facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts Windaction http://www.windaction.org/articles/c112+44?theme=atom Xarayar 2006-06-12T02:16:27Z .11200 2007-08-06T11:21:54Z 2007-08-06T11:21:54Z

PUGWASH - Opponents of a proposed wind farm on the Gulf Shore got more fuel for the fire Friday night. Mark Harris, a pastor from Bridgewater, Maine, spoke Friday night at the Ground Search and Rescue in Pugwash about how a wind farm in Mars Hill, Maine has terrorized locals. He bought property in Mars Hill roughly 1200 feet away from the turbines, but hasn't done anything with it because of how unbearable the sound and strobing from them is. "Many of the mills we have, on certain days when the wind comes from a certain direction and the humidity is such and such, it will be all but silent at 1200 feet away where my home site would be. But come back the next day and it'll pound until you can't tolerate being there and there's no predicting when that will happen," he said. He said the wind farm has wreaked havoc on the town, with many people now dealing with health complications allegedly caused by the turbines' sounds and shadows.

.9471 2007-05-11T10:51:22Z 2007-05-11T10:51:22Z

FAIRHAVEN - WindWise Fairhaven has released a video about the adverse noise and flicker impacts of the Hull wind turbines, but the proponents of a similar project in Fairhaven have released studies showing impacts will be acceptable locally.

.8651 2007-03-28T22:17:43Z 2007-03-28T22:17:43Z

A wind turbine that was planned to help power the London Olympics may have to be switched off during games to stop disturbing the athletes, the organisers admitted today. Plans for the turbine were designed to underline the organiser's ambition to stage the greenest-ever games. But they face embarrassment following a report in New Civil Engineer magazine which discovered that the engineers for Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are looking at a number of options for minimising distractions from the turbine, including locking them in a fixed position. It reported that ODA's infrastructure director Simon Wright is concerned that the turbine will cause the light to flicker and distract competitors.

.7425 2007-01-18T12:40:38Z 2007-01-18T12:40:38Z

An energy and environmental consultant hired by opponents of the proposed White Oak Wind Energy Center maintains Invenergy Wind LLC fails to meet several requirements for a special-use permit for the wind farm. Tom Hewson of Energy Ventures Analysis Inc., Arlington, Va., spoke to the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals during a hearing Wednesday night. He said the proposed 100-turbine wind farm in McLean and Woodford counties would be a detriment to the public because of noise levels and visibility. Hewson said he did a “simple approach” simulation of one turbine to see how far a person had to be away from the turbine before it complied with Illinois’ noise regulations. “At 750 feet away, it exceeded the range,” he said, noting that three property owners have asked for waivers to allow a turbine in about that range. Hewson said it wasn’t until a person was 1,200 feet away from the turbine that the noise met Illinois’ requirements.

.7103 2006-12-28T13:17:55Z 2006-12-28T13:17:55Z

It is the first wind farm proposal for the shire, and will be located along its border with the Moyne Shire between Penshurst and Caramut. Between 13 and 15 wind turbines have been proposed with a maximum nominal rated power of 29.9 Megawatts (MW).

.7094 2006-12-28T12:38:17Z 2006-12-28T12:38:17Z

Stamford town officials agreed last week to propose a 2,500-foot setback requirement in an ordinance they are creating to regulate wind-turbine installations. “It’s the strictest I’ve seen,” said Dave Groberg, director of business development for Chicago-based Invenergy, LLC, which hopes to install a line of turbines along a mountain ridge between Stamford and Roxbury. Town officials have been working on the ordinance since last year, and regulations are still in the early stages. A year-long moratorium on the wind-turbine development expires in February.

.7080 2006-12-27T11:50:57Z 2006-12-27T11:50:57Z

Three months after all 67 turbines of the Spearville Wind Energy Facility became active, the blinking red lights atop the towers have become a familiar site on the western Kansas landscape Construction, which began in April of this year, was able to be completed a month early.

.6227 2006-11-09T12:06:33Z 2006-11-09T12:06:33Z

What EnXco Inc. in 2005 said it would do after Kittitas County rejected its wind farm north of Ellensburg it did Monday: the wind power development company filed a downsized wind farm proposal with the state in hopes to get better treatment and possible approval.

