Oh Dear here we go again

[bekisman]

Here we go again, someone banging the "it's only wind turbines that will save the world" drum. Hmm, now where the heck do I get that I idea from, I ask myself, 'spose it's the regular one-sided input: 'Nuclear Fusion stymied due Global Helium Shortage'. 'Fast Breeder Technology, is it Safe and Sustainable for the Future?' . 'An interesting video showing the construction of a wind turbine tower.'. 'Tory Austerity, Energy and Climate Change' . 'Subsidies to the Nuclear Industry.'. 'Anti-windfarm Sentiment is killing Scottish Tourism'. 'Scottish Government's take on Windfarm Impacts on Caithness Tourism.'. et el.

Ok we're all entitled to our views, - that's if they are not obscured by some 400 ft monstrosity churning out some piddling amount of power and pouring money - what is it? £9,000 per turbine + percent of electricity produced - into developers pockets - I thought I saw a plan for four turbines at Smerral, not bad I think; the 'poor farmer' will be getting c£40,000 a year? Never mind about the poor blighters who live within 2kms and get nothing.. but hey, 'it's saving the planet' (naive rubbish)

Seems that there's not enough Uranium for every country in the world to have dozens of nuclear power stations? - (just like France does), which incidentally, his PC could be powered by nuclear reaction from France via the Interconnector (now there's a thought)..

But hey, we're not talking about 'the world'. Next we don't have enough helium-3 to power the Earth - but we do get Helium 3 from nuclear weapons. 15 kilograms of Helium 3 is produced by decaying nuclear weapons each year - That is nowhere near the needed 100 metric tonnes that could be used to power the world, but hey who's talking about the bleeding world?

All I see is the highlands being despoiled. Presumable a lot of supporters of wind farms do not appreciate the previously unspoilt beauty of the area they come up here to live in..
There is this terrified dysfunctional fear of 'NUCLEAR' Run for the hills, remember Chernobyl (eh?) the nuclear bombs of Nagasaki & Hiroshima (eh?).
Present party in Government - till next election - hates Nuclear, but seems wee ecky has changed his mind about Faslane hmm, next year the party in power will overturn this ban and we might get a sensible mix of power production. I'd have no hesitation in supporting a new power station in Dounreay - as would the vast majority up here..

[shazzap]

I don't understand all the Nuclear bits of your thread, or the Turbines either except that they produce energy. I suppose it has to be something that either affects you directly, or is of interest to you.

[annemarie482]

yet another thread about windmills *yawn*
just merge it with another of the several hundred threads!!

me view in a nutshell:

windmills dont bother me, i dont find them particulary unsightly.
and can see several from my house too.
some people would happily let us all live in the dark ages to preserve beauty!
i think its possible to meet in the middle.

[onecalledk]

Windturbines are a serious risk to human health. There are lots of studies that support this. The canadians have had wind turbines for many years and are only now finding out the health implications! Dont buy the "green energy" label as the orginal poster states the only people wind turbines help is the companies and the landowners who stand to make a lot of money out of them.

Apart from the health implications, how can a windturbine be "green" when there has to be TONNES of CEMENT poured into the ground to support the structure ? They dont come flat packed in little cartons that spring into the huge structures that you see, the amount of fuel etc that is used in shipping and transporting these structures around the place is massive.

Working on constructing these monstrosities is also a danger to health with people involved in the construction dying in various sorts of accidents every year. The blades are a danger if they fall off the lorries or if they fall off the windturbine. They are a danger to birds and the environment in general.

"its only a few birds" I hear you cry, well what does it tell you about the low level vibration of these things when bats explode when flying anywhere near them?

For those of you who have health problems anyway be very concerned. The low level vibration emitted from these windturbines affects human health by increasing migraines, epileptic fits, visual disturbances, feelings of vertigo, childrens concentration is adversely affected, as is there behaviour, sleep disturbances etc etc

Just ask those who have lived anywhere near these things how they felt health wise. Oh and for those who think the health stuff is rubbish, then how about the value of your property plummeting?

There is a reason that other countries build these things in the sea away from human beings......but that is expensive and we cant have the government putting our countries health before profit could we ?
K

[George Brims]

Exploding bats? Can I have some of what you're smoking?

Seriously, there are plenty things wrong with wind turbines from their ugly appearance to the numbers of birds they kill, without people making stuff up.

[Mystical Potato Head]

Windturbines are a serious risk to human health. There are lots of studies that support this. The canadians have had wind turbines for many years and are only now finding out the health implications! Dont buy the "green energy" label as the orginal poster states the only people wind turbines help is the companies and the landowners who stand to make a lot of money out of them.

