Wind turbines. I love them. You?

[Frankie Jack]

Innit Quim... Nighty....

 

[ViolentPanda]

One of my favourite bits of the journey when my wife and I took the train to Berlin last year was going through eastern Belgium and northern Germany and passing what seemed like oceans of windfarms.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

There's at least one in Germany that's green to the top with a bright yellow nacelle and sails.. ... looks like a huge daffodil.

If I can work out how I'll post some pix...

Yes, pix please! This sounds ace.

Now I think some artist should apply for an Arts Council grant to paint a whole wind farm in different colours, so that it would look like giant flowers, that would be awesome! I'd really want to see that.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I saw some in Cumbria somewhere on the drive up to Scotland with some friends. My view at the time was that while I thought they were quite beautiful aesthetically, they do look a bit like kinetic sculptures, I thought they were a blot on the landscape. Until my green friend who was in the car said, well, what about electric pylons? And then I thought, yeah, actually, electric pylons are a blot on the landscape, but these wind turbines are quite lovely to my mind, so I changed my mind about them being a blot on the landscape, as I agreed they don't spoil the view in the way that electricity pylons do. And if they could paint them to look like massive flowers as drawn by a three year old child, that would be even better.

 

[Leafster]

I drove past the one at Shooters Bottom in Somerset at the weekend. It looked impressive and personally I don't think it detracts from the countryside views.

There are plenty of monstrocities dotted around the countryside but I wouldn't include wind turbines among them.

 

[Sunspots]

I can see one (of Ecotricity's) wind turbines on the horizon from my window. I've looked it up on a map and it's about 15 miles away, apparently with a 70m rotor diameter. How clearly I can see it on any given day is for me some kind of measure of the day's weather conditions. I keep meaning to cycle to it one day...

I've stood right next to the one at Lowestoft (-which I think might currently be the biggest wind turbine in the UK?). Dizzyingly huge, and a bit scary tbh!

 

[Sunspots]

I drove past the one at Shooters Bottom in Somerset at the weekend.

Spooky: while I was dilly-dallying writing my post, you've posted about the very same one!

 

[Leafster]

Spooky: while I was dilly-dallying writing my post, you've posted about the very same one!

First it was art teachers with a shared interest in avoiding their pupils, now this!

 

[pinkmonkey]

It's not the way they look that people object to (Afaik) its the noise pollution and they do make a racket - even my little one makes such a noise when its really windy, it keeps me awake at night and I have to unplug it (which defeats the object, TBH). I guess I'm kind of neutral about them - I inherited mine. My solar panels are far more effective at producing electricity.

 

[Sunspots]

First it was art teachers with a shared interest in avoiding their pupils, now this!

Yeah, so I'd noticed!

Out of interest, how close do you reckon it's possible to get to the Shooters Bottom turbine by road? Seeing it on the horizon every day, I feel sort of strangely drawn to visit it and, as I said, I'd like to try cycling there one day.

 

[AndyO'C]

I have no problem with them being all over the place - not a blot at all.
Thing is there needs to then be pylons to take the power they generate (often in rural locations) to the people using the power. So, if we have more turbines I think we'll also get more pylons. Which I don't actually find to be a ‘blot on the landscape’ problem exactly, but do worry about health risk.

 

[Leafster]

Yeah, so I'd noticed!

Out of interest, how close do you reckon it's possible to get to the Shooters Bottom turbine by road? Seeing it on the horizon every day, I feel sort of strangely drawn to visit it and, as I said, I'd like to try cycling there one day.

Not sure really. If you go to this link and click on Vital Statistics you get a basic map. It's just off the A39 and there are a couple of minor roads that get closer. I was on the B3135 (I think) and even from there it looks huge!

 

[Sunspots]

Not sure really. If you go to this link and click on Vital Statistics you get a basic map. It's just off the A39 and there are a couple of minor roads that get closer. I was on the B3135 (I think) and even from there it looks huge!

Cheers. There's a photo on there of people kite-flying* next to it, so I guess it's probably possible to get quite close.

*Always a very sensible thing to do near a giant wind turbine!...

 

[purplex]

Yeah. They rock. I wish they'd paint some in a different colour to white though.

Good call.

 

[Cid]

Put them everywhere, generally I'd prefer to have little things like water on tap, heating and the ability to eat hot food to a spotless countryside. They can always be taken down when we get around to developing fusion... Around livestock farms and dwellings is more iffy of course because of the noise pollution, and obviously productive land is important in its own right.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Glow in the dark, blatantly.

Agreed

 

[someoneelse]

there are a couple of big wind farms in Victoria. I really think they look good, graceful.

