Allotments 4 All
General => The Shed => Topic started by: Carol on February 18, 2007, 23:34:32
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Love them or loathe them, they seem to be a part of our landscape now and I despise them. Does anyone like them? I know its a cleaner means of obtaining energy but..................... I HATE THEM. Every week I see more and more applications for yet another wind farm to be erected and usually on a lovely hillside. They spoil the views especially up here in Scotland. I just wish more of them could be put out to sea but cost is the issue there.
Here they are in case you havent seen any recently. Not a good photo but was a passenger in a car.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/lowrieT/IMG_0571-1.jpg)
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Why don't they put them on tall buildings alongside the mobile phone aerials.
It makes you wonder if the people giving planning permission are getting backhanders.
They should be painted to blend in with their surroundings.
Sustainable alternative energy won't be properly invested in until the oil is running out.
Will Africa have the same problem with solar panels in the future???
Mind you, there's plenty of room there.
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Why don't they put them out to sea. ???
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saw on the news this morning that they're planing to build a big wind farm off the Suffolk coast that would provide power for all the homes in the county
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/3947777.stm
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Why don't they put them out to sea. ???
Probably cost is the issue as carol says. I've heard lots of conflicting opinions on wind farms (i hope they're not battery farms) and the fact that unless they are way out to sea they aren't really that efficient. We obviously need to find a better source of energy, but until the oil is gone the investment won't happen.
Have you seen this www.bioregional.com (http://www.bioregional.com)
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I wondered about putting them on tall buildings as well. something else i hadn,t thought of was the fact that all the things we think of as cheap and disposable
ie plastic is made from oil which one day is going to run out. imagine modern life without plastic, i know someone older than me(nearly 60) would have done it, but i,v had it all my life
margaret ???
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We have them off the coast of North Wales which is not too bad as at least you cannot hear the things - seems to be that the government are all for it BUT if it were to go next to their homes they might think differently.
I know we must start to look for other forms of power - they do have a less impact on the environment than Electric Hydro Systems like in the Snowdonia Mountains were the water is pumped up the mountain and them released down to make power but they need 2 huge lakes to make the thing work! or worse still DAMS!!!!
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Wind farms? I've not seen a large 'farm' of them :-\, but.....I like them. And I find them - potentially - pleasing to look at.....could be quite spectacular. But they do need wind to be effective......exposed places....can see that they need to win hearts & minds... :-[
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I like them too, but I haven't got one on my doorstep so maybe I'd feel differently...
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It's a lot more expensive to put them out to sea, unfortunately, as they need far more elaborate foundations, and putting them under the sea is costly. They're horribly noisy if you live near them, and they have a tendency to catch large birds. Sea eagles have been reintroduced successfully to the west coast of Scotland, and in some areas they're now endangered again because of wind turbines hitting them.
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WHOO HOO! You lot are going to hate me, If I told you that the name of a garden we are building some time soon is titled ' Wind In The Willows' you might get an inkling of what it is all about.
I will wait for the sh*t to hit the fan turbine.
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WHOO HOO! You lot are going to hate me, If I told you that the name of a garden we are building some time soon is titled ' Wind In The Willows' you might get an inkling of what it is all about.
I will wait for the sh*t to hit the fan turbine.
now there's a thought, ace, is that what they're run on now ;D
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I LOVE THEM! I love the noise, and I think they are amazing. They can build them in my garden if they like. Sorry, I know lots of people hate them, but I think they are amazing feats of engineering, and I know there is always debate about them not working and how they work and so on, but I don't find them ugly, and sad but true, I actually get excited when I see them on the horizon, I do not think they ruin our landscape. :-\
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Yes!!
1. I would rather have mills 1/2 mile away - serving a real purpose - than some of the neighbours we have.
2. I have been near them - like 2 feet - & in them - & I truly found them totally inoffensive, noisewise.
3. Should we think ahead for our children rather than being so NIMBYish? Yes - they modify the landscape, but the landscape is not ours. I was happy without TV for some decades, but I have adjusted.