Apart from the health implications, how can a windturbine be "green" when there has to be TONNES of CEMENT poured into the ground to support the structure ? They dont come flat packed in little cartons that spring into the huge structures that you see, the amount of fuel etc that is used in shipping and transporting these structures around the place is massive.

Working on constructing these monstrosities is also a danger to health with people involved in the construction dying in various sorts of accidents every year. The blades are a danger if they fall off the lorries or if they fall off the windturbine. They are a danger to birds and the environment in general.

"its only a few birds" I hear you cry, well what does it tell you about the low level vibration of these things when bats explode when flying anywhere near them?

For those of you who have health problems anyway be very concerned. The low level vibration emitted from these windturbines affects human health by increasing migraines, epileptic fits, visual disturbances, feelings of vertigo, childrens concentration is adversely affected, as is there behaviour, sleep disturbances etc etc

Just ask those who have lived anywhere near these things how they felt health wise. Oh and for those who think the health stuff is rubbish, then how about the value of your property plummeting?

There is a reason that other countries build these things in the sea away from human beings......but that is expensive and we cant have the government putting our countries health before profit could we ?
K

Dont worry too much about the long term risks to your health or the price of your house hitting rock bottom. The next solar maximum 2012 the earth is in severe danger of being electronically wiped out.
No mobile phones,no internet,no satelites,no tv,no power....windmills would still turn no doubt but the power lines would be friED.

Scary fiction??? No,its happened before but long before the world was so reliant on "technology"
Is society set to fail and suffer a systems collapse with great loss of life and property if 2012 solar flares materialize in the worst case scenario?

Windmills? the least of your worries....Sleep well.

[Duncansby]

Exploding bats? Can I have some of what you're smoking?

Seriously, there are plenty things wrong with wind turbines from their ugly appearance to the numbers of birds they kill, without people making stuff up.

Onecalledk's language was maybe a bit exaggerated but there has been evidence to suggest that the change in air pressure around wind turbines cause fatal damage to the internal organs of bats. If I remember correctly it was a US or Canadian study a few years ago - not sure if much research has been undertaken in the UK but there may be more information on the Bat Conservation Trust website.

Of course there are many other factors affecting bats such as interupting foraging routes or with birds and migration routes which is why appropriate citing is so important.

[Duncansby]

how can a windturbine be "green" when there has to be TONNES of CEMENT poured into the ground to support the structure ? They dont come flat packed in little cartons that spring into the huge structures that you see, the amount of fuel etc that is used in shipping and transporting these structures around the place is massive.

This is a good point however the amount of energy produced by a turbine over it's working life will amount to 80 times that which is used to produce it.

Working on constructing these monstrosities is also a danger to health with people involved in the construction dying in various sorts of accidents every year.

Unfortunately this is true of most industries

[orkneycadian]

Unfortunately this is true of most industries

None more so than agriculture (source = here)

From this data, it appears that whatever wind turbine construction work gets categorised under (probably extractive and utility supply), the fatality rate in agriculture is over 2.5 times that!

[Vistravi]

yet another thread about windmills *yawn*
just merge it with another of the several hundred threads!!

me view in a nutshell:

windmills dont bother me, i dont find them particulary unsightly.
and can see several from my house too.
some people would happily let us all live in the dark ages to preserve beauty!
i think its possible to meet in the middle.

I agree with you.

[bekisman]

yet another thread about windmills *yawn*
just merge it with another of the several hundred threads!!

me view in a nutshell:

windmills dont bother me, i dont find them particulary unsightly.
and can see several from my house too.
some people would happily let us all live in the dark ages to preserve beauty!
i think its possible to meet in the middle.

Eh? it's not about windmills, it's about people who do not believe that there are other means of generating power, your "some people would happily let us all live in the dark ages to preserve beauty!" is a minor poke, a philistinism, but I'm for nuclear power, I don't know if you are aware and up to speed on this but nuclear fission is um, not of the dark ages, it be a bit modern you see..

[annemarie482]

sorry bekisman, i do appologise. have gone over the original post again and i agree i too would be delighted to see a "new dounreay".
this county will be devesated if and when dounreay is finally "done"

but that post was more directed at the "anti windmills" posters i knew would comment waffling on about the usual complaints.
jumped the gun abit maybe, but i was right they'd appear!

[Kevin Milkins]

"its only a few birds" I hear you cry, well what does it tell you about the low level vibration of these things when bats explode when flying anywhere near them?
K

Ow please, not the old Bat nugget again. Whenever something needs to be saved or stopped, it's either Bats or Crested Newts that come to the rescue.