But, apparantly not good for bats:

http://www.newscientist.com/article...t-lungs-explode.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

 

[stavros]

I think they're beautiful. I remember on a family holiday as a kid driving through California past a wind farm and they were so rhythmic and almost choreographed. It's not often that man-made structures look so organic.

 

[Jonti]

But ...

if we covered the windiest 10 per cent of the country with windmills, we might be able to generate half of the energy used by driving a car 50 km per day each. Britain’s onshore wind energy resource may be “huge,” but it’s not as huge as our huge consumption.

I don't know offhand how many km the average UK motorcar does in a day, or what proportion of our energy "needs" is consumed by cars. But I get from this that wind energy is not going to be nearly enough in national terms.

Here's where that snippet came from, btw.

 

[pigtails]

Yeah. They rock. I wish they'd paint some in a different colour to white though.

Thay should paint them rainbow colours so they look like:

Has anyone seen the film Heartlands when he's jumping over the wind turbine's shadow, it's very

 

[camouflage]

Well, I dunno if this could run and run but anyway...

I started work for a wind energy company not too long ago, which was an aspiration from about 1994 for me.

I love the things.

Now, for some reason (I have no experience at all in the field) PR seems to be landing on my desk....

I wonder if, humbly, I could beg U75 for both blessings and brickbats about the mighty 100m symbols of the future/monstrosities?

I have a question... why do some buildings have one wind-turbine thing on top as if the wind-turbine equivalent of a sunroof? Are they wind-turbines? Wouldn't it be better if there were several?

 

[camouflage]

google's abit like god really, when you think about it...

http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/windturbinetrial

 

[chainsaw cat]

It's not the way they look that people object to (Afaik) its the noise pollution and they do make a racket - even my little one makes such a noise when its really windy, it keeps me awake at night and I have to unplug it (which defeats the object, TBH). I guess I'm kind of neutral about them - I inherited mine. My solar panels are far more effective at producing electricity.

You can stand underneath the hub of ours, at full 12 rpm, and hear only a faint whoosh whoosh noise - comparable to a soft broom on a concrete floor.

There's been a lot of work on the issue lately and the blades are different now.

 

[chainsaw cat]

I have no problem with them being all over the place - not a blot at all.
Thing is there needs to then be pylons to take the power they generate (often in rural locations) to the people using the power. So, if we have more turbines I think we'll also get more pylons. Which I don't actually find to be a ‘blot on the landscape’ problem exactly, but do worry about health risk.

They feed in to the 33kv network so it's the wooden pole electrickery system that looks like telegraph poles, not the big steel lattice pylons.


What health risk?

 

[chainsaw cat]

Put them everywhere, generally I'd prefer to have little things like water on tap, heating and the ability to eat hot food to a spotless countryside. They can always be taken down when we get around to developing fusion... Around livestock farms and dwellings is more iffy of course because of the noise pollution, and obviously productive land is important in its own right.

The turbine base is only 4.5m in diameter so you don't use a lot of land up per tower.

I agree about taking them down when something better comes along. Future archaeologists will be very puzzled about the scatterings of concrete discs over remote hillsides.

Oh, and we won't be getting fusion because us wind energy freaks have a hitman on retainer, scanning t'internet for promising young researchers in the field.

And rubbing them out.

 

[matt m]

assuming of course that there still are any hillsides or, indeed, any archaeologists in a 4 degrees+ hotter world...

 

[matt m]

Offshore wind turbines would be much more of a goer if the government subsidised their cable connectivity: the main stumbling block against offshore wind turbines is financial reluctance on the part of companies. Seagulls aren't NIMBYs, as far as I'm aware.

There are also vast swathes of windy West African desert land that could power a significant chunk of Europe (and, of course, Africa). The long-distance cabling technology already exists (I think), it's political will in stumping up the investment that's lacking. Were it to happen, it would also bring in a lot of money to countries that badly need it.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

I think wind turbines are the most magical and majestic human construction in contemporary Britain.

The regular rhythm seems to be a lot to do with their appeal for me, as well as their enormousness size

I would love to see a field of them painted in bright colours....

 

[madzone]

No. Don't like them

There's one gone up behind my house today, looks like something out of tripods - really sinister. It's also changed the beautiful landscape. I hope it's worth it.

 

[AndyO'C]

They feed in to the 33kv network so it's the wooden pole electrickery system that looks like telegraph poles, not the big steel lattice pylons.

Fair enough. I assumed you would need big high-voltage lines to carry power from large wind farms to urban places far away.

What health risk?

I don't honestly know if there are health risks of living near/under those pylons, but I really don't fancy it much