PAW PAW, Ill. (WBBM) Paw Paw, Illinois, farmer Roger Tarr, 85, says "I like to see them turning."
WBBM's John Cody reports:
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Edith Reyns, a close neighbor of a 2000 acre windfarm near Paw Paw said she cried when she first saw the sixty-three wind turbines standing 210 feet high a quarter mile from her home. But she now says she's actually grown to like them.
The internet carries long lists of lawsuits filed by property owners across the country arguing big wind farms are aesthetic disasters, the ruination of property values and a major danger to migrating birds and bats.
But entrepreneur Bruce Papich, founder of GSG wind energy in Sublette, IL, points out that a coal fired plant equivalent to a wind farm would emit chemical pollution and noise, would require regular deliveries from coal trains, and would see regular traffic of vehicles owned by maintenance and operating crews. He says his wind farms are quiet and he believes them to be an aesthetic asset; he calls them kinetic art.
And biologists report the latest generation of wind turbines rotate so slowly that birds can and do safely navigate over them. And researchers in Canada have found that turning off turbines at extremely low speeds, below economic generating levels, is sufficient to reduce drastically the mortality rate for migrating bats.
Illinois is the 5th largest state in wind generation with some 400 to 500 wind turbines up and running already and more coming according to Hans Detweiler with the American Wind Energy Association. Texas is first in wind power generation with at least three thousand wind turbines in one wind farm alone.
Illinois today gets 2% of it's electrical power from the wind and 4% is the goal for next year. And the legislative goal for 2025 is to have 25% of all power coming from renewable energy -- 75% of that from wind energy.
Papich with GSG acknowledges a 2-cent a kilowatt federal wind subsidy is a major economic incentive but notes similar subsidies benefit coal, nuclear, and petroleum developers. So he asserts federal subsidies just let wind companies compete on a level playing field.
In Compton, IL, Dale Balder runs Heavenly Winds where he has a 10 kilowatt Bergey turbine atop an 80 foot lattice work metal tower and says the 45-thosuand dollar installation will pay for itself within 30 to 40 years. He says the combination of his wind turbine and his solar photovoltaic array means he's self-sustaining for energy to run his home.
Balder is a big fan of his wind turbine but believes it's best for rural residents with open spaces to accomodate the 80 foot tower as well as guy wires and a shed to house the power conversion equipment. He also says they attract lightning strikes which could mean an expensive repair visit from a high lift crane.
Balder believes the horizontal axis turbines, which resemble aircraft propellers, are not suitable for more confined spaces like rooftops in the city and suburbs.
But there are companies like Aerotecture in Chicago and Tesnic in Canada that are focusing on the urban market with vertical bladed wind turbines which produce less vibration than the horizontal variant. They are driving towards full scale production of simple rooftop installations in 2009.
And John Caravette with Earth, Wind, and Solar Energy in Chicago says the city's Green Permit Program under Sophie Martinez is especially helpful in expediting the installation of urban wind systems.
Despite objections and lawsuits about possible property value reduction and aesthetic interference, the wind energy industry seems to be growing. Stocks in major wind turbine companies like Vestas and Gamisa took a hit with the recent drop in oil prices. But they're expected to recover as energy costs resume their upward climb.
And Papich with GSG wind energy says he's now setting up courses at Sauk Valley Community College in Stirling, IL, to fill the need for Wind Technicians able to maintain turbines to fill at least part of our nations future energy demands.
Just think if the 700 billion of bailout money was instead put into producing windmills. All of the unemployed homeowners who are too broke to pay their mortgage would have jobs to pay their mortgage. - Also, why are the new windmills so large with only 2 or 3 blades. I think that the windmills that you sometimes see on farm houses that have 10 to 20 small blades on a modestly tall tower look much better. They must work because they have been used for so long.
11/07/2008 12:57PM
Yes, old style windmills look better
That is certainly true, old style small windmills with a multitue of blades have a nicer look and would generate much less opposition, even if they also generate a couple percent less energy, although I would think that more blades would make up for the blades being smaller.
11/06/2008 12:39PM
What Do You Think About Alternative Energy Resources
MarketWatch Media Columnist, Jon Friedman joins Sherman and Kris during the WBBM Noon Business Hour to discuss the big business of tiny bikinis for Sports Illustrated.
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