Good point.

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[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Today's state of the art windmills are rated at 3.5 - 5 MW. Converted to mechanical horsepower, that is about 4700 HP - 6700 HP. The tower height can be 100 meters or more. I have been in the hub house (holds the gearbox and generator) of a large one on display on the ground, it's about the size of a Greyhound bus. While you make a valid point about putting a device making that much power that far up on a tall post, the mechanics of transmitting that much power 100 meters or more to the ground are quite daunting. Belt drive is not practical, and shaft drive is most likely impractical as well.

The propeller shaft on a ship with a 6700 HP engine will be something like 12" diameter or more, can you imagine the weight and bearing(s) issues with a 12" metal shaft 100 meters long in a vertical position? Carbon fiber shafts would be possible, I suppose, but the cost is probably prohibitive.

I am sure that this subject has been studied by some fairly sharp folks and a lot of options have been looked at. So far it's still best to put the bus up on top of the pole...

Rgds,
Chris W.

Noise pollution is a very bad thing and anyone would be well advised to be very concerned about it. It seems some people can hear these things a half mile away.

http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/02/07/neighbors-make-noise-about-mars-hill-turbines/

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

Interesting piece. I wouldn't want to live near a bunch of 'em. Hopefully there are enough places that will stay remote for decades anyway that can be used.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Our multiple wind farms near fowler Indiana have I would estimat over two hundred mills now and are building constantly. I drive by them once a week. I will stop this week and listen, I don't expect to be able to hear anything, and some are very close to the road.

Last week in the morning they were all still. The first time in four months of driving by once a week. On the way home they were moving agian.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Exactly. It's certainly possible to support a 12" shaft for that distance, but the cost is significantly more than just putting the generator at the top of the tower.

Although the shaft is heavy, the weight of the generator at the very top of the tower probably requires a similar structure to support it.

Additionally, there is lost energy in operating the gear train down to the generator.

If there is a noise issue, I'm sure it would be (pardon the pun) down-wind from the mill-farm.

With that particular thought in mind, I'm sure the local populace could easily determine, based on historical records, which direction is the predominate direction that the winds comes from in a particular area.

Determining that piece of information could easily set up known locations for proposed wind-farms where they would produce the least amount of "noise pollution" for the general population.

Then, in about 40 years, when the land prices down-wind from the wind-farm(s) become depressed enough, the owners will sell off the properties and housing developers will move in like they've done near airports and demand further noise reduction...

Another point to keep in mind...

In very hilly areas, most of the wind-farms end up being on the edge of those hills or in areas that aren't blocked by trees causing "drag" and such on the air stream...thereby you end up seeing these things in areas that used to have intristic (sp?) beauty to the local, and transient, population...so now you'll have to deal with the nature-nuts and artists that wouldn't bother to visit the area in a million years but will now, suddenly, decide that the area will be irreputably harmed by these farms...

The NIMBY crowd will have very vivid and audible reasons that these mills shouldn't be in their area...so be ready for the protests and the Radio/TV fart-fests that you'll soon be subjected to. People you've never heard of, let alone even living in your area, will be arriving and postulating about the damage (real or imagined) these mills will have on everyone, everything, everywhere or whatever time they're allowed to be there...

Get out your tinfoil hats and suits...it's going to be an interesting time...

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

The elected officials, in my town it's a three member comittee, are the proper officials to legislate, after proper ordinance introduction, publication, readings, etc. Zoning Boards should not be asked to "legislate" by granting variances, a power bestowed on them in NJ by the Municipal Land Use Law.

Just my opinion mind you, but wouldn't you want those answerable to voters to be making the laws? Zoning by variance absent a relevant zoning ordinance is bad governance.

Well gentlemen...an enlightening look at the pro's and con's of this new power generation operation.

This is another facet for consideration...I know there are a number of Audubon folk here who might find this interesting. My father in the UK brought this to my attention when I told him of the farm along I-40 to the west of OKC a few years ago.

http://www.nationalwind.org/publications/wildlife/avian98/20-Richardson-Migration.pdf.

http://www.awea.org/faq/sagrillo/swbirds.html

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[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

The majority of neotropical migratory birds pass through what is now a large array of artificial reefs over 100 ft tall. We call them off-shore oil platforms. Unservicable rigs, are presently required to be either sunk as artificial sea reefs or brought ashore as scrap. There is a huge push to allow them to be converted to offshore wind farms.

Fear is that they are so attractive for tired and hungry migratory birds, the birds will be drawn to them only to be treated like a hot dog in a Cuisinart.

Interesting. I can vouch for this from personal experience in the Gulf of Mexico. On one of my hitches on a rig in 1978 or so, the rig was, over the course of half a day or so, inundated with small, colorful finch-like birds which descended and hung out all over the rig during some lousy weather. They didn't resemble local birds from south Louisiana.

We all thought they were a migrating flock from Mexico or further south which had been blown off course. Most were so tired we could almost pick them up by hand.

Rgds,
Chris W.

One of the prime movers in LA and TX is a president of a local Sierra Club Chapter. He's also a Cadillac dealer. Irony is not lost.

I would have said "...a hot dog at batting practice..." due to the actual speed those blades take to rotate one revolution...

Besides...who's going to "chum" the sharks anyways?

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

Hey, go write your own ironic piece and leave mine alone.

Southern New Jersey is very important migratory bird stop-over point.
Not far from herre is a fairly large 7.5 megawatt windmill farm near Atlantic City. Live camera shot.
http://www.njwind.com/webcam.html
I don't know if birds have run into them, but whenever the topic of windmills is discussed here, the subject always comes up.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/181/story/320378.html