Wind turbines and neighborhoods just don’t mix It seems. Would you want one of these to do this when a wind storm comes your way? Wind power has it’s pluses and minuses, just like any energy solution. But like a coal or nuclear power plant. They really shouldn’t be sited next to/within population areas. – Anthony
Wind turbine’s deadly ice shower
From the Peterborough UK Evening Telegraph
Resident Peter Randall, whose son’s house lies a stone’s throw away from the turbine, said: “Somebody is going to get killed. There was huge lumps of ice shooting off and landing everywhere.
“No one wants to leave the house because they are frightened and worried about the ice falling.
Maria Clark, who owns King’s Dyke Karpets, based yards from the turbine, said: “It has been really frightening, the turbine has been stopping and starting all morning. The ice makes such a loud noise when it shatters we thought a bomb had gone off in the yard.
“It scared a customer away. They were in the shop when it landed and said they did not want to risk their car and ran out.”
Last month The Evening Telegraph revealed how residents had lodged complaints with the environmental health department at Fenland District Council due to alleged noise pollution and had demanded the turbine’s removal.
The huge machine, which measures 80 metres at its hub and 125 metres when one of its three blades is vertical, was put up in August.
A spokesperson for Cornwall Light & Power said: “We received a report of an ice shedding incident near our Whittlesey turbine on Saturday morning and immediately made arrangements for it to be switched off.
“The turbine will remain stopped until we have a clear understanding of what happened and any safety concerns have been fully addressed.
“Cornwall Light & Power is a reputable operator with a proven track record of generating clean electricity safely and we will act quickly to resolve this issue.
“In the meantime, any local residents who have concerns can call us directly on 01872 226930.”
MP for Cambridgeshire North East Malcolm Moss said the turbine should remain closed until a new risk assessment could be made, as the problem could also have national implications.
He said: “I had no idea this turbine was going up, it came out of the blue really and I am surprised they put one so close to homes and businesses.
“I assume that a risk assessment was put with the planning application, but if it was not then a full inquiry should be undertaken.”
Whittlesey councillor Ronald Speechley today said he would by lobbying the council to find out what can be done.
He said: “I have received a lot of complaints and the fact that ice has fallen off should be brought to light. This should have been thought of before they put the turbine so close to houses and the road.”
Flying ice is not the only problem, the noise and light shadow flicker is a problem for those leaving near large turbines.
Nina Pierpont, MD, PhD, Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Report on a Natural Experiment, a peer reviewed study and soon to be published book
ABSTRACT
This report documents a consistent, often debilitating, complex of symptoms experienced by adults and children while living near large (1.5-3 MW) industrial wind turbines, examines patterns of individual susceptibility, and proposes pathophysiologic mechanisms. Symptoms include sleep disturbance, headache, tinnitus, ear pressure, dizziness, vertigo, nausea, visual blurring, tachycardia, irritability,problems with concentration and memory, and panic episodes associated with sensations of internal pulsation or quivering which arise while awake or asleep.
The study is a case series of 10 affected families, with 38 members age 0-75, living 305 m to 1.5 km(1000 to 4900 ft) from wind turbines erected since 2004. All competent and available adults and older teens completed a detailed clinical interview about their own and their children’s symptoms, sensations,and medical conditions before turbines were erected near their homes, while living near operating turbines, and after leaving their homes or spending a prolonged period away.
Statistically significant risk factors for symptoms during exposure include pre-existing migraine disorder,motion sensitivity, or inner ear damage (pre-existing tinnitus, hearing loss, or industrial noise exposure).Symptoms are not statistically associated with pre-existing anxiety or other mental health disorders. The symptom complex resembles syndromes caused by vestibular dysfunction. People without known risk factors are also affected.The proposed pathophysiology posits disturbance to balance and position sense due to low frequency noise or vibration stimulating receptors for the balance system (vestibular, somatosensory, or visceral
sensory, as well as visual stimulation from moving shadows) in a discordant fashion. Vestibular neural signals are known to affect a variety of brain areas and functions, including memory, spatial processing, complex problem-solving, fear, autonomic effects, and aversive learning, providing a robust neural framework for the symptom associations in Wind Turbine Syndrome. Further research is needed to establish prevalence and to explore effects in special populations, including children. This and other studies suggest that safe setbacks will at least 2 km (1.24 mi), and will be longer for larger turbines and in more varied topography.
Here’s an interesting article on nuclear energy – and without “scary” pictures 😉
http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/Articles%202008/Summer_2008/Reprocessing.pdf
More on wind mills:
http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1029
UN climate talks to create 13,000 tonnes of carbon
Staging a global forum on climate change is a dilemma, as it adds to the very problem it is trying to solve.
Emissions from the Poznan talks come principally from delegate travel and heating and lighting the conference venue.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081201131355.uc8jrd7g&show_article=1
Climate change juggernaut on the horizon, UN talks told
“Humankind in its activity just reached the limits of the closed system of our planet Earth,” said Polish Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki, elected to chair the December 1-12 meeting in the city of Poznan.
“Further expansion in the same style will generate global threats of really great intensity — huge droughts and floods, cyclones with increasingly more destructive power, pandemics of tropical disease, dramatic decline of biodiversity, increasing ocean levels,” said Nowicki.
“All these can cause social and even armed conflict and migration of people at an unprecedented scale.”
Nowicki’s warning was underscored by Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which provides neutral scientific opinion on global warming and its impacts.
Rich countries are historically to blame for most of today’s warming.
