5/8/08 What's it like to live near wind turbines? Watch a Milwaukee News Report! And! Who conducted the Town of Union Survey? No Response to this question from the developer. PLUS Extra Credit Wind Energy Math Problem!
Some love the money. Some have huge regrets. Some have to live with noise and strobing shadows. But all have had their communities torn apart by the coming of wind turbines. What happens after the turbines are up?
(photo of construction phase of wind farm in Fond Du Lac County)
ALSO! The BPRC asks for information to help verify the results of a survey who sponsored by wind developer, EcoEnergy (as reported in the Janesville Gazette--click here to read them)
UPDATE As of May 15, still no answer from EcoEnergy. Here is our latest email to them
Dear Mr. Bjurlin,
This is my third email to you regarding the survey sponsored by EcoEnergy.
As you know, I've been asked by several members of our community to verify the results of this survey and I would very much like to do so. Will you kindly tell me who conducted the survey and what was the exact wording of the questions asked?
Again I remind you that an open request and my intention is to post your answer on the betterplan.squarespace.com website.
The courtesy of a reply is requested.
This is my third email to you regarding the survey sponsored by EcoEnergy.
As you know, I've been asked by several members of our community to verify the results of this survey and I would very much like to do so. Will you kindly tell me who conducted the survey and what was the exact wording of the questions asked?
Again I remind you that an open request and my intention is to post your answer on the betterplan.squarespace.com website.
The courtesy of a reply is requested.
UPDATE: As of May 13, we not yet gotten a response to our letter below- we will post it as soon as we hear back from Mr. Bjurlin or another representative from EcoEnergy
Here is our May 10th letter to EcoEnergy project developer Mr. Bjurlin. We hope to get an answer from him very soon. Check in for updates--
Dear Mr. Bjurlin,
I do research for residents in my community about the proposed wind farms in Magnolia and Evansville and I've received several inquiries about the the survey EcoEnergy commissioned about the proposed three turbine project in the town of Union. Specifically, I've been asked if it is possible to verify these results. Would you be kind enough to tell me the name of the group who did the survey and let me know the exact wording of the questions asked? Please know I am asking you with the intent to post your answer on the Better Plan, Rock County website. The survey was mentioned in the Janesville Gazette, May 8th, 2008 (http://24.124.1.232/news/2008/may/08/survey-supports-wind-plan/)
I hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.
I do research for residents in my community about the proposed wind farms in Magnolia and Evansville and I've received several inquiries about the the survey EcoEnergy commissioned about the proposed three turbine project in the town of Union. Specifically, I've been asked if it is possible to verify these results. Would you be kind enough to tell me the name of the group who did the survey and let me know the exact wording of the questions asked? Please know I am asking you with the intent to post your answer on the Better Plan, Rock County website. The survey was mentioned in the Janesville Gazette, May 8th, 2008 (http://24.124.1.232/news/2008/may/08/survey-supports-wind-plan/)
I hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.
LASTLY! Wind Energy Extra Credit Problem and the answer! An electircal engineer does some wind energy arithmetic and gives us a plain answers. (Read this at its source in Wisconsin's Tri-County News by clicking here) He writes:
With 49 years as a power engineer, going from engineer apprentice to manager of power supply for approximately two-thirds of rural Illinois, my blood curdles when I read some of the rabid pro-windmill articles rampant in the press these days.
Statements like "the wind is free" (then why do they need the massive tax breaks and subsidies) and "this wind farm will supply 35,000 homes," neglecting to finish the sentence with "for maybe 25 percent of the time, if you are lucky."
One has to come to the conclusion that these people do not even understand simple arithmetic let alone the power situation in the United States or, heaven forbid, the world.
It takes about 800 X 1000MW power plants or the equivalent to run this country on a daily basis. To be conservative, let's say 700 X 1000MW plants. Power demand in the U.S. increases a little over 2.5 percent per year, but again, to be very conservative, let's say 2 percent.
This means that we must build at least 14 X 1000MW power plants every year just to keep up. Windmill enthusiasts would of course have us build 7000 X 2MW windmills instead, blissfully ignoring the fact that the 14 X 1000MW coal or nuclear plants would still have to be built to fill the considerable gap left by the non-operating windmills when the wind didn't blow.
Customers would thus have to pay for two very expensive power plants to cover just one block of power. None of this would reduce the present CO2 load on the environment even if the windmills could run 100 percent of the time. What do we do then....build 350,000 X 2 MW windmills?
Jim Greenwood
Two Rivers
Statements like "the wind is free" (then why do they need the massive tax breaks and subsidies) and "this wind farm will supply 35,000 homes," neglecting to finish the sentence with "for maybe 25 percent of the time, if you are lucky."
One has to come to the conclusion that these people do not even understand simple arithmetic let alone the power situation in the United States or, heaven forbid, the world.
It takes about 800 X 1000MW power plants or the equivalent to run this country on a daily basis. To be conservative, let's say 700 X 1000MW plants. Power demand in the U.S. increases a little over 2.5 percent per year, but again, to be very conservative, let's say 2 percent.
This means that we must build at least 14 X 1000MW power plants every year just to keep up. Windmill enthusiasts would of course have us build 7000 X 2MW windmills instead, blissfully ignoring the fact that the 14 X 1000MW coal or nuclear plants would still have to be built to fill the considerable gap left by