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

[Joel Davidson]

Hey, I'm on your side. Pro-wind. Anti-LA-Blight. A few years ago Supervisor
Antonovich (Palmdale, Lancaster, etc. good wind areas) recommended 50% of
all new homes be built with solar. I attended the supervisors' meeting and,
at Mike Bergey's encouragement, used the opportunity to ask Antonovich to
get rid of the antiquated 35 feet tower height limit that was set in the
early 1900s because 35 feet was the height fire equipment could pump water.
The height limit was changed when New York and other big cities built tall
buildings, but the tower limit remained - unless you got a waiver and paid
thousands of dollars to the planning commission. Builders killed the 50%
solar homes saying it cost too much and would hurt their business.
Right-wingers also opposed it because they don't like the government to
interfere with their businesses (same for the American automobile
manufacturers). Oh yeah, the height limit is still the law.


Matt Tritt wrote:

> 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
>
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