Grievances aired over wind turbines on Vinalhaven (Wind Power Alert)

Bangor Daily News ^ | 8/21/10 | Heather Steeves

[paul in cape]

VINALHAVEN, Maine — Residents expressed grievances about turbine noise at a Thursday meeting that allowed islanders to ask questions of two wind professionals who will be collecting noise data in an attempt to identify specific mechanical perpetrators.

The experts then will come back to the community with options and prices for noise mitigation.

It has been about two years since Vinalhaven voters, with a 383-5 vote, approved the construction of three wind turbines. It has been about a year since wind started producing power on Vinalhaven and North Haven.

At Thursday’s meeting, held in Vinalhaven School's auditorium and hosted by Island Institute in Rockland, some residents among the more than 100 in attendance complained of unusual sounds generated by the turbines. Some said they felt vibrations and others were worried about health risks.

Cathy Frierson said she was sitting in her home working on her computer last week when noise from the turbines disrupted her.

“All of a sudden I felt a sternum vibration and felt ill,” she said. “I had to leave my home and go to the other side of the island.”

Resident Ethan Hall said the sounds the turbines make never fade into background noise.

“The complaints I’m hearing and everyone else is hearing are very real. It’s a remarkable sound like nothing I’ve ever heard,” Hall said Thursday night after the two-hour meeting. “It affects everyone in the community. We were promised sound wouldn’t be a problem. It is a problem.”

[truthfreedom]

Maine should focus on tidal and skip wind

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS158498914020100820

Ocean Renewable Power Tests Tidal Power System in Maine

[dhs12345]

Good point. There are too many of us humans. Plus, we live way too long thus sucking up even more resources.

Throws off the natural balance.

Actually, they are serious about it, too. Read what Holdren has written.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The wind pied piper merrily led the gullible along. Not one of the 385 who voted “yes” did any background research on damage these machines do? They all swallowed the promoter’s pitch, hook, line and sinker? There is an abundance of information all over about the problems these machines cause and it doesn’t take much effort to find it.

Granola-eaters or not, I don’t have much sympathy.

Large-scale land-gobbling solar and wind projects are nonsensical and impractical. They take probably 1,000 times the land of a conventional nuclear plant.

[aumrl]

“From a few hundred yards away, they are completely silent.”

DID YOU NOTICE WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE MOVING?

[VOA]

“
The granole-types who live on the island voted 383-5 in
favor of the turbines 2 years ago.
“

Sounds like that hope-and-change thang has left a sour taste in
some of these granola-types!

[animal172]

Doesn’t surprise me that many are not functioning. We say many that were idle, but then maybe the wind wasnt’ blowing hard enough. Seems to me that if we were to build tons of them in front of the Congress, the White House and every other politicians offices we would have more power than we could ever use.

[UCANSEE2]

If what you say is true, why doesn't the market fix the problem? Don't markets work? If not then why if this technology is so great isn't it widely adopted? Please explain.

MONEY. MONEY. MONEY.

GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED MARKETS. AL GORE.

If that doesn't help, then...

All of this 'green ecology' stuff was just a venue for the RICH to get RICHER.

The U.S. imported those cheap, crappy windmills from CHINA, amongst others.

They are unreliable, inefficient, take up large amounts of space, do not tolerate extremes of heat or cold, kill birds, emanate low frequency vibrations, which travel much further than higher frequency noise, and can even be deadly.

There is a harmonic (vibrational rate) that the body is very susceptible to. It is a very low frequency rate, and these windmills run around the same frequency, depending on windspeed.

Anyway, contracts for these windmills (major international DEALS) were made years ago, to the exclusion of any other type, so as to force sales (profits) to certain overseas manufacturers, who provided kickbacks to the politicians who ensured the deals.

Does it make sense now?

If you tour these WINDMILL FARMS, you will find many of them are damaged, or not even being used.

These newer (and much better) types of WIND POWER GENERATORS are mostly aimed at the HOME segment, because the NATIONAL sales market was miserably low due to IN PLACE CONTRACTS for FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS.

I.E., Even if you had a better mouse, you couldn't sell it to the government.

[Spktyr]

Actually, they do. And mostly we stick them out in West Texas where there is no scenery anyway, and almost nobody living anywhere nearby.

The largest and most productive wind farm in the US isn’t in California. It’s in Texas.

[animal172]

West Texas is where we saw all the turbines. We were driving back to Tennessee from Odessa.

[truthguy]

They are unreliable, inefficient, take up large amounts of space, do not tolerate extremes of heat or cold, kill birds, emanate low frequency vibrations, which travel much further than higher frequency noise, and can even be deadly.

There is a harmonic (vibrational rate) that the body is very susceptible to. It is a very low frequency rate, and these windmills run around the same frequency, depending on windspeed.

Yes all of what you say about Windmills is true. But you forgot to mention that the damn things are maintenance intensive. They eat ball bearings. I guess that could be put under the general category of unrealiable.