Wind Farm Britain!

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

The Angel of the North, The Forth Road Bridge, The Clifton suspension Bridge?

This is an interesting debate, I don't see the need for such an attack on Ed Milliband

Angel of the north very ugly, the bridges yes will give you them. Ed Milliband, sorry dangerous man.

BFTP

[laserguy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-...went-heads.html

Expecting the usual C.Booker assault,yawn.

[Devonian]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-...went-heads.html

Expecting the usual C.Booker assault,yawn.

Well, since this thread is rapidly going political (and downhill) the reality is C. Booker knows what his readers want to read. He also offers no alternative solutions, just political knock about - which is easy and rather typical of him.

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Well, since this thread is rapidly going political (and downhill) the reality is C. Booker knows what his readers want to read. He also offers no alternative solutions, just political knock about - which is easy and rather typical of him.

Well he suggests that nuclear and coal fire are far more economical and also far more efficient. I tell you what it is an excellent argument which shows both that Milliband is dangerous and those that advocate turbines as the way forward as being on the same boat as he. WAKE UP FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!

BFTP

[Lincs Observation]

like i say i live practically near a wind farm have done for over a year, my verdict : No noise, delightfully elegant especially at sunrise/sunset. No problem.

and to be honest id like to hear if anyone else lives as close to a wind farm like me, and what they think.

in regard to the post about my view is possibly not shared with others who live near me and near to the farm, well i can say with some certainty because we are a small rural community that on the whole they do go unnoticed most of the time, and the irony is they been so big and stand out has little effect on the concious now. like windmills, pylons, and telegraph poles before them they melt into the minds eye and you become immune......but just now and again you catch them in all their majesty.

i think making judgements from afar is not a good thing, and i do think that people from certain quarters of the public with a fear of anything new distort facts to aid the case for own gain.

LO

[Solar Cycles]

Angel of the north very ugly, the bridges yes will give you them. Ed Milliband, sorry dangerous man.

BFTP

Millibands a sleazy do as I say not as I do politician, a bit like all socialist really! And how the hell anyone can call those steel monsters beautiful, needs their eyes testing. Nucelar is the way forward, clean, efficent, and cost effective!

[Methuselah]

like i say i live practically near a wind farm have done for over a year, my verdict : No noise, delightfully elegant especially at sunrise/sunset. No problem.

and to be honest id like to hear if anyone else lives as close to a wind farm like me, and what they think.

in regard to the post about my view is possibly not shared with others who live near me and near to the farm, well i can say with some certainty because we are a small rural community that on the whole they do go unnoticed most of the time, and the irony is they been so big and stand out has little effect on the concious now. like windmills, pylons, and telegraph poles before them they melt into the minds eye and you become immune......but just now and again you catch them in all their majesty.

i think making judgements from afar is not a good thing, and i do think that people from certain quarters of the public with a fear of anything new distort facts to aid the case for own gain.

LO

Hi LO,

Aye, there are quite a few of them on the hills around here, too...What's the problem - apart from them presenting an opportunity to bash socialists??

As you say, they are quite impressive!

[laserguy]

Hi LO,

Aye, there are quite a few of them on the hills around here, too...What's the problem - apart from them presenting an opportunity to bash socialists??

As you say, they are quite impressive!

You'll not be saying that when there's about twenty million of them all over the place,Pete,and we're still fumbling around in the dark. Or are we going to use our god-like power to 'change the climate' and make the wind blow 24/7? And what on Earth is wrong with bashing socialists? Sheesh!

[Methuselah]

You'll not be saying that when there's about twenty million of them all over the place,Pete,and we're still fumbling around in the dark. Or are we going to use our god-like power to 'change the climate' and make the wind blow 24/7? And what on Earth is wrong with bashing socialists? Sheesh!

Hello! We're running out of fossil fuels. And Nucelar will only ever be a stop-gap at best...

PS: There are already millions of pylons and poles everywhere you look. So, until someone invents ZPE-generated 'wireless' electricity supplies, invisible infrastrucure won't happen.

[Gray-Wolf]

I prefer to see turbines to pylons myself. When you are on Blackstone edge you can see the East West superpylons and, on the hills facing ,a number of wind farms. The view across to the turbines is much nicer (IMHO) :huh:

[Solar Cycles]

Hello! We're running out of fossil fuels. And Nucelar will only ever be a stop-gap at best...

