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StumbleSun editorial:
Getting used to windmills
Aesthetics alone should not be the reason for rejecting turbine installations
Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.
Efforts to bring Nevada up to speed in wind energy are encountering a common criticism — that the towers, turbines and blades mar views of the landscape.
The criticism was heard this week in Washoe County, where employees of nearly two dozen companies are scouring mountain ranges for locations where windmills would generate the most energy.
Reporting on a wind power workshop, where the companies’ scouting activities were discussed, the Reno Gazette-Journal quoted a county planner as stating definitively that wind energy is coming to Northern Nevada.
Along with that statement came the perennial complaints that windmills would be an eyesore. One woman supporting an attempt to gain scenic corridor status for the Washoe Valley said, “Having those turbines is not going to be complimentary.”
The comments were similar to those expressed in a Texas lawsuit covered in August by The Wall Street Journal. Landowners had taken a wind farm to court, complaining about spoiled sunsets.
Although the suit was thrown out, the reporter writing the story, sensing the commonality of the landowners’ complaints, posed this question: “Among all the other hurdles facing renewable energy, from economics to technology, will the real bogeyman be aesthetics?”
We hope not. The technology coming online for harnessing the wind is very promising. Wind is clean and capable of generating a lot of energy — many wind farms already produce enough electricity to power tens of thousands of homes. Wind farms and solar and geothermal plants are critical facets of the nation’s goal to produce more of its own energy.
Designs that will allay people’s concerns about the appearance of wind structures, and planning that will site them in the least obtrusive locations possible, should be a part of any installation.
Once those considerations have been extended, however, turbines in otherwise appropriate areas should not be disallowed because of aesthetics. Our view is that the more common they become, the more people will tend not to be bothered by them. After all, how many people anymore even notice the looming utility poles and lines that are a part of nearly every rural and urban view?
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Windmills off the coast of Mass. could power all the northeast. They have to most sustained winds in the nation and are close to the need of Boston and New York. They blow consistently more in the summer and during hot days when peak demand is highest. They are off the shore of the Kennedy compound and are prohibited by actions of the Democrats in the Senate. Country first? Not hardly. Where is harry reid on this? Backing uncle Teddy and the rest of the money people that live there.
No the fact they are not cost effective should be the reason to oppose them.
Global warming is not the most threatening thing to human civilization...let alone the earth.
Maybe we should be pro-active with BLM and locate areas ahead of time for wind farms and energy parks, thus when qualified applicants come along we can say built it over here with our blessing.