4. I find them peaceful & decorative - like looking into a wood fire.
5. 'Wait for the oil to run out?'. Dear God!!
6. 'Put them on tall buildings'? Again - dear God. 200 feet of tower??
7. Someone, somehow, has got to do something about our Children's future??
8. 'Planning Permission'? Does everyone seek it for their new greenhouse? A stupid simile but you know what I mean?
9. 'Better source of energy'? - join the think tank!
10. Birds? A couple of birds a year is fair exchange?
Now I can have my 3rd Scotch!!
PS Emmy - great site. Try this one - johnelkington?
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Bless me! And when I saw all these responses I thought I'd be getting some flak for saying that I like them.... ::)
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I like them. First one I saw was on the way to our chalet at Scratby. Fascinated me.
Now we have them locally (I think only 2 at present) placed very near our local prison(Whitemoor).
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If ya like them that much B&Q sell windmills that you put on the side of ya House. :) better there than a beauty spot. >:(
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When I did an OU science course, I remember reading that an expert chemist said that hydrocarbons (ie oil) were much to valuable to burn!
Can't remember the exact reasons now (passing of time, senior moments and all that) but their properties mean that they can be used for drugs and medication etc which cannot be synthesized by other means.
There is SO much energy in the sea, surely one day in the not too distant future scientists will come up with a more efficient way to harness it.
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Telegraph poles/wires and electricity pylons/cables are, in my opinion, a blot on any 'natural' landscape. No one can deny that the countryside would look better without them - but
a) I wonder if there was this much fuss about them when they were first introduced?
b) Can you imagine life without all the benefits they bring?
Wind turbines are, by comparison, works of art and could be of even more benefit to future generations.
(I'm pro nuclear, too ................. ;D!)
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Froggles - our house is a beauty spot!!
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Went to Germany last summer and they seem to be everywhere - reminded me of triffids walking across the landscape. They were quite mesmerising to watch though and have lights on at night!!
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I too like them, think they look like beautiful artistic sculptures!
I mentioned to school about getting a couple but someone poo pooed it on the basis of scaring the birds away.
At the moment all we get are seagulls anyway so if we scare them away maybe the wildlife will come back!
Would much rather see wind farms than those grey smoke stacks and nuclear plants!
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I love them, but I'm not keen on them bing sited in areas of unspoiled beauty ( like Orkney). Why can't they stick them on old industrial land or next to motorways where we've already messed up the landscape ( which would pretty much be in my back yard).
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I agree Froglets, I just hate to see dozens of them huge 140ft+ wind turbines marching across the natural beauty of hillside. I don't find them attractive at all, horrible things. I seem to be in the minority but then you don't all live in beautiful countryside with rolling hills and moors. :'( :'(
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Sea eagles have been reintroduced successfully to the west coast of Scotland, and in some areas they're now endangered again because of wind turbines hitting them.
Should that not be them hitting the turbines. Natural selection at work I'm afraid.
I like wind turbines because they provide clean and reliable sources of renewable energy and they're not at all offensive. I went on holiday to Samos a year or so ago and they have three atop the central ridge which provide power for the island. You didn't hear them during the day and at night they looked so majestic slowly rotating in the moonlight and the gentle rhythmic wooshing was quite hypnotic.
I can understand that many of them may make a less pleasant noise but surely that's why they are sited away from population centres. They're only 21st century windmills and people flock to them as quaint tourist attractions. What price is a turbine farm in one area of rolling hills if it saves the mass burning of fossil fuels and the damage that it causes.
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Hi,
I live in the fens. If I could stand on the roof of my house I would be able to see about 30 turbines.
They are wonderful, so much so that for valentines hubby and I visited Swaffham wind turbine (ecotricity) and climbed the turbine! It was amazing!
I agree that they should be placed in disused areas and by motorways.
If we had the money we would have one for the home.
Rather a field of those than a nuclear power station!
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Sea eagles have been reintroduced successfully to the west coast of Scotland, and in some areas they're now endangered again because of wind turbines hitting them.