PS: There are already millions of pylons and poles everywhere you look. So, until someone invents ZPE-generated 'wireless' electricity supplies, invisible infrastrucure won't happen.

All very well, but to generate enough electricity, you would have to cover vast areas with these steel monsters. What gets me is all those who spout on, about how we are destroying the world we live in, are more than happy to see these as an alternative! Laughable!!!!!!!!!!

[Methuselah]

All very well, but to generate enough electricity, you would have to cover vast areas with these steel monsters. What gets me is all those who spout on, about how we are destroying the world we live in, are more than happy to see these as an alternative! Laughable!!!!!!!!!!

So what do you suggest, Solar - perpetual-motion machines? :huh:

[Wynn D Woo]

If i had to choose, i would rather be near a wind farm than a convergence of pylons - grey , ugly and untidy. Turbines on the other hand are impressive and interesting to look at. Nuclear is OK and something of an evil necessity but the waste is a real issue and any accidents far more lethal, potentially, than any of the other options.

[Admiral_Bobski]

But even if you have wind turbines you still need the pylons to transport the electricity.

So, given a choice between just pylons or wind farms and pylons, I'd opt for just the pylons thanks.

CB

[Guest North Sea Snow Convection]

Millibands a sleazy do as I say not as I do politician, a bit like all socialist really! And how the hell anyone can call those steel monsters beautiful, needs their eyes testing. Nucelar is the way forward, clean, efficent, and cost effective!

When I make my own comments about the principle of harnessing wind power, it certainly does not mean that I am complimenting Milliband! <_<

I agree with your comments about nuclear being best. I guess my idea of a nice turbine is really like the one's I used to watch on Trumpton when I was little (Windy Miller for those ancient enough to remember!)

The 21st century reality is somewhat different in retrospect!

[Osbourne One-Nil]

As I've said before, it is vital we keep some areas completely free of development. Unspoilt sountryside is a vital resource and it won't be missed until its gone. Put wind turbines up in an otherwise unspoilt bit of countryside, and people then come along and want to put something else there because the wind turbines are already there, so the impact of the new development is lessened, and so on and so on. This doesn't have to be right next door, it could be 15 miles away and you could still use the same argument...and people do.

Not all countryside has a high quality to it in visual terms, and wind turbines in such areas will have little impact to most people. Some countryside, however, is well worth protecting at any cost, and if we don't, we'll never get it back.

[Lincs Observation]

afternoon all

i think eventually technology will advance to replace turbines soon enough, just as pylons are becoming so. i think it would be fair to say to those who dont like turbines is they wont be around for ever just like windmills were, in fact they may just keep a few going as tourist attractions (now that would be ironic given the same objections now as was back in the day over windmills)

what would be good is to harness the sea, with rising water levels what about having a duel water fed system giving water turbines and using and treating the by product for consumption, after all this country was a leader in engineering in its day and anything mechanical was water driven and produced a lot of power, you would think in this day and age that the scientist engineers could come up with a water driven turbine plant.

thoughts on that one ladies and gents.

LO

[Methuselah]

afternoon all

i think eventually technology will advance to replace turbines soon enough, just as pylons are becoming so. i think it would be fair to say to those who dont like turbines is they wont be around for ever just like windmills were, in fact they may just keep a few going as tourist attractions (now that would be ironic given the same objections now as was back in the day over windmills)

what would be good is to harness the sea, with rising water levels what about having a duel water fed system giving water turbines and using and treating the by product for consumption, after all this country was a leader in engineering in its day and anything mechanical was water driven and produced a lot of power, you would think in this day and age that the scientist engineers could come up with a water driven turbine plant.

thoughts on that one ladies and gents.

LO

That's an interesting idea, LO; and it made me wonder about how hydroelectric works now.

Presently, I think that (when required) water is pumped uphill using excess power from National Grid? Well, why not put dedicated windfarms close-by, and use wind power to drive the turbines; whatever spare there is goes into the Grid? And when the wind isn't blowing, use the water to send power to the Grid?

PS: I don't pretend to know a great deal about this! Experts required!

