Hot air in the council chambers could lead to stiffer Barrie breezes down the road. Unhappy with planning staff's policy review of wind turbines, city councillors decided Monday they'd like it to consider higher structures and turbines in some residential areas. "It is not progressive enough," Coun. Lynn Strachan said of the policy review. "It does not support what we are trying to do.

On Monday it called on Premier Dalton McGuinty to initiate a province-wide study on the health effects of wind energy generation and transmission. Moreover, it is calling on McGuinty to impose a moratorium on all wind generation projects in the province until a health study is completed.

Hydro reported Friday that it has received proposals for 17,000 gigawatt hours of electricity -- primarily small hydro and wind -- in response to its clean call, which closed this week. That's equivalent to a third of Hydro's annual output -- the amount of power consumed each year by the Crown corporation's residential customers. Preliminary tallies from the call, which closed Tuesday, show Hydro received bids from 43 proponents for a total of 68 projects.

Tension over the wind farm project seems to be reaching a breaking point in the Guildwood community. A thousand people flooded into an information session hosted by Toronto Hydro at Sir Wilfred Laurier Collegiate Institute on Nov. 24 where they debated the positive and negative effects of the proposed offshore wind farm.

Big Island residents want no part of a proposed wind farm development north of Picton, Prince Edward County council was told this week. Henri Garand and Ian Hanna presented council with a 112-signature petition asking the Big Island portion of the 66-turbine proposal be separated from the rest of the project. ..."All of us believe that Big Island is not an appropriate location."

An Ontario Municipal Board decision on Grand Valley Wind Farms is expected by the end of next month, but the proponent isn't certain when construction might begin, even if the project is approved. ...A decision in favour of the project would not solve all of the problems Wind Rush might be facing prior to construction. Wind Rush president J.C. Pennie said in an interview that a contract he had for the turbines expired on July 31 because of the lack of a municipal approval by that date.

City Councillor Paul Ainslie has demanded another public meeting on a controversial wind turbine project, after complaining that bused-in activists made him wait more than 2 1/2 hours to ask a question on Monday night. Many of his constituents from the Scarborough Bluffs area left that public consultation early - some elderly and exhausted, others simply fed up, Ainslie said. "It was frustrating," he said. "It was about 40 minutes before someone from the affected area actually got to a microphone."

The Australian company that's building and financing Manitoba's new wind farm - slated to be the biggest in Canada - is nearing financial collapse, but the Manitoba government says there's nothing to worry about. ...Australian pundits said Sunday the company is in its "death throes" and grinding toward receivership, perhaps as early as this week.

A thousand people who overflowed the auditorium of Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate on Guildwood Pkwy. last night debated the question at a meeting that mixed neighbourhood angst with debate over the pros and cons of Toronto Hydro's proposed offshore wind farm. ...But the sometimes-raucous meeting turned into a discussion over who was from Scarborough, now part of the City of Toronto. Environmental groups had bused supporters to the meeting from outside the immediate area.

An offshore wind farm represents an opportunity for Toronto to move forward as a green, industrially progressive centre, leading the way as a global city for others to follow suit. To its detractors, it means plummeting property values, skyrocketing electricity costs, and a substantial-if localized-ecological impact. It's like a condensing of every environmental policy debate over the last twenty years. All of which is pretty impressive for a project that has barely reached the testing phase, and only after a seemingly impassable two-year hurdle.

A controversial high-voltage transmission line along a rural road near O'Leary is coming down after area residents protested the potential health risks associated with the line. Environment Minister George Webster confirms that a section of line, more than two-kilometres long, is being removed from the Howlan Road, near O'Leary.

Innisfil council wants more time to research the ups and downs of wind farms. Spearheaded by Coun. Rod Boynton, council was expected to approve an alternative energy adhoc committee ...which would report back to council in five months, would include proponents and opponents, Boynton told the Journal. "There is so much passion on both sides," he said. "I think we need to perform more research to find a made-in-Innisfil solution."

Worried by rising fuel costs and keen to demonstrate concern about climate change, politicians across Canada are devoted to renewable energy. But even some environmentalists are questioning whether the push to introduce such energy sources -- and particularly wind power -- has overtaken the responsibility to prudently plan. "People want to get in on wind power," said Mark Mattson, president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. "It's good public relations.... But when you look at it from a provincial point of view and the ratepayers who are paying for it, it's not clear that it's in the best interest to build them."

Manitoba Hydro Board has accepted a proposal for a 300 megawatt wind farm to be erected in southern Manitoba. The proposal comes from St. Joseph Wind Farm Inc., owned by Babcock & Brown Canada. If construction goes ahead as planned the new power generation site will be the largest wind farm in Canada.

Toronto Hydro's wind farm may still be in the research stage, but it's already drawing fire. For now, the city-owned utility wants to set up a small device to measure wind speeds on the lake 2 kilometres off the bluffs. If winds are adequate, 60 turbines could eventually sprout 2 to 4 kilometres offshore, over an area stretching from Ajax almost to the Leslie St. Spit.

The presence of the federally-endangered Indiana bat may delay plans to install wind turbines in southern Logan County, but shouldn't have an impact on Champaign County, said a wind company representative Friday. "We are aware of the bat being found and we're working closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources," said Michael Speerschneider with Everpower Renewables.

Opponents of a proposed four-turbine wind farm in North St. Eleanors have received the support of the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island to delay the project pending a health investigation. In a letter to the city's mayor and council, long-time Summerside physician Paul Kelly made formal application to city officials that they delay the project calling for four wind turbines on the former landfill site in St. Eleanors. ..."The Medical Society of Prince Edward Island has been asked to address the issue of setback distances associated with wind turbines," he said.

Scotian Windfields and Skypower have already revamped the map that was released at the municipality's council meeting on Nov. 10-showing the proposed locations of 20 wind turbines on Digby Neck. The new improved version shows the turbines originally planned for Red Head re-situated north of Highway 217 on properties owned by Fred and Sharon Ross and Jerry Schofield. The remaining 18 turbines are also north of the highway, as they were on the original version of the map.

Last month, about 50 St. Eleanors residents turned out at a city council meeting raising concerns surrounding the minimal setback regulations of the turbines from residences, noise and health implications and the impact the wind farm will have on property values. City council voted unanimously to table the rezoning until Monday night. That success was short-lived as council voted unanimously to approve the zoning change. Coun. Brent Gallant did not vote because of a conflict of interest issue.

Canada is the biggest exporter of oil to the United States, and one might expect environmentalists to cheer the prospect of exchanging a little of our dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign wind. But some fear that a flood of clean power from Canada will undercut New England's efforts to become a national leader in green energy and technology. Jobs could be lost, they caution, and local utilities may have less incentive to reduce their use of coal and other fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. Concerns also exist that the construction of expensive transmission lines to bring renewable energy from Canada could drive up the region's electricity rates, already among the highest in the country.