WIND TURBINES … AN UNEARTHLY STATEMENT OF HOPE

I visited the Prince (Ontario) Wind Farm this week-end to get a close look at the wind turbines that we can see from the Michigan side of the St. Mary’s River. They jut above the trees, massive gray columns topped by slowly revolving propellers, each lit up at night by a red blinking light.

They should be an eyesore, particularly for those of us who prefer nature to be left alone. I’d probably have opposed their construction if given the opportunity. The Canadian horizon of gently undulating hills is no longer an uninterrupted view of northern wilderness. Now it’s more like the driveway across the road from me at Christmas when it’s transformed into a festive scene with giant blow-up balloon figures and lights strung helter skelter as far up the trees as a ladder can reach. I walk my dogs down the road at night to let them sniff and try to out-pee the owners’ dogs. The glow is so powerfully exuberant that I can’t help but laugh.

I feel the same sense of unexpected surprise and delight when I spot the wind turbines. By day they’re beautifully graceful and at night, a tasteful display of red Christmas lights blinking calmly and steadily at the bottom of the sky.

The road to the wind farm winds northwest out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, passing through a forest for several miles. The turbines appear with startling unexpectedness … 30-story-tall towers rising sleekly above the trees. They're huge, quiet, unearthly … so unlikely in this setting, that they seem alien.

There are 126 of them. Their propellers sweep 148 acres of air. The gearbox and generator are housed in what looks like, from the ground, a smallish box where the props intersect. It’s actually the size of a bus. If conditions are perfect, each turbine can generate enough energy for 330 households.

I stood on the deserted road among the towering structures. The air was still. Snow lay on every branch and twig. High above me the propellers hummed, rotating smoothly, propelled by invisible wind. If I listened carefully I could hear what sounded like distant surf only more regular … a disturbance of the air by something powerful …whup, whup, whup. It felt hopeful, calming, like these giants had their strong arms out capturing an energy given us for free. Our environment is in danger and they were doing something about it in a new and less destructive way.

18 Comments

Comment by Jeff Smith on December 1, 2008 at 10:37am: Leslie -- Nice post. So great to have your voice here. When I think of wind turbines I too realize that the time has unfortunately passed for us to object to turbines based only on our desire for an uninterrupted landscape. The other alternatives have shortcomings that are far too detrimental, and we need to think of future generations, not just our own generation's desire to have the landscape preserved in a state that we grew up with. Is a difficult point to arrive at, but is where I'm at. And the kicker is that when a better solution is developed, the windmills will be removed and there's no legacy--no contaminated soil or groundwater, no mountaintops ripped off, no radiation buried under a mountain somewhere. Stop by for visit next time you are in town!!! J.

Comment by Marie Price on December 1, 2008 at 1:39pm: Hi Leslie, Thank you for this sensitively written piece on our conflicted feelings regarding such giant pieces of machinery on our lovely land. I now agree with the installation and resultant green power. I did object initially not only for the blight on the land scape but also the deaths of many birds. As I watched the courageous take offs of birds from Whitefish Point last spring, I hoped that their route took them far from the turbines This remains a great concern. Though bird deaths from the illuminated towers in cities is many fold more dangerous, we need to be diligent in insisting that power companies are serious in avoiding locations where birds are at risk. Marie Dec,1

Comment by Donna on December 1, 2008 at 6:22pm: Leslie, thank you for the inspiring post. With proper environmental planning, this option can provide part of the solution to our energy concerns. Your writing style created a peaceful vision, sprinkled with lighhearted humor, i.e. the comparison to the festively decorated home across the street. Very nice.

Comment by Phil Huber on December 1, 2008 at 10:25pm: While I too favor wind turbines, they also have a downside. Like lighted towers, they kill thousands of migrating birds every year. Birds migrating at night are attracted to the lights and collide with the turbines or tower, or circle the lights until they are exhausted and fall to the grounds. They also pose problems for bats. Bats have been found dead near the turbines. One study hypothesizes that bats that come in close proximity to the turbine blades experience low air pressure causing their lungs to hemmorage.
Unfortunately, even a seamingly harmless form of alternative energy has its drawbacks.
I saw the same group of turbines north of the Soo and was quite shocked by their sudden appearance in a natural and beautiful landscape.