.5846 2006-10-19T12:06:27Z 2006-10-19T12:06:27Z

If you have ever driven off campus, you have likely noticed giant windmills looming on the horizon. Part of a system of some twenty turbines, these iron giants comprise the Fenner Windpower Project, just one component of a nationwide initiative to utilize clean and renewable energy. Operational since the fall of 2000, the mills have the capacity to power about 10,000 homes solely by harnessing the energy of the wind as it sweeps over the Adirondacks and down the Chenango Valley. Despite their efficiency, the mammoth cost to assemble just one of these turbines (about $2.5 million dollars) has stirred local and national debate over cost versus benefit at the Fenner site, not to mention the intrusions they cause for residents.

.5824 2006-10-17T12:29:02Z 2006-10-17T12:29:02Z

The twinkling red lights of the Spearville Wind Farm look like a Christmas display at night, but Kansas City Power & Light isnÕt waiting until Christmas to celebrate. The company has invited the entire community of Spearville to attend a picnic to celebrate the completion of the new Spearville Wind Energy Facility.

.4459 2006-08-16T12:10:24Z 2006-08-16T12:10:24Z

About fifty residents of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh packed the council chambers last night to voice concerns over the noise from wind turbines in the municipality.

.4230 2006-08-02T22:42:00Z 2006-08-02T22:42:00Z

Within weeks of the Government's Energy Review (1) proposing that planning controls be relaxed to speed up the introduction of wind farms, a new report (2) reveals that badly-sited wind turbines can cause real noise problems for local communities.

.6032 2006-05-25T20:52:01Z 2006-05-25T20:52:01Z

But I was sitting at my kitchen table in North Buffalo, far from the wind farms of the Southern Tier, and such distance makes for simple, black-and-white comprehension. There are places in Western New York where wind energy isn’t so clear a choice. Places with names like Perry, Sheldon and Arkwright, rural towns perched atop the high glacial ridges to the east and south of the city, whose landscapes might soon be dominated by hundreds of towering, 400-foot windmills. As wind companies eye their windswept fields and make overtures to local town boards, divisions run deeper and deeper between citizens who disagree on the merits of wind farm development in their backyards. In such locales, the gray areas of wind development come into sharp focus.

.2204 2006-03-24T12:47:56Z 2006-03-24T12:47:56Z

The idea of windmills brings to mind bucolic Renaissance paintings of Dutch landscapes and tulip beds. But that is hardly the experience of some who have to live next to the 400-foot electricity-generating windmills being built across America's breezy plains.

.129 2004-04-05T20:24:53Z 2004-04-05T20:24:53Z

They introduced the world to "environmentally friendly" energy, but now some of Europe's "greenest" countries are under pressure to backtrack on wind farms as public anger grows over their impact on the countryside.

.7912 2007-02-12T20:28:16Z 2007-02-12T20:28:16Z

This chapter provides guidelines for the marking and lighting of wind turbine farms. For the purposes of this advisory circular, wind turbine farms are defined as a wind turbine development that contains more than three (3) turbines of heights over 200 feet above ground level. The recommended marking and lighting of these structures is intended to provide day and night conspicuity and to assist pilots in identifying and avoiding these obstacles.

.7670 2007-01-30T12:32:41Z 2007-01-30T12:32:41Z

Two industrial wind turbine farms are proposed by parent UPC Wind Partners for the town of Cohocton, NY and will permanently alter the town. The large blades on MW scale turbines can at certain times produce moving shadows on the landscape or create distracting flicker on the scenery. To capture the wind these turbines are to be installed on hilltops around the town and thus have significant potential to create a shadow flicker nuisance at great distances from the turbines. All environmental effects of projects require consideration and possible mitigation. Siting selection is important since wind turbines are a permanent installation and may significantly impair resident’s enjoyment of neighboring lands or even personal health.

.7419 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

As interest in wind energy spreads throughout the Commonwealth, it becomes clear that there is a need within the cities and towns of Massachusetts for suitable zoning by-laws that accommodate wind projects. To help address this need, the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources and Executive Office of Environmental Affairs developed this Model Amendment to a Zoning Ordinance or By-Law to assist cities and towns in establishing reasonable standards for wind power development. The by-law is developed as a model and not intended for adoption without review by municipal counsel:

.6566 2006-06-14T13:33:01Z 2006-06-14T13:33:01Z

Prepared for Horizon Wind Energy by Wind Engineers, Inc

.106 2005-06-01T04:00:00Z 2005-06-01T04:00:00Z

BBC Research & Consulting's 2005 report for the National Wind Coordinating Committee that studies 9 wind plant sitings in an effort to identify circumstances that distinguish welcomed projects from projects that were not accepted by communities.