Windfarms.

[Audley Strange]

So we were out in the sticks the good lady and I, it was a bright day, blustery but dry and we were walking the hills when we saw them where years before there had been a haunted trail of fossilied tin steel skeletons upon the landscape in the form of pylons there was now huge white windmills, dozens of them, all thunk thunk thunking away. The noise was a bit off putting if you were close, but otherwise there was something elegant and mesmerising about them I thought.

Of course I was wrong. Never mind that a lot those who live out in the sticks demand all the modern facilities of urban living, they also want the natural beauty and in many cases to keep the filthy city dwelling CHUDS like me from their neighbourhoods. One such annoyance told me "they're an eyesore". I asked how he thought power should be generated, but he had no real answer other than a vague NIMBY statement.

Which is precisely the point. Our available choices seem to be renewables or nuclear. So if they refuse a few dozen windmills lets drop fucking some nuclear power stations on their green and pleasant lands instead. Selfish entitled cuntery is not the province of the degenerate unemployable.

I told him that was his, or rather the realistic option given the increased depletion of oil and gas as fuel sources and he looked shocked, like I had told him he had to give his daughter over to The Party for sharing amongst the comrades. I asked if he had any alternatives, I think he was expecting David Cameron to jizz a few billion litres of oil into opec barrels or something. His answer seemed to deny the obvious. "It'll never come to that."

So is this the problem we actually face? Are people oblivious because its hitting them incrementally rather than in one fell swoop? Certainly I know in the U.K. the automatic reaction is to expect the government to do something as long as we don't.

[HomerJay]

Apparently Scotland prodcues a lot of wind.

[Faithfree]

Apparently Scotland prodcues a lot of wind.

It's from eating haggis ..

[MiM]

Put one of them mills within hearing distance from my property, and I will run berserk, and die at least 10 years early from stress induced heightened blood-pressure. As for personal convenience, I will have a nuclear plant behind the next corner anytime, preferred to that.

So let's suppose 10% of the population are noise sensitive, like me. And 10 persons living within the noise area of each 2MW peak power [0.5-1.5 MW average power) windmill (rural locations only). So the, for every 1 MW average effect, you will have one early death, and 10 years lost. Scaled to one single 1000 MW nuclear reactor, this would mean 1000 premature deaths, and 10,000 years lost, without a single accident. This is close to the level of damage of a Chernobyl disaster for every reactor built.

Yes, this is written "tongue on cheek" and these numbers are shaken out of my sleeve. But I seriously believe that noise and other intangible disturbances have a real effect not only on quality, but also length of life. And I do believe that these concerns should be taken seriously.

[Trinity]

I agree with you MIM that noise pollution can have a detrimental effect on one's life, but as someone who lives in a small country, I rarely experience real peacefulness; somewhere nearby there is always a road, flight path or some sign of human habitation, even in the wilds of Dartmoor there is rarely real peace. I think with a lot of noise one can become tolerant, especially constant noise- for example I lived 200yds from a major A road for 14 yrs, moved to the sea where the sounds of the ocean were much louder and insistent than the road ever was. It was more pleasurable to hear, but I still craved peace at times.
I think those big wind turbines are beautiful; graceful engineering which evoke an awe and a sense of calm. They mesmerise me. I would prefer an acre of those compared to a butt ugly concrete and steel blot on the landscape nuclear facility and all the human traffic that goes with that.

[Rum]

We have a lot of wind farms in Cumbria (none inside the Lake District National Park though - not allowed). I have been close to some and have not I must say found them particularly noisy at all.

Two points. The first is that I am surprised that tide and wave power are not being exploited more. We have a huge tidal range in the UK.

The second is that the complainers really don't seem to grasp the enormity of the looming energy crunch. Radical approaches - and there really are not enough of them going on in this country - are required not just for energy production but to massively reduce CO2 emissions.

Unless of course we go more and more down the nuclear road, which my generation in particular I think feel very iffy about.

[hadespussercats]

For a while my husband was into designing windfarms that were aesthetically pleasing (for those who don't like windmills) and made less noise. He was just doing this on his own-- not for any real project. But they were really lovely.

[Atheist-Lite]

Geothermal - plenty of energy once you start tapping the planets core. Might cause a few disasterous events on the learning curve like Yellowstone going off but it'll be worth it all in the end.

[Seth]

Wind turbines: Loud, costly, bird-killing (hundreds of eagles every year at Altamont Pass in CA), expensive to maintain, ugly and absolutely, unequivocally not energy or cost efficient. Without government subsidies (taxpayer rape) the maintenance alone sinks them in a matter of months.

Nukes are the only rational answer to getting off of oil and coal, as if that was actually necessary anytime within the next century and a half to begin with.

[PsychoSerenity]

mesmerise

Yes, mesmerising is the word I'd use. I've long though they were beautiful. And I've never noticed any noise from them when I've been close - though if other people do then that is a problem that needs to be sorted.

[Atheist-Lite]

mesmerise

Yes, mesmerising is the word I'd use. I've long though they were beautiful. And I've never noticed any noise from them when I've been close - though if other people do then that is a problem that needs to be sorted.

Don't do much for me. They go round and that is it. So does the washing machine. I'm not one for watching the drum rotate - it isn't my scene.

[Hermit]

20% of South Australia's electricity comes from wind farms. At the moment the cost per megawatt is a bit higher than that of electricity generated by fossil fuels, but I expect that to change. Also, those farms make bugger-all noise. Here's part of one we drive past on our way to and from Adelaide.

[redunderthebed]

^ yes i saw those last time i went to Adelaide i find them to be quite beautiful and mesmerising.

20% eh seraph? that's awesome i'am a advocate wave energy too due to our large coast but i'm sure that will scuppered by NIMBY retards.

Nuclear is far far too dangerous how many fukushima's chernobyls and three mile islands do we have to have before that becomes clear to people who still hang onto to nuclear?

[Atheist-Lite]

^ yes i saw those last time i went to Adelaide i find them to be quite beautiful and mesmerising.

20% eh seraph? that's awesome i'am a advocate wave energy too due to our large coast but i'm sure that will scuppered by NIMBY retards.

Nuclear is far far too dangerous how many fukushima's chernobyls and three mile islands do we have to have before that becomes clear to people who still hang onto to nuclear?

Nuclear is safe enough, people will be less risk averse once life expectancy comes down a bit following the coming agricultural collapse in a post-peakoil world.

[Hermit]

Nuclear is safe enough, people will be less risk averse once life expectancy comes down a bit following the coming agricultural collapse in a post-peakoil world.

May I suggest you check out how many years' worth of uranium reserves we have?