Wind Farm

[L-town]

Opinions for and against are welcomed. I have been researching about wind farms off the coast of maine. There has been talk of one being set up of Nantucket sound. Europe has done this on some of its shores. My opinion we have miles and miles of perfect spots for wind farms and what better way to harness power than from wind. Its an idea to ease the pressure off use of oil and make electricity cheaper. I used to think that hydrogen was the way of the future but I've now started getting the idea of electric vehicles like the Tesla roadster http://www.teslamotors.com for me the idea of an electric vehicle charged from electricity supplyed by wind should be the future.

NOW DISCUSS

 

[Carter]

How about Tidal Power?

 

[Jimbo]

Wind rules. Anyone who doesn't like wind power hates America.

 

[Dave6265]

How about Tidal Power?

I don't think the tides are big enough or strong enough, at least near me. Wind Power seems to be a great idea, as long as those lobbying against the wind generators "ruining the beauty of the natural environment" don't win out. I've seen news stories of people putting up their own private wind harvesters, and their neighborhood crying out all sorts of negativity.

 

[Impreza05]

Absolutely! Bring on the windmills! I would have one of the small home use ones in a heart beat but I'm not zoned for it.

 

[Pedro]

I was reading about the off shore windfarm proposal off Cape Cod. with the distance they are putting it out there and the height of the unit apparently if you put your arm all the way out in front of you and opened your fingers aprox 2" that is what you would see. essentially you would be able to see it maybe 50ish days a year.. lolz..

 

[4WRXter]

The trade-off of seeing windmills and knowing that we would diminish support of O.P.E.C. is worth it in my opinion. Has anyone else SEEN wind farms? I have only seen one small, true wind farm, along I-81 in Pennsylvania. I was driving so didn't count the units. I think there was 12-15. It is a little "industrial", but still worth it to me.

One of the thing that bothers me is the conservation groups and ecologists that don't want to see them, but we need to lessen our dependance on foreign petroleum.

 

[akinaspeedstar]

they have vertical ones two now, instead of big props the whole thing is one big turbine like length wise so they don't show up as much and so forth.

 

[Evan]

i saw a city living magazine where the guy powered his whole house with 2 of the vertical screw style ones, probably about 6ft tall each. he was in chicago or something though.

i think theres zero legitimate complaint about wind power except for the noise. i'm not sure how loud they really are but i can see that being a problem. the visual aspect is only in peoples minds. noise on the other hand can actually cause a problem. offshore that may not be as big a problem unless if affects fish habits.

either way i'm for em.

 

[Pedro]

there is one on Saco Island by the train terminal. not really noisy.. although it is near train tracks so anyone who bitches about it is just silly.

 

[ruggedman]

offshore ones sound neat. I'm very opposed to the ones that destroy mountains though. Go to mars hill. Look how obtrusive and ugly these things are. Then go to sleep at night in the town below. They are seriously loud....

Now picture you're at the top of Katahdin and all you see on the mountains around you are these lame ass windmills. I'm all for alternate energy, but I'd prefer it didnt destroy the nice areas of the planet we haven't ruined already.

 

[Shorty]

Then you sir, can continue to pay full price. the rest of us that don't mind a little un-sightlyness in a trade for a completely clean and renewable source of energy can get our power at a reduced rate.

 

[Jimbo]

Now picture you're at the top of Katahdin and all you see on the mountains around you are these lame ass windmills. I'm all for alternate energy, but I'd prefer it didnt destroy the nice areas of the planet we haven't ruined already.

...not sure there's a clause in Percival Baxter's gift agreement that says that "no, you can't widen or pave the roads, no you're not supposed to even listen to radios in the park, but sure - go ahead and put up windmills if you want.

 

[wzrd]

they have vertical ones two now, instead of big props the whole thing is one big turbine like length wise so they don't show up as much and so forth.

The one i saw with a sideways design was a greenhouse,and the roof looked like a carnival tent with a hole at the top.As the hot air rose it passed through the turbine and created power.Can you imagine little greenhouses makeing power on all the unused fields in maine....I too think solar and wind ,are great ideas to work towards

 

[akinaspeedstar]

theres a plan for something like that in australia. something like 20 miles around. out in the desert. it's big glass pannels on a slight angle that heats the air under it and as it rises it flows towards the center. where there are turbines waiting it then goes up a stack and out. comepleatly poultionless renewable free energy. and out in the middle of the desert who cares how big it is. they said that if it gets built it would power like 1/4 of the country.

 

[Rightseat]

I've been thru one of the humungous wind farms out near Palm Springs California. There are hundreds of towers and turbines, none of them small! The visual impact is considerable, and when the wind is honkin, they are NOT quiet, some have a wish-wish-wish kind of noise, others have a dull thumping--if you lived nearby, you wouldn't need The WEather Channel to tellya the wind was up! I think they're acceptable out there due to low population density, like somebody above says, out in the desert, who cares about noise. Well, we don't have much desert here in Maine

how wind farms would work out at sea remains to be seen. so far, the ocean has managed to smash every single manmade object we've ever put in its path no matter how awesome we might have thought it was at the time....like the city of New Orleans, or the Florida Keys towns, the Titanic, etc. The power of an offshore storm has to be seen and experienced firsthand to be believed. I kind of like the idea of siting wind generators off shore, but just can't imagine how they'd withstand the pressures of wind and waves.

tidal energy seems intriguing. you don't need a big tidal range to make it work, the power of tidal currents is amazing--just go watch the currents pull the big navigation buoys clean under water off the mouth of the Kennebec for one example. big-ass propellers anchored in tidal streams might be just the ticket.

 

[ruggedman]

I've been thru one of the humungous wind farms out near Palm Springs California. There are hundreds of towers and turbines, none of them small! The visual impact is considerable, and when the wind is honkin, they are NOT quiet, some have a wish-wish-wish kind of noise, others have a dull thumping--if you lived nearby, you wouldn't need The WEather Channel to tellya the wind was up! I think they're acceptable out there due to low population density, like somebody above says, out in the desert, who cares about noise. Well, we don't have much desert here in Maine

how wind farms would work out at sea remains to be seen. so far, the ocean has managed to smash every single manmade object we've ever put in its path no matter how awesome we might have thought it was at the time....like the city of New Orleans, or the Florida Keys towns, the Titanic, etc. The power of an offshore storm has to be seen and experienced firsthand to be believed. I kind of like the idea of siting wind generators off shore, but just can't imagine how they'd withstand the pressures of wind and waves.

tidal energy seems intriguing. you don't need a big tidal range to make it work, the power of tidal currents is amazing--just go watch the currents pull the big navigation buoys clean under water off the mouth of the Kennebec for one example. big-ass propellers anchored in tidal streams might be just the ticket.

Tidal power is very interesting indeed. But yeah...wind farms belong where the earth is already ugly. Keep them off our beautiful pristine mountains. I used Katahdin as my example because everyone knows it, but it's not the only place like that in Maine, and many are completely unprotected!

It amazes me that people can be AGAINST development around moosehead AND be FOR wind power.

 

[akinaspeedstar]

just have the windmills be corkscrews and when a storms abrewin just pull them down underwater!

i like the idea but would be interested to see how they make it happen.