Battle over wind power picks up speed (NY)

[jpak]

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/BUSINESS/603120301/1002

ALBANY — To some upstate residents, massive windmills are "a blight on the landscape." To environmentalists and energy companies, they are a low-cost energy source that can reduce society's dependence on oil and gas.

The two sides squared off last week at an Assembly hearing over the direction of the state's renewable energy programs. One thing both sides could agree on: this is a fight that is rippling across New York.

"The divisiveness in communities across the state is extraordinary, and it's nasty on both sides, and it's spreading like wildfire," said Andrew Minnig, a Cherry Valley, Otsego County, resident who wants a moratorium on industrial-sized windmills.

At issue is a state plan that calls for 25 percent of electricity sales to come from renewable sources by 2013 —and control of the money to promote the change. About 19 percent comes from renewables, almost all hydropower. Less than 2 percent of New York's energy comes from wind farms.

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[MasonJar]

1. Personally I think the look wonderful. However, we do not need

any more anti-wildlife apparatus. Therefore, the placement should be chosen so as not to be in the flight pattern of wild birds.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Waterwheels and Dutch windmills are "quaint" and "picturesque"...

yet they were designed to be functioning industrial power mills. We are used to the sight of "old-fashioned" windmills, not yet used to the new designs. To the next generation they will be more taken for granted, not so "unsightly".

[jpak]

3. I suppose rural telephone poles and lines were "blights" back in the day

but who notices them now????

I think wind turbines are just plain fascinating to watch...

:)

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Maybe 'turbinespotting' will become a new hobby/tourist craze? nt

[jpak]

5. lol - It's more like "turbine gazing" (like campfire staring at night)

There are already tours in Denmark...

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:Ex15BrTP4WQJ:www.inforse.dk/europe/word_docs/study_tours_DK06.doc+Copenhagen+wood+biomass+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&ie=UTF-8

:)

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Well, of course I was serious. Meant to say. Honest. nt

[Javaman]

6. These people will change there tune when the price of oils starts

really going up in earnest with no going back down.