Poor old Tony Gorgon was driven to despair by Roy Cropper with his save the bat campaign and if he hadn't slipped Jason Grimshaw a few quid to scar them off one night, the flats would have never got built.

[ywindythesecond]

Ow please, not the old Bat nugget again. Whenever something needs to be saved or stopped, it's either Bats or Crested Newts that come to the rescue.

Poor old Tony Gorgon was driven to despair by Roy Cropper with his save the bat campaign and if he hadn't slipped Jason Grimshaw a few quid to scar them off one night, the flats would have never got built.

You are just about right Kevin, but as people don't count as a reason for refusal of a windfarm any more, bats are just about all that is left, and only then because of the fear of contravening EU legislation.

[Duncansby]

Ow please, not the old Bat nugget again. Whenever something needs to be saved or stopped, it's either Bats or Crested Newts that come to the rescue.

Poor old Tony Gorgon was driven to despair by Roy Cropper with his save the bat campaign and if he hadn't slipped Jason Grimshaw a few quid to scar them off one night, the flats would have never got built.

Bats have no more or less protection than dolphins but no one complains about the level of protection given to that mammal. We buy dolphin friendly tuna and enjoy seeing them in the wild and that, I guess, is the crux of the matter – as a dolphin is unlikely to become a houseguest.

But what about the poor bat? Our actions have caused the bat population to decline by 90% over the last 100 years and caused a dramatic reduction in the geographic distribution of these species. We have removed their homes and made searching for food difficult by removing hedges and trees in order to make bigger fields. In order to adapt they have moved into our homes, villages and towns – can we really blame them?

Who is Roy Cropper?

[Corrie 3]

Roy Cropper is a very well known Bat living in Portgower!!

I thought everyone knew that!!

C3....

[rupert]

Exploding bats? Can I have some of what you're smoking?

Seriously, there are plenty things wrong with wind turbines from their ugly appearance to the numbers of birds they kill, without people making stuff up.

See this article -

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...ines-kill-bats

[badger]

There have been plenty of scientific studies about bat deaths and Rupert's link gives a good explanation of what happens. It is illegal to kill bats in this country. In fact it's even illegal to disturb them.

Funny isn't it how windfarms are immune from the law. All those protected species - birds, mammals (sea and land), fish - can be destroyed one way or another by onshore and offshore turbines and no-one gets prosecuted. We have passionate threads on this forum about seals being culled and dolphins being chopped to pieces. But somehow anything windfarms do is OK.

[chiel]

Here we go again, someone banging the "it's only wind turbines that will save the world" drum. Hmm, now where the heck do I get that I idea from, I ask myself, 'spose it's the regular one-sided input: 'Nuclear Fusion stymied due Global Helium Shortage'. 'Fast Breeder Technology, is it Safe and Sustainable for the Future?' . 'An interesting video showing the construction of a wind turbine tower.'. 'Tory Austerity, Energy and Climate Change' . 'Subsidies to the Nuclear Industry.'. 'Anti-windfarm Sentiment is killing Scottish Tourism'. 'Scottish Government's take on Windfarm Impacts on Caithness Tourism.'. et el.

Ok we're all entitled to our views, - that's if they are not obscured by some 400 ft monstrosity churning out some piddling amount of power and pouring money - what is it? £9,000 per turbine + percent of electricity produced - into developers pockets - I thought I saw a plan for four turbines at Smerral, not bad I think; the 'poor farmer' will be getting c£40,000 a year? Never mind about the poor blighters who live within 2kms and get nothing.. but hey, 'it's saving the planet' (naive rubbish)

Seems that there's not enough Uranium for every country in the world to have dozens of nuclear power stations? - (just like France does), which incidentally, his PC could be powered by nuclear reaction from France via the Interconnector (now there's a thought)..

But hey, we're not talking about 'the world'. Next we don't have enough helium-3 to power the Earth - but we do get Helium 3 from nuclear weapons. 15 kilograms of Helium 3 is produced by decaying nuclear weapons each year - That is nowhere near the needed 100 metric tonnes that could be used to power the world, but hey who's talking about the bleeding world?

All I see is the highlands being despoiled. Presumable a lot of supporters of wind farms do not appreciate the previously unspoilt beauty of the area they come up here to live in..
There is this terrified dysfunctional fear of 'NUCLEAR' Run for the hills, remember Chernobyl (eh?) the nuclear bombs of Nagasaki & Hiroshima (eh?).
Present party in Government - till next election - hates Nuclear, but seems wee ecky has changed his mind about Faslane hmm, next year the party in power will overturn this ban and we might get a sensible mix of power production. I'd have no hesitation in supporting a new power station in Dounreay - as would the vast majority up here..

here here...........