Obama has set a goal of reducing US emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050, using a cap-and-trade system and a 10-year programme worth 150 billion dollars in renewable energy.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gTCW-1nX1C78iJTnQTIg3lI-ROwA
Anyone checked the weather in Poznan, just to see if Gore’s Law is working as it should?
Also, no way could you use solar reliably in Peterborough, they (along with the rest of Britain) haven’t seen the sun since about April…
Really, in the medium term the only solutions are energy conservation and up-to-date nuclear plants, although it may interest the non-Brits on here to know that even the BBC was speculating on a return to open-cast coal mining to overcome the shortfall in UK energy needs in the next few years.
Terrence, you wrote, “If some humans are inconvenienced by this, too bad; they should move.” Could you recommend another planet? This one appears to have been taken over by special-interest groups.
Earth to J. Peden… hate to break the news, but wind energy is SOLAR.
Arrrrrrrgh! Seriously, George, thanks for the analyses. That’s mainly why I’m here. I’m even about to give Anthony some money.
“Anyone checked the weather in Poznan, just to see if Gore’s Law is working as it should?”
Living near Poznan, it’s rather warm as for December- 0’C, but nothing extraordinary. The whole conference got quite a big media coverage, but I see no public interest whatsoever. Polish people are not interested in GW issue (or skeptical), there are many well-known climatologists here who don’t support the agw theory.
No big ‘enviromental’ grants means the debate is not over 🙂
Retired engineer,
Are You kidding? We should site wind turbines IN Gore’s house – end the problem of variation in wind speeds and generation. A constant source…
Mike
“Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which provides neutral scientific opinion on global warming and its impacts.”
Well there’s a real knee slapper.
Those powermills are destroying the last remaining beautiful vistas in the world. Ted Turner was on television the other day spouting about the wonders of powermills and solar panels, and how the entire west/southwest should be carpeted with them. I wonder if his buffalo will like the as much as the golden eagles?
Oh Geez, this is what happens when you close down the mental asylums and give all of the lunatics a job working for the government.
Pamla Gray — “I see a Bond movie coming with the bad guy being pulverized by a wind turbine.”
Been done. Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise (can’t recall if 1, 2 or 3) starts out exactly like that.
Ah, but billons, or more probably hundreds of billions, of dark panels will surely cause severe albedo changes, absorbing more heat and causing worse climate change than they purport to mitigate. Again, there’s nothing wrong with Coal or NG or nuclear plants.
Only slightly OT but still within the icy clutches of this thread:
Take a look at the Arctic icecap – to this inexperienced and very presbyopic eye, it lookes like there is appreciably more than last year at this time…
Mike
It’s all about the re-distribution of money, CO2 has nothing to do with anything.
[snip]
Report from Italy but, the usual blame game included.
Floods turn Venice into one big canal ’…… Meteorologists said the entire country was affected by bad weather, with driving rain, snow, hail and high winds causing flooding “from the Alps to Palermo.’
And of course. ’ … The growing severity and frequency of the floods is attributed to silt deposits raising the floor of the lagoon AND A RISE IN SEA LEVELS CAUSED BY GLOBAL WARMING’ (So what caused similar floods 22 years ago?)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24743931-2703,00.html
Wondering Aloud (10:45:25) :
> I don’t know Dan, does this keep this in perspective or do just the opposite? Is anyone proposing using nuclear plants with no containment vessel ….
Aha! Put the wind turbines in containment vessels.
just a thought… Airplanes moved passed prop engines, so why are three blade windmills considered state of the art? …
I saw a how they do it show where helix shaped windmills were being used on a new energy efficent building. It would turn in very low winds, wouldnt build up ice, and could withstand very high winds without blasting apart, further it did not pose a threat to birds and lacked the vibration of its three bladed counterparts. Instead of destroying open lands with ugly wind and solar farms why not look into using the sheer square footage that major cities already provide?
There is so much attention on solar and wind power. Have we forgotten that geothermal is an option? The problem here folks is not with being able to get the power… but if they give us the best options, how will they charge us and tax us for it:P
How about warming the blades with the electricity produced by the turbines. Keep them at a toasty 40C and then wont ice up…
[snip]
There is a lot of talk extolling the advantages of wind turbine power. Why no talk of maintenance? Consider the Altamont installation of 7,000 turbines, the Tehachapi installation of 5,000 turbines and the San Gorgonio installation of 3,000 turbines.
Just ignore maintenance costs and the cost of the subsidies which are required with turbines as well as for solar, ethanol, bio-mass and other pie-in-the-sky alternative energy sources. When was the last time you filled-up with regular grade alternative energy?
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/60-percent-united-states-wind-turbines-behind-on-maintenance.php
Lack of Maintenance Leads to Costly Repairs
The main component causing downtown for turbines is the gearbox, which if it fails can cost 15-20% of the price of the turbine to replace. Furthermore, failure to monitor and replace oil as needed can lead to wear on bearing and gears, causing greater financial loses than simply replacing the part.
Frontier says that “when a $1,500 bearing fails unnoticed, it can lead to production loss and revenue loss including an unscheduled replacement of a $100,000 dollar gearbox and a unscheduled crane cost of up to $70,000 to access the failed components.”
[snip] angry rant with falsehoods that adds nothing to the discussion- Anthony
Re Flooding in Venice
Sealevel during the last interglacial c. 120,000 years ago was slightly higher than today (though not 4-6 meters as usually claimed, more like 2 meters). Guess at what level you find the last interglacial sealevel in the Venice area?
A hundred and thiry meters (= 425 feet) below sealevel! That area has been sinking for a loooong time.