Should that not be them hitting the turbines. Natural selection at work I'm afraid.
Decidedly unnatural! The vanes revolve, and whack the eagles, which aren't used to large moving objects at that height.
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When visiting Scotland & other beautiful places I have often been appalled by the enormous pylons really spoiling the countryside, hundreds & hundreds of them & wondered why they were ever allowed. The wind turbines, on the other hand, strike me as beautiful & at least they are actually producing electricity & saving precious resources. I love watching the ones off the coast at Yarmouth & agree they should be sited on brown field land or at sea.
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Froggles - our house is a beauty spot!!
Timmles i hope ya not saying :o a B&Q wind mill would spoil said beauty stop. ;)
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Well we do live within gorgeous Essex countryside, and I wouldn't object having a windfarm within it. Rather that than mobile phone towers.
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I am in favour of wind farms in the right situations. I feel we must do something to generate our own electricity especially when other resources will run out sometime in the future. I would willingly have one of the B&Q turbines on the side of my house or in the garden but at the moment they are far too expensive. It would take several years to recoup the expenditure. :(
Windfarms can always be taken down at a future date when new technology produces something better. I am amazed though that the Government does not insist that solar panels and wind turbines are put on all new houses. :o
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Yes i agree they are too expensive :(, would be nice if the Government met us half way on the price as incentive to have them installed. And like ya say why not in new houses. ???
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there are grants available!!!!!!!!!!
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Even with a grant still a tad expensive. :'( :(
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I have to say I really like them. They're really stunning on the horizon. I keep wanting to work them into a painting but it hasn't happened yet. I haven't heard the noise personally but imagine it would be a bit like white noise? (wind/surf type noise or constant hum) That would be fantastic to me! Then again, I actually have a white noise machine at home I had to buy from the US which helps hugely with my attention span and sleeping. It's electric, so maybe in future I need to live near a wind farm so I'm not only saving energy but helping make it instead. :)
Tina.
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(http://www.bwea.com/media/photo/nwp/rgb/novar2.jpg)
Elegant.
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Beg to differ Emma, thats a blot on the landscape, totally out of place.
Stick the ******* where they dont spoil an otherwise lovely area.
grrrrrrrrrrrrr
We are looking into buying a wind turbine from B&Q, I don't mind them so much, they aren't so big and I agree with Pauline as to why new houses do not have solar panels built into them.
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A loverly view spoilt. :'(
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It's official. Turbines are marmite.
I think they are rather striking and as EJ says, really quite elegant. Better than pylons anyway. Is a real shame about the birdies, I'll never forget the day one flew into my back door. :'( but it's almost a case of landscape or lifestyle. The planet will be bug***ed if we don't stop draining natural resources and make serious moves towards 'renewable' energy. We can't ( unfortunately) have beautiful totally unspoilt countryside AND masses of cars, roads, boilers, lights, computers, t.vs, planes, industry etc.
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Nope, I don't see a lovely view spoilt. I have visited the Cairngorms when there is no snow, and all the way up are the chair lift pylons and wires, the same when I have been in the Alps and the Rockies. Drove through a gorgeous quaint village today, and telephone wires drooped from house to house. Motorways, railway lines, electicity pylons, telephone lines, telephone aeiral towers, buildings, infact, anything manmade could be seen as ruining the landscape, but then we are all human, and lets face it, we all like the comfortable things in life, like power. Nope, it is a start. I agree about the tide, as a small Island, I have never understood why we can't harness not only the power of the shifting tides, but also the water in the seas, if not to drink, then surely just flushing the toilet would save our precious clean water resources.
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It's official. Turbines are marmite.
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o
I agree with the both of you, that the countryside is allready spoilt and the need for renewable energy. All I'm saying is why stick them in places the are relatively unspoilt why not on top of retail parks or industrial units that seem to spring up on the outskirts of towns.The bits of countryside that we have left should not be made to look like telly tubby land. :(
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We went to Gran Canaria recently, and they've got plenty of wind turbines. Some are in the countryside, but we also saw an industrial estate full of them towering up above the buildings.