Georgia Mountain Photo Simulated With The 5 Wind Turbines

[Henry]

This is a VERA photograph  taken from the ball field of the BFA Fairfax High school,  looking generally west to Georgia Mountain and simulated with 5 wind turbines.  It is 2.7 miles away from the closest wind turbine.

There will be a Public Information Meeting on May 11th at 7 p.m. in the BFA Elementary Gym on these Wind Turbines.

   

[MikeF9]

You know, I think I can live with that.

[PotterFXFD]

   At some point we need to make a choice. As a nation we need to come up with new and better ways of producing power. As well as conserving what we do use.

No Nuclear Plants (bad for enviroment and workers)
No Hydro ( ugly bad for fish)
No Wind Turbines ( ugly bad for birds and bats)
No Solar ( batteries are full of lead and acid)
No Fossil fuel plants ( bad for enviroment and people)

[cedarman]

Looks good to me.  I do wonder about the "simulation".  I would be very interested in knowing who created this simulated picture, and what scaling software did they use, or were the wind turbines just photoshopped in at whatever perspective the creater felt was appropriate.

Other than the reliability factor, wind turbines certainly seem to have the lowest overall environmental impact.  I haven't seen any studies or counts about the numbers of dead birds/bats seen around exitsting commercial wind turbiness.  They don't spin as fast as smaller residential wind turbines, so I suspect there is more hype than reality surrounding the "potential" for killing birds and bats.

[NorthFairfaxBoy]

What looks better? That or the HUGE homes on the hill there in Willston?  Those to me look terrible.

[PotterFXFD]

 I would also prefer to see turbines over million dollar acres. ( Williston or St Albans )

[mkr]

I am a big fan of wind power as long as the local community that has them reaps the benefits.

[bk]

I am unable to attend the meeting on May 11th.  I have a couple of comments on Wind Turbines.  1) If you wonder about the size of these HUGE wind turbines, I would suggest a ride toward Malone NY.  And if you cannot go that far, take a drive just south of St. Albans on rte 7 and look across the lake.  On a clear day you can see several of them.  2) How much power will '5' wind turbines actually create for the size of them?  3) is the grid setup to be able to take the power generated from them?  Will the transmission lines need to be increased to accept additional load?  - thank you.

[cedarman]

I have heard the wind turbines in Northern, NY (some of which can be seen from 89 N of exit 19 on a clear day) are conservatively expected to produce 900 Kilowatts EACH.  I found some information online which projects the annual output to be 1.5 megawatts each.

Windmills vary in capacity depending on size and of course consistency of wind (which is why mountain tops are ideal locations).

The electrical grid system is a very good point.  I would think companies organizing these projects would account for sub-station and grid upgrades, but from what i have heard from a couple individuals close to the windmill projects in Ellenburg, NY, there are some windmills ready to produce power, but are actually consuming power from the grid to keep the brakes activated because the grid is not upgraded and ready to accept the power.

While this is a temporary situation, I think it shows a lack of planning on the part of the wind farm developers.   Maybe it's a problem there because of the large number of wind turbines (50-80 per "farm").

Reliability of wind turbines aside, they are a great supplement to the current grid and can help REDUCE our dependance on coal power generated electricity.

[edakrupp]

I believe the issue with birds and bats has been rectified with new designs of the tower structure to prevent birds from nesting near then. This used to be a problem with wind turbines when they were new to the US landscapes. They are now much safer for the environment then they used to be. So if anyone comes with a 'hazardous for the birds and bats dispute' tell them to check the facts.  I believe wind mills are alot better than coal, of burning up our natural resources.

[andyt]

It can be very difficult to get an accurate sense of the impact of these wind turbines. This site has links to several sources, including that of the wind farm developers themselves...http://citiprogmtn.blogspot.com/. Personally, although these turbines will tower over my home, I'd be more supportive of them if they were going to provide any significant amount of energy for the state, or even the region. Instead they are going to be visible from several communities and changing the ridge line forever, while providing well under 1 % of our energy needs. Some things you might want to keep in mind if you attend the public forum:

All the information presented to you will be from folks who are paid by the developer. They have a vested interest in providing information favorable to public opinion.

Fairfax has little say in whether the project moves forward. The same is true for Georgia and Milton. The state Public Service Board has jurisdiction.

Vermont has no master plan for adding wind power to our energy grid. In fact, the state can only react to what developers propose. So, while the Georgia Mountain project may seem benign, it is possible that proposals will come forward for many other ridge lines in our communities.

The energy generated from these wind turbines will largely be unavailable to most of us. It will be fed into lines near the Husky plant in Milton.

If you live on Georgia Mountain, you will hear the turbines. How loud they will be is questionable however. The guidelines typically used are EPA limits, which do not discriminate between city and country. So, if you are used to waking up to the birds, there may be some background noise as well.

If the promise of cold fusion becomes a reality in the next few years as many expect, then we will be stuck looking at these large wind turbines while the cleanest of all energy sources provides most of our energy. We will be victims of jumping on this bandwagon too soon.

[mirjo]

Although it is understand that something in regards to energy needs to be done, it would be a shame to ruin what Vermont has going for it because everyone is in panic mode about the environment. Unfortunately, when changes should have been taking place, over time at a sensible reasonable pace, this country (and the world) was so drunk on oil after the the big scare in the early 70's that nothing ever happened to change anything. The status quo (fossil fuels) were easy and cheap.

Now we're in a global mess with a big OH SH$% factor hanging over our collective heads--wind the best thing since sliced bread and solar energy development which seems to have been abandoned years ago is now back in vogue, but maybe would be farther along if had not been left on the fringe for so long. It's all very maddening.

Andyt you make some excellent points about developers, Vermont not having a master plan and the energy not being available. I think we are all very ignorant about how things really work regarding "the grid." The proposed GM project would generate enough power for approximately 3500 homes (I read somewhere), but how do we know it's going to benefit the community? Chances are it won't directly. It brings up the question of whether or not projects this small are worth the destruction?

mkr said: I am a big fan of wind power as long as the local community that has them reaps the benefits.

This is a good point, even a small project such as this has a lasting impact on several communities (my mom has a camp at SA Bay and can see the NY  turbines from there). Has the time come to think more locally once again like in centuries past? If such projects go up in a community, then the power stays there. I don't know how much of that sort of thing is actually possible, some would say not at all I think, but an interesting case of a slightly different matter:

Enosburg has a hydro dam that supplies a certain amount of power, depending on water flow. I believe peak output for one of the turbines is about 1000/(whatever the measurement is) kw?? not sure. The power is sold to the grid, then the town gets a credit at the end of the year for whatever it has supplied. This keeps energy costs lower for residents, but it doesn't seem right that a town should have to "sell" this commodity to get credited for it later.

The same with the innovative "cow power," farmers who are investing in this technology, sell their power to the grid, people who want to purchase it can do so at a higher price and I am not altogether sure what the farmer makes out of it, but again it seems like there should be a better way. I'm not an energy expert and don't pretend to be, it's just that someone needs to ask the dumb questions to get to those that will produce actual results.

I think we all might be expecting this new clean, green energy to save us all from high energy bills, but I suspect the opposite might be true: It's going to cost a whole lot more.

[Chris Santee]

Tonight's the night !
7:00pm in the Elementary Gymnasium at BFA Fairfax.