Anti-solar attitudes (was Calif. fires) [RE-wrenches]

Matt Tritt solarone at charter.net
Sun Nov 9 22:00:53 PST 2003


Joel,

Depends on the turbine, doesn't it? 3 decibels above ambient @ 100
meters (downwind) hardly would be described as noisy, wot? Beauty is
definitely in the eye of beholder; like the comment about utility poles
being acceptable but not a WECS. The idea of a windturbine being in
ones' face and ugly is pretty funny. Consider the nature of Los Angeles.
Oops!
No offense meant, but you know what I mean. Besides, you don't sell wind
power to neighbors, you sell it to a buyer; just like PV or a new roof.

The new state guidelines do a very good job of delineating what can and
cannot be done to kill a wind project. Stopping it because you object to
the appearance of a turbine can not, in most cases, be used as a valid
reason. Consider the visual impact of a 10 k ground mount PV
installation - 1200 sq ft of panels, and that's if it's all in one row!
A 10 k turbine on a monopole takes up about 20 sq. feet of ground and
23' diameter in the air. You can see how the visual impact argument can
be aimed right back at you. (relative efficiencies aside)

I believe that both technologies need to be accepted equally without any
pre-conceived negatives attached.

Someday this will be a perfect world! ;-)

Matt T






-----Original Message-----
From: Joel Davidson [mailto:joeldavidson at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 6:03 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: Anti-solar attitudes (was Calif. fires) [RE-wrenches]


Windpower is harder to sell to neighbors because of the sound (noise to
some
people) and sight (in your face and ugly to some people). Some people
with Hollywood Hills mansions get the similar complaints about their
noisy parties and view-blocking big house. One man's beauty is another
man's beast.

Matt Tritt wrote:

> Joel and Matt,
>
> Isn't it amazing that there actually IS a segment of society that is 
> anti-solar, wind, etc.? I recently attended a county supervisor's 
> meeting that featured a very vocal opposition to the installation of a

> Bergey Excel "10" kW in an agriculturally zoned area. The opposition 
> was plainly as NIMBY as it gets - no valid arguments against, they 
> just plain didn't want to see a windturbine on the offending property.
>
> This group had approached me (as a knowledgeable wind guy) to write an

> opinion expressing the view that there wasn't sufficient wind resource

> in the area to warrant the installation of a turbine. They offered to 
> pay me to do this. I actually had to make a decision to back the 
> project, in spite of a marginal wind regime, because of the very real 
> possibility that denying it would or could have created a negative 
> precedent for future similar installations in the area.
>
> The issue for the NIMBYs wasn't the performance of the machine at all;

> it was purely their perception that it would somehow detract from the 
> "pristine rural character of the area" (which it isn't) just by being 
> there. I have encountered similar attitudes toward PV from people who 
> feel the same as the ones opposed to windturbines; they just don't 
> like the looks of the technology. The combination of suspicious 
> utility people and ignorant NIMBYs can be one hell of an obstacle for 
> our businesses to deal with.
>
> None of this has anything at all to do with burned-out neighborhoods 
> but it has a lot to do with a certain element or elements that might 
> monitor this list looking for good negative ammunition for possible 
> use against projects or equipment, and I can readily see why Matt L 
> would warn against giving the wrong impression or one that could be 
> misinterpreted by these people. After all, if someone with the 
> experience and perceptiveness of Matt can read something iffy into 
> Joel's message, just imagine what the Dark Side can do with it! On the

> other hand, I think it's great to hear positive AND negative feedback 
> on the equipment we use. That's one of the cool things about this 
> list.It would kind of suck to have to tell only the good stories when 
> it's the bad ones that can be the most valuable. IMHO
>
> The other Matt

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
--^----------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9.bWljaGFl
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html
--^----------------------------------------------------------------









More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list