 11:19 PM
It will hardly come as a shock that Halifax regional council has been kicking around the issue of wind power for two years and has yet to make any policy decisions.
What will be more of a shock is if the crew at city hall actually manage to muster the political backbone to adopt a draft bylaw on wind power that has been recommended by staff.
It could save significant time while helping to get Nova Scotians — more than 40 per cent of whom live in the Halifax region — on the road to consuming more green power.
There is no question that wind power is not universally popular. The debate rages on about whether wind turbines are an eyesore, a health risk or a sign of a modern community that is trying to get beyond chronic dependence on tradition power sources to produce electricity.
In this province, burning cheap, dirty coal springs to mind.
No one likes paying higher power bills and the rates consumers face for domestic electricity remain among the highest in Canada.
But while the NDP government has had to back down on the aggressive timelines of its green power commitments in its energy strategy, it is still on the right road in terms of encouraging green energy. Wind turbines are an obvious part of such a strategy.
But the province has left a large chunk of the dirty work — determining setbacks and other restrictions on wind farms — to the province’s municipalities. That will leave an obvious mishmash of regulations that could see some municipal governments fighting over future proposals due to the lucrative tax revenue they will bring.
Meanwhile, residents who want to weigh in on the side of eyesore-health risk argument will be doing all they can to send the wind farms packing to the next municipality down the road.
In Halifax, municipal staff are recommending that council approve a bylaw that will allow turbines as a right in pre-approved areas and based on specific setbacks rather than having each potential project jump through the hoops that inevitably come from development agreement applications.
The neighbour-against-neighbour debates have been common in the wind power issue not only in North America, but around the globe. While some people welcome the turbines, along with the clean power, jobs and tax dollars they bring, others fear noise pollution, flickering lights and illnesses they say turbines can cause.
Paul Dunphy, the municipality’s director of community development, told councillors last month that while turbines will always draw criticism from some quarters, they are an integral part of a clean energy future.
"Turbines will always be tall, they will always be on high points of land and they will always be obvious. And there will always be people who object to them."
Officials from Nova Scotia municipalities already hosting turbines would say amen to that.
But there was limited opposition around the Halifax council table, with councillors voting to have the bylaw drafted and then sent for additional committee work and a public hearing.
"We need to move forward and show some support for this," Coun. Darren Fisher (East Dartmouth-The Lakes) said during the debate.
"All energy sources have drawbacks and probably every energy source has more drawbacks than wind energy."
Imagine trying to build, in today’s climate, the sort of massive coal-burning power plants that are now serving the province’s energy needs. In comparison, wind farms seem pretty neutral.
A draft bylaw is one thing; voting to make it law will be another matter. Hopefully council can manage to make a decision and then move forward within months rather than the two years it has already taken to get this initiative moving.
Cleaner power is worth the effort.
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Submitted by Selina on Wed, 2010-09-01 08:46.