[Gray-Wolf]

PS: I don't pretend to know a great deal about this! Experts required!

"Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian or the marine that went to war...."

If we hark back to the energy crisis of the 70's and the Govt. sponsored study into alternatives made then (and the way the Con. Govt. put 11 Nuclear scientists on the panel and skewed many of the results to make many of those technologies look less cost effective) and couple it with the Con. drive for wind power in the mid 90's (whilst still in Govt.) a pattern starts to emerge (to me at least).

The folk pushing Nuclear privatisation/expansion push for one of the most impacting alternative technologies (and not one that is truely tailored to individual areas but targeting our unspoilt uplands) to show the public the alternative to nuclear? Where is the hydrothermal in the SW/Derbyshire/Scotland?. Where are the solar panels/plants on our big city buildings?Where is the small scale hydro? (we live in a valley that used to boast upwards of 20 water powered mills on the Calder's tributaries) Where is the tidal/wave power?

You'd better report me to Randi as I'm sniffing a conspiracy :lol:

Edited July 18, 2009 by Gray-Wolf

[Methuselah]

I agree. Maggies sudden ''greening' was a tad skewed to say the least. But a conspiracy? How can it be a conspiracy? PP hasn't started a thread yet!

I hope that local power-generation that utilizes local resources will play a very important role in future developments. We have two rather abundant renewable energy-sources up here: wind and rain. So let's use them!

For the remainder, we can build a fast-breeder in Solar's back garden. Sorry Solar!

PS: I'm already looking for another signature tune for you to complete! :lol:

[J07]

A bunch just got put up near where I live. I like them. I think they look majestic, and I like to see us making use of the wind. There used to be some near where I lived in the UK, never bothered me, quite a pleasant sight I thought!

[laserguy]

J07,I want to live where you live - looks magnificent,wind turbines an' all!

[Thundery wintry showers]

The problem is that there is such a wide variety of views- some people like the look of turbines, others don't, whereas I find myself somewhere in between- in some places I think they look good, but I'd certainly be complaining if they plonked them in the middle of an unspoilt, picturesque part of the Lake District. My overall view is similar to Osbourne One-Nil's. Things like the asthetics side, chances of land being developed, disruption to wildlife- should all be part of any cost-benefit analysis.

Many of those who like the look of wind turbines cannot accept that other people might think differently and hold a valid view, it seems. The "pylons" argument doesn't really work because I'm yet to see a pylon placed in an area that I considered to be of asthetic beauty, whereas turbines are often placed in such areas. If turbines were only placed where pylons were placed then it would be a stronger argument.

More in the way of local generation might perhaps be more efficient as it means the electricity has to be carried over shorter distances (the same holds for other forms of renewable energy). I've seen turbines fitted to the tops of people's houses for example.

One risk is that we could end up leaving wind behind once more efficient alternatives are developed, leaving a bucketload of turbines sitting there doing not a lot...

[Gray-Wolf]

One risk is that we could end up leaving wind behind once more efficient alternatives are developed, leaving a bucket load of turbines sitting there doing not a lot...

My time in town planning at the time of the first round of turbine installation may prove useful here (no matter how I feel about them personally). The environmental 'footprint' of the turbine consists of a hardcore access track and the foundation block of the pylon/tower itself. If you think about the environmental footprint of any other type of electricity production facility then this is very small and is easily turned 'back to nature' at the end of the towers useful life.

At the same time folk from Japan were lodging objections to the 'flight Hill' winfarm project (thanks a lot Bernard Ingham!!!) the new 'super pylons' were being erected at the other side of the valley. These impacted 5 farms. They objected using mainly the U.S. studies into their impact on human life (seeing as none exist in the UK). The objections were overlooked because the studies were not carried out in the U.K.

No matter how much a pylon impacts human life because the (then conservative) Govt. does not pay to have these impacts investigated it obviously doesn't exist in the U.K.(apparently)

[Osbourne One-Nil]

How about the environmental impact per kWh generated aspect and the tendency to allow more development into the area as a result of the turbines' existence?

I'm not anti-wind turbines per-se but it really could become a very very slippery slope if any were permitted in truly high quality landscapes.

Edited July 18, 2009 by Osbourne One-Nil