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The downside of windmills
October 28, 2009 - 3:38pm
I have been reading a lot lately that windmills have a serious downside: killing birds, including endangered ones. Also bats. I don't see how birds and bats can be protected and view this as another human in-humanity. see clip:
http://www.break.com/index/buzzard-gets-clipped-by-wind-turbine.html
Article abstract:
From a birdwatcher's blog:
* I replaced the original (dead) link with a new one which will soon (I hope) connect to an updated report. - M.S.
Thanks M. Spector -- the whole "wind farms kills birds" thing is definitely blown out of proportion when you look at the relative affects of the other industries.
I went to a community meeting about windmills the other day. It was fairly well attended, with a lot of frustration being expressed about lack of clarity.
There were a few people there from areas where windmills are already operating. It seems that some people get sick from living near those huge industrial windmills and are having trouble selling their homes, because of a drop in the realestate vaues of their homes on account of the proximity to the windmills. Also I got the impression that the Ontario government is attemting to take away local council's right to restrick these projects.
What sort of sickness, Bubbles?
Germany has over 19,000 wind turbines and a much greater population density than Canada. Have the Germans run into health problems?
The Danes get 20% of their power from wind turbines. What sort of sicknesses do they suffer?
well, there was one elderly woman that lives near the clear creek windfarm. She is experiencing hearing loss, she said it feels like having her ears full of cotton balls. Her hearing recovers when she leaves the area, but it takes longer and longer to recover. She also has chest pains, which was initialy thought to be heart problems but no heart problems where found. She had more problems but do not recall what they were. Sleep deprivation seems to be a big problem also. It all might have something to do with low frequency vibration that those mill emit.
I remember there being a segment on CBC Radio's The Current a few months back on the subject. Ontario residents living near windmills claimed that there was an incessant low frequency hum that was destroying their lives.
Is this for real? I've lived in houses most of my life and have never known a bird to fly into a window? 10 a year? That doesn't sound right.
It does happen. Just because the bird doesn't drop dead immediately after impact doesn't mean it won't die later with broken bones.
A lot of tilting at windmills...couldn't resist...hangs head.
I believe they give you wind.
Would this be the same people like the Paris suburb where a Cell Antenna went up and people complained about the health issues and sickness and cancer before it was revealed that it had not even been turned on during the period they were complaining?
Just imagine how much worse it was after they turned it on!!
Take heart. Linda Hasenfratz's auto parts giant, Linamar is going to to making the nacelles for a revolutionary made-in-Canada, 2 mgw wind turbine that is expected to be able to generate electricity at lower wind speeds. And people will be employed here in making them -. They are big suckers, but there must be somewhere in the middle of Lake Ontario that they won't bother anyone (Scotland puts them out in the North Sea).
I am not sure if we solve anything by making light of these peoples problems with windmills or cell towers. I am convinced that for them the problem is very real. And that it is something we will have to deal with.
Some are afraid of hights, others of spiders, open spaces, small spaces, buttons, flighing, etc,etc. I have seen people get violently ill from blood and gore, motion sickness. These are very unpleasant experiences to the people involved and literaly make them sick. Pharmaceuticals might block some of these experiences, but as far as I know provide no cure. I am not sure if they could be psychosomatic ilnesses, by that I mean illnesses that have an origine in the mind, what ever that is. If these real reactions have the origine in the mind then some of these illnesses might have a cultural component, since culture shapes so much of our mind.
Missed your post George. They are big indeed. the ones proposed for this area will be in the range of 460ft.
Think 200 metres.
We've talked about this before. The last time I attempted looking up stuff on line about low frequency or infra sound coming from windmills, it seems the windmill industry had studies, but are keeping them under wraps. But they say they don't pose a problem.
I'm guessing of course, based on some things I've seen and things I've read, but I think these low frequency sound waves can bother some people, and not others. I wouldn't dissmiss claims out of hand, anyway.
I find it irksome, however, because this is all measureable and testable, we should know deffinatively by now.
Denmark wouldn't have as many complaints because their wind farms are in the North Sea, far away from Danes.
It's too bad Toronto isn't located near a large body of water where windfarms would be close to the users, but far away enough not to encroach on people's real estate values or health.
I guess we'll just have to put them in rural backyards. Nothing to be done about that.
A friend has built a home made windmill to generate electricity -- very inspiring. I want to build and install a windmill for power generation for our home. I am sure there are some downsides: cost, time, safety concerns. The upsides: return on investment, possibly not having to pay a hydro bill, ever again. Not contributing to the wellfare of large corporations. Being a role model for others -- showing that things like this are possible.
Sometimes I think Ontario is making a mistake by installing windpowered electric generators. Most power is probably used in the Windsor to Quebec corridor. Storing electricity is a big expensive problem. Why not built a big pipe from Lake Ontario to lake Erie. Built a whole bunch of windmills on top of this pipe to pump water from Lake Ontario into Lake Erie and use that extra water in Lake Erie to run electric generators in the Niagara gorge as needed. I have not done the math, but suspect that a six to twelve inch level variation in Lake Erie would represent a huge storage of electrical capacity.
Any chance they (windmills) can be modified to emit frequencies that will drive squirrels away? I so totally promise not to be NIMBY about them if they can guarantee that.
What have you got against squirrels?
Just get a few cats, they will not catch all, but certainly will keep the numbers down to tolerable levels. It is probably cheaper then see your property value go bown by 30 percent or so, when one of these 460ft structures grace your back yard. Also when the windmill operator goes bankrupt you will not get stuck with a lean against your property, as some farmers have had the pleasure of experiencing.
The cats are afraid of this bunch and, living on the prairies, there is a shortage of mink, marten, lynx etc. to keep that particular type of rodent under control. I keep hoping coyotes will hurry up their evolutionary progression and develop the ability to pursue them into trees.
I'm sure it does happen. But 10 times a year for each house? I've never actually seen a bird hit a window. Ever.
Windmill problems.
Wind turbine syndrome.
If these people are imagining their problems, they're getting their doctors to imagine them too.
Growing up just outside Ottawa in a big house with two large picture windows set in an angle opposite each other, we had lots of bird strikes as birds tried to fly through. The solution was to keep the curtains closed on one side.
After reading this, I'm thinking it's more of an educated guess.
If you shell out for some black sunflower seed (cheaper than the larger striped variety, which is feeding more people this year, a mennonite farmer tells me) you have happy squirrels and ALL the birds, all too fat to be an aerial problem. (And I would not want to live within hearing distance of a wind turbine.
And Tommy :
"It's too bad Toronto isn't located near a large body of water where windfarms would be close to the users, but far away enough not to encroach on people's real estate values or health. "
...you're puttin' us on with this geographically challenged observation. It doubles as your comment on not just property values but also human values in the Big Smoke. As observed from a smaller community tired of Hogtown's carryin' on... Subtle.