Wind monstrosities and reasons to give these eyesores the boot!

Above: a turbine eyesore in Liverpool, UK.

How authorities want to wreck the Sefton environment.

Fears over 450ft-high giant wind turbines plans in Sefton  

This disconcerting story was reported in the Southport Visiter on March 14 2013 by Tom Duff. Please surf this link.

http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2013/03/14/fears-over-450ft-high-giant-wind-turbines-plans-in-sefton-100252-32985076/

I have written about these ‘wind monstrosities’ many times before in my articles and in one of my books, Dirty Politics.


http://dirtypolitics.jigsy.com

Let’s consider a few uncomfortable facts:

•  Many residents living in close proximity to these wind farms find the noise levels completely intolerable and are infuriated that assurances about noise given in advance turn out to be valueless. Doctors have suggested that turbine noise, which may be low key yet disturbing and unpleasant, may link to psychological effects, headaches and depression. Noise levels cannot be accurately predicted in advance. 

• Authorities in Spain reported considerable numbers of birds of 13 species secluded under European Union law have been killed by wind turbines (Windpower monthly 2.2.94). Turbines in California have on average destroyed between 200-300 Redtail Hawks and up to 60 Golden Eagles every year, whilst it is estimated that 7000 migrating birds a year are killed at other wind turbine sites in Southern California. (Source -California Energy Commission).

  

• The wind turbine is regulated to generate power at low to moderate wind speeds, when the production is a trickle. As the wind strengthens and real power becomes obtainable, they have to be shut down or they may blow over.

• The two foremost European wind farms are close to each other in Powys, at Llandinam and Carno. Between them, they have 159 turbines and cover many thousands of acres. Jointly they take a year to manufacture less than four days' output from a solitary 2000 MW conventional power station. Together, they have a productivity averaging 20 MW (in winter, UK demand peaks at about 53,000 MW.)

• Turbines can interrupt TV reception. This was noted in 1994 when the BBC and the Independent Television Commission recommended the Department of the Environment to oblige wind farm developers to reinstate reception where wind farms caused intrusion.

• The main unfavourable impact that wind farm expansion is probable to have is on local economies depending on ‘tourism’. Wind speed sites are frequently positioned in the areas holding the premium landscapes. Wind developers are consequently targeting those localities where the sightseer trade consists of visitors seeking harmony and unspoiled countryside.

• One of the most dependable critiques of wind-generation of electricity to date is the Darmstadt Manifesto on the exploitation of wind energy in Germany. Its main influence develops from its signatories - over one hundred leading intellectuals in fields including -  Medicine, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Geography,  Mechanical Engineering and Thermodynamic Science,  Land Administration, and  Agricultural Science.

  

• Health and safety (apart from noise pollution) is a factor too. Apart from the hazard of blades becoming disconnected or even disintegrating due to fatigue etc, there is a real danger that chunks of ice can form on them in wintry conditions and then be thrown considerable distances when the wind picks up and the blades begin to rotate. Three of these wind turbine ‘factories’ in the UK were closed for safety reasons in April 2000 due to metal fatigue.

• The RSPB has objected to 76 wind farm proposals (on and offshore) between 2000-2004 and has raised concerns about a further 129. The RSPB recently objected to a proposed 234 turbine wind farm on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides, on an extremely fragile and special area for wildlife

• Wind powered electricity is estimated to be two and a half times more costly than conventional sources. It would not be economic without a massive subsidy. This comes either from our tax or from the price we pay for electricity. Consumers in Denmark, which has the highest penetration of wind power in Europe, also pay the most for their electricity.  

Bird and Bat Killing Machines

The Northwest coast sees many large flocks of sea birds that will be severely jeopardized, especially at night and in bad weather, by the monstrosities.

In fact a primary school was ‘forced’ to turn off a wind turbine after bird deaths. The school was required to switch off a £20,000 wind turbine, because it kept killing passing sea birds.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/7870929/Primary-school-forced-to-turn-off-wind-turbine-after-bird-deaths.html

Many birds are legally protected under wildlife laws; therefore I for one shall be calling for official ‘prosecution’ for any bird deaths due to wind turbine usage.

Yes, thousands of birds and bats too are killed each year by collisions with wind turbines and their giant blades. Environmental activists are in some places even taking the wind energy industry to court to find a solution.

Dr David Bellamy has previously stated that wind turbines produce only ‘30 percent’ of the power the government claimed and were not as cost effective. He described turbines as “totally and utterly useless things”, and said a better money and energy saving option would be to insulate houses in cladding.

Has the local Council actually considered the growing evidence against these inefficient contraptions and the health/safety risks pointed out by many doctors and environmentalists?