Comment by Leslie Askwith on December 2, 2008 at 9:06am: As Phil says, even seemingly harmless forms of energy have drawbacks. I know death of birds and bats as well as noise and vibrations are all concerns. The negative environmental and health effects of wind turbines seem to be a matter of scale. Wind turbines impact the environment, which cannot be ignored, but in comparison with most of the other forms of energy production, may be among the best we have to use now. Reduction of energy use, careful location of wind farms away from migratory pathways and exploration of other forms of energy - solar perhaps - are all part of the equation in deciding how to produce energy.
I'm an ardent conservationist and was surprised at how pleasing the monstrous structures seemed to me. What I liked less was the "blight on the land" as Marie put it, the space around each one cleared of vegetation and the wide roads that had to be constructed through the woods to get the enormous parts to their locations. There are fewer and fewer places we can go without encountering evidence of man's interference.
But as Jeff said, when we've developed better systems of energy production, the turbines can be removed and the area re-vegetated and there won't be residual pollution of water, soil or air.

Comment by Eric Hughes "The Green Home Designer" on December 2, 2008 at 9:48am: Very well written Leslie!

Comment by John Muir on December 3, 2008 at 10:26pm: Leslie--
I enjoyed your post and beautiful writing style and appreciate that many are struggling to try and rationalize their support of wind power as a means of meeting the growing energy demands of the U.S. I've spent a lot of time looking at both sides of this issue and find it increasingly difficult to justify large scale wind projects as a means of efficiently meeting our demands. (though smaller community projects might hold promise).
Drew Thornley of the Texas Public Policy Foundation has written some excellent articles online and a special report: Texas Wind Energy-Past, Present and Future http://www.texaspolicy.com/pdf/2008-09-RR10-WindEnergy-dt-new.pdf
that is worth reading to see what Michigan's future might hold.
His article, "Wind Energy's Footprint",
looks at the assumption that America can potentially get 20 percent of its energy needs from wind. What would this look like? Mr. Thornley says, even in a windy, wide open state such as Texas trying to meet this goal by 2018, you're looking at 19,000 wind turbines covering 1,283,355 acres to get 20% of their energy needs. He also points out that each turbine base for a 1.5 MW turbine uses 439 tons of concrete, or 8,346,707 tons of concrete total to get to the 20% figure. He continues, "When you look at the C02 emitted and pollutants released in the manufacture and maintance of wind towers and their infrastructure, substituting wind power for fossil fuels does little to reduce air pollution." Even though it's expensive, I like Suttons Bay resident Steve Smileys' dream of community power (smaller projects utilizing wind, biofuel/wood chips) http://www.mynorth.com/My-North/March-2008/Mr-Smileys-Windmill-Wars/

John Muir

Comment by Hybrid Home Guy- Michigan's Green Building Advocate on December 4, 2008 at 10:13pm: I travel the state of Michigan everyday and I would take the sight of a wind turbine or farm of them over a huge pile of fly ash from a coal plant. The remnants of acid rain from coal fired electrical plants is more disturbing to me as it dries on leaves and plants than a majestic sign of a sustainable future here in the state.

To me, I think it is a huge waste that we are not harnessing more of the wind that our state has. I am encouraged by some of the posts here thou.

Comment by Eric Hughes "The Green Home Designer" on December 4, 2008 at 10:25pm: Wind tower are a lot prettier to look at than Giant Power Poles and electrical sub stations Too.

Comment by Hybrid Home Guy- Michigan's Green Building Advocate on December 4, 2008 at 10:33pm: One of the many good things about commercial wind machines is that is stops the frost from settling on orchards, when they are spinning. Orchards normally are within a close distance to high wind areas, so it seems to be a win win situation with minimal tree removal required.

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