The layout of Mighty River Power's planned Turitea wind farm is under review after nearby residents and landscape experts slated its design. The company plans to build a wind farm of up to 121 turbines near Palmerston North, but announced yesterday it would "reconsider" the design. Landscape experts were worried about the visual impact of the proposed turbines on the Tararua Ranges and Turitea residents were also upset that some of the proposed turbines were near houses.

Even as Americans tell pollsters they are eager for alternatives to fossil fuel, some are fighting proposals for solar and wind projects and for the thousands of miles of transmission lines that would be needed to carry the cleaner energy to market. The protests echo grass-roots opposition that has blocked nuclear plants and energy-producing trash incinerators for decades. The new backlash is fueled by worries that renewable-energy projects would occupy vast amounts of land to produce significant amounts of power.

Highland New Wind Development (HNWD), the self-touted "Greenest Wind Farm in the World," has initiated clearing, road work, and excavation for its 19-turbine project in the remote Allegheny Mountain, Laurel Fork area along the Highland County-Pocahontas County, Virginia-West Virginia border. ...The SCC has scheduled a hearing to be convened on September 23, 2009 to receive evidence and testimony from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) and HNWD concerning the wind energy developer's compliance with the SCC's December 2007 order

If the vast creosote-covered plain that is California's Mojave Desert represents to some the grand potential of America's renewable-energy future, Jim Harvey sees something else. "Their model is 'You must kill land to save land,' " said Harvey, a Web- page designer and homegrown activist who sees the Obama administration's push for green energy here as a destructive force poised to swallow his beloved desert. "How does that make any sense?"

There were a flurry of opinions either in favor or opposed to the Thumb becoming a designated wind energy resource zone given Monday during the first of two public hearings that will be held in the state this month. There was standing room only at Monday's meeting, which was held at the Expo Center in Bad Axe. The meeting is part of an effort to receive comment from four regions in the state identified as having the highest level of wind energy harvest potential in a June 2 proposed report by the Wind Energy Resource Zone Board.

People who find themselves living next door to a wind farm are unlikely to have their land compulsorily acquired, despite some residents complaining that the turbines are hurting their health. Michael Pickering, an expert on compulsory acquisition with LAC Lawyers in Melbourne, said there is no straightforward legal process open to landowners who believe their properties should have been acquired before energy companies were permitted to erect large turbines.

Block Island voters and homeowners support wind power, including both on- and offshore wind farm installations, according to the results of a Roger Williams University survey. ...63.3 percent of the voters and 56.4 percent of the homeowners said they would support a wind installation - land-based or offshore - that was visible from their homes, with the proviso that the wind farm be far away enough to be "impossible to hear."

Will wind-generated power save the environment or sacrifice it? The answer depends on who you ask ..."Your senators are very brave in what they're doing," said Lisa Linowes of New Hampshire-based Wind Action. "The legislature already concluded when it adopted the Ridge ordinance that your mountains have cultural significance to the state. When asked now to consider whether that value is worth more - or less - than wind generated electrons on the grid, your mountain senators are doing what most politicians in the U.S. have not done. They're putting a cold eye to the options and deciding wind is not worth the sacrifice, at least for now."

Bryne Purchase, a former deputy minister of finance and energy in Ontario, now executive director of the Queen's University Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy, says Dalton McGuinty's government seems to be flying by the seat of its pants when it comes to energy. "This has all been driven by relatively simple political thinking: coal bad, wind good," he says. A carbon tax, whatever the form, would have had the advantage of pricing the pollutants out of the market, rather than making wind the default winning technology.

Neighbors protesting turbine locations for a wind farm near Luverne, N.D., are upset that work has begun while requests for reconsideration are pending before state regulators. ...Commissioners on Monday will discuss the requests for reconsideration by several neighboring landowners as well as Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo.

The Hill Country's natural beauty is under assault, some say, all in the name of supplying power to the masses. Last week, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran asked the Texas Public Utility Commission to consider routing new transmission lines down U.S. 277 and east along Interstate 10 to the lift station in Comfort to minimize the impact to private property owners. ..."I understand the need to distribute power efficiently and effectively to all areas of Texas," Hilderbran said in a letter to the PUC. "But not at the expense of diminishing property values and the pristine views of the Hill County."

Angry farmers are demanding wind farms bury their power lines. Hundreds of turbines have been proposed throughout the Ballarat region. While many residents have accepted that wind farms will be a part of life in the area, they say the companies building them should foot the bill to put the power lines underground.

It takes less than five minutes to walk from the church at one end of Moreleigh to the pub at the other but the small community living in the cottages in between have a range of opinions on whether Jonathan Dimbleby is welcome in their Devonshire village. To some, he is an arriviste whose plans to erect a wind turbine in his garden will spoil their view across the South Hams.

Campaigners have warned if the latest East Riding wind farm application is granted, it could set a precedent condemning the area as an 'industrial wasteland'. Renewable Energy Systems (RES) is seeking permission to build a nine-turbine wind farm near Roos but residents have objected. The application will be considered by East Riding Council's planning committee.

One hundred people crammed into Ira town hall Tuesday night to meet with the developers of the Vermont Community Wind Farm. Some in the crowd already had their mind made up, and would not support the project no matter what. A majority of residents are relatively supportive of the concept of wind power, but have issues with the location and magnitude of the proposed project.

The proposed SunZia Southwest Transmission Project seeks to deliver wind-generated electricity to western area markets and load centers. The proposed parallel lines would run through federal, state and private lands. ...According to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management news release, SunZia's proposed route for the 460-mile lines would originate at a substation to be constructed in Socorro County or nearby Lincoln County.

When the remaining turbines are switched on in the coming weeks Waubra will become home to the world's largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere with 128 turbines. However debate continues to rage in communities where proposals for wind turbines are met with strong anger and hostile community meetings.

Karlen Hardy's home on Farm Road 126 is built with a panel of glass windows to give her the best view of the hills. "During the daylight, I see the generators, and at night I see the red lights," Hardy said. "It looks like alien spaceships coming through the window. "The lines will totally destroy our view," she added. But Catherine Cuellar, Oncor spokeswoman, said the importance of the transmission lines outweighs the aesthetic worries. "I definitely think that as time passes, the visual impact diminishes," she said.

Britain's most beautiful landscapes are under threat after permission was given for a wind farm to be built on the outskirts of the Peak District National Park, environmental campaigners have warned.

Navigators property owners have vowed to fight any move to create a new powerline easement through bushland to connect the proposed Mt Mercer wind farm to the electricity grid. West Wind Energy has planning approval for the construction of 64 turbines at Mt Mercer but to connect the wind farm to the grid, a new easement would have to be created.