A draft environmental study has found that four proposed wind energy projects on the north end of Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon would have little effect on its pristine high-desert beauty.
Yes, the descendent of Dickens’ melancholy elephant (“the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness”), the melancholy donkey that thrives in Texas and other parts of America, would certainly spoil the beauty of your mountains. But the angelic and slender wind turbines (the elongated saints of clean energy) can only add beauty of your beautiful mountains.
- Random Fotos
The wind machines can even add beauty to a full moon and all the stars above.
Agreed.
The only downside is living next to them gives you the mother of all vuvuzelas.
There is actually a HUGE downside to them. There is little, if any regulations on the size/scope of wind farms. Rarely do you find these monstrosities rising up to the sky in solitude. Rather, they exist in multiples of 10s. Joe @2 has it nailed. They are LOUD. VERY LOUD in multiples, with a monotonous drone and squeek when you are downwind. I think all large cities should have 10 or so in industrial areas. Enviro huggers need to understand that they create a LOT more impact then just their ugly interruption of the landscape.
I was on a train going from DC to Chicago, and there was a mountain range (one of those wimpy eastern mountain ranges) that had a line of them across the top. I thought it was really cool.
Also, the fields around Palm Springs are full of them. When you take the Tram, you can see how many of them there are. It’s very impressive.
Even Iowa is getting in the act. Mid-America Energy (a Warren Buffett company) has loads of windmills in the fields east of Council Bluffs. It’s good to see a dirty coal burning private utility get into the act.
Shame about the birds they’ll kill.
Good Morning Charles,
Indeed, I find this particular kind of wind turbine aestetically pleasing. The accompanying photo is gorgeous too. Thanks. In fact, I find most if not all wind (air) fueled mechanical devices quite beautiful. I possess a copy of a landscape painting from the 17th century that features a wind mill on a farm in the Netherlands. It has an “old world” and quaint beauty just as these new turbines have a “new world” and austere allure.
I believe Louis Sullivan said it best “Form follows function”. I think it rings true in the case of these turbines.
Chuck,
Obviously you have never driven from Los Angeles to Palm Springs…
Who cares if they make noise out in the country?
#5: Oil never hurt a bird, am i rite?
@8 Exactly. Line the mountains with the things. It’ll also discourage suburban expansion up into the Cascades or deeper into Appalacia.
The Wild Horse Wind Farm is just a couple hours away, and it’s awe-inspiring; they have hundreds of these things. Old Vantage Highway just past Ellensburg. Fantastic tacos for a buck in downtown Ellensburg, too.
I hadn’t driven out to Eastern Washington in a few years and was surprised to find the turbines lining the fields as we neared the Gorge.
They were quite striking and lent a beauty to the area I really appreciated.
@11 We might be out that way next month and I saw it’s location is here. How close/where do you have to get to for a good view?
@5 Responsible wind-farmers do surveys to track birds’ migratory patterns, and place the wind machines accordingly. They do not, however, do the same surveys for bats. The machines kill them by the thousands.
http://www.batcon.org/
Now it would be awesome if they could design a wind farm that, rather than just making noise, played Bear McCreary’s version of All Along the Watchtower when the wind blows.
There’s a wind research facility near me that has had them for decades, near the base of the mountains. I love watching as they turn in the wind.
Better than living next to coal plants, and living near THEM, can give you the mother of all birth defects. I lived right next to a turbine (I installed one for my last house), and I liked knowing that the sound was the sound of no power bills.
@ 3 – I can hear the call of the wild NIMBY.
@13, you can drive right up among them. You can’t touch them or anything, or even stop your car (though we did several times for photos; just don’t get out). There’s a visitor center halfway up the hill, which is terrible but has bathrooms and incredible views (and a turbine blade you CAN touch). If you carry on upwards you’ll end up at a spot where you probably don’t want to continue unless you’ve got 4WD; there’s still construction of more going on up there.
You get plenty of views like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancyo23/42…
but this is the Steens (where i’m headed tomorrow, coincidentally) – can’t ONE place stay the middle of nowhere, free of evidence of our ingenuity?
@14: Without going into too heavy of a debate about it, bird fatalities with tower objects like those on wind turbines may likely be directly a function of the type of beacon light used to comply with aviation rules, not the turbine activity itself.
Migratory patterns at night are negatively altered by certain light wavelengths and durations. This has been known ever since the original lighthouse lanterns. When a steady red or whitish light is used, or a red or whitish light with slow intervals, several migratory bird species can — particularly when there are low clouds or fog — fly toward the glow. Fatalities result whether the object is a turbine (which at its still-slow fastest has a RPM of about 60-100, coupled with a lot of “beware” air turbulence), a radio tower, or downtown skyscrapers with lights left on. This glow resembles dawn or dusk, which would ordinarily help with orienteering for migration.
Replacing those with white strobes, which briefly flash every second or so, show a reduction in this migratory detour, as does turning off all lights which do not need to be used (i.e., interior lights and architectural accent lighting) — especially so with low-level cloud cover in the forecast. NIMBYs unfortunately have been known to shoot down these strobe beacons as a “nuisance”.
All energy sources have pros and cons.
Wind energy has far less negative impact than all the alternatives, but those with lots of bucks who think we the people should give them free “pristine” views, will whine about it, nonetheless.
“a full moon and all the stars above.”
That made me think of Camper Van Beethoven.
We have all this geo-thermal energy that’s free and clean and abundant and doesn’t hurt a living thing ever. Unless you count the occasional volcano.
They are indeed beautiful. I have to put in a good word for pump jacks though, I spent a large part of my childhood in Texas and always liked watching them. There was one in the field that abutted our back yard, all of the kids in the neighborhood would ride it when it wasn’t too hot from the sun. I never thought of them being donkey-like, but I can see it now that you mention it.
Turbines seem more like Dali’s elephants than Dickens’.