Picture Slideshows > Wind Turbines In Place and Being Constructed (34)
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Turbine Fire, Minnesota, March 27, 2008 along I-90
CLICK ON EACH PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT. Although we are told problems with turbines are rare, the fact is they happen. This turbine caught fire in our neighbor state of Minnesota on March 27th, 2008. You can see the fire and the smoking chemicals running down the side of the tower. How would you like this 1000 feet from your door? And what could the fire department do about it? Nothing. It's too tall for the fire equipment to reach. The only answer they had was this: "Let it burn."
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Would you buy this house?
When turbines are placed too close to homes, there can be problems with noise and shadow flicker that many people find impossible to live with. The wind industry tells us that turbines like this have no effect on property value. Really??
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Would You Buy This House?
If there were two houses that were indentical in every way, but one was by a wind farm and one wasn't -- which one would you buy if you had the choice?
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Little Farm under a Big Turbine
The scale of industrial wind turbines is unimaginable to most of us who haven't seen them except from a distance in a car. Though they look as if they are moving slowly, it's because they are so large. The speed at the tip of the blade is anywhere from 75 to 120 miles and hour.
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What We Are Actually Talking About
This is a photo taken in upstate New York, in a landscape not too unlike ours. These are the same size as the ones being proposed for Magnolia and Union Townships. Rotating machines 40 stories tall are going to change things for anyone who lives within a mile of them. There are 67 proposed for Magnolia township.
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Before the Wind Turbines
These are before and pictures from Wales. We show these pictures because the landscape is similar to the Magnolia Township highlands. This picture was taken in 2000.
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After the Turbines, picture taken in 2004.jpg
Here is the same landscape just four years later. Is this a good fit for our farmlands?
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Turbine Construction Site on Mars Hill in Maine
This is what wind farm construction looks like from a distance. To know what it's like close-up you can watch a video of Mars Hill Residents talking about the impact the windfarm has had on their lives here. If your internet connection isn't fast enough to watch the video, please contact us and we can send you a free DVD. You can email us here or you can write to us at Better Plan, Rock County, PO Box 393, Footville, WI 53537. We're happy to send information! All names and email and postal addresses of those who contact us are kept private and never shared.
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Wind Turbines Under Construction
This is a picture from a wind turbine construction site at Backbone Mountain, Tucker County, West Virgina. What is being done here cannot be undone in our lifetimes.
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Coming Down the Road
One of the things which people who live near industrial wind turbines tell us is the scale is unimaginable. We think we know how big they are, but until they go up it's very difficult to imagine. Here are pieces of a turbine tower coming down the road.
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Semi with Tower Section
Construction which involves such heavy equipment kicks up a lot of dust and is very hard on roads not made to handle them. Road resurfacing in our area costs between $45,000 to $60,000 per mile. Who pays?
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Foundations. How deep into the bedrock? What about our water table?
What will be the impact of such foundations on our bedrock and our water table? If our well is spoiled, who will be responsible?
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Towers in place
The tower of the wind turbine will carry the nacelle and the rotor. Towers for large wind turbines may be either tubular steel towers, lattice towers, or concrete towers. -
Wind Farm From Above
Visit the Nasa website for more about this picture of a southern California wind farm. Note the array of turbines and the number of individual access roads. This windfarm is in an unpopulated area and has strong, continuous wind.
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Turbines in a line
The array of an industrial wind farm can be in a line as shown in this picture, a grid, or in loose or tight clusters. We don't know what sort of array is planned for our community, but with 70 of them between Magnolia and Union Townships, they are sure to affect us all for the next 30 years.
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Wind Farm's Long Shadow
Wind turbines can throw flickering shadows for over a mile and a half. There is sharp disaggrement between those who live near turbines and are affected by shadow flicker, and those who want to put wind turbines up. Those with epilepsy, migraine, and those prone to car sickness may be affected by the strobing shadows from the turbines.
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How High Up is 400 Feet?
How high is 400 feet? Enough to require special training and equipment to fight any fires that may happen. Enough to require special training and equipment to rescue someone who runs into trouble up there.
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Fire
Does our township have the ability to fight a fire like this?
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turbine fire.jpg
Though turbine fires may be rare, when they happen they are difficult to put out. How would our community handle a fire like this? What would happen to the crop below if it were dry and ready for harvest?
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West Virginia Before Wind Farm Construction.jpg
Click on the picture to make it larger. How much space does a wind farm take up? Here is a picture of a forested ridgetop in West Virginia before the wind turbines were built.
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West Virginia After the Turbines .jpg
This is what was done to make room for eight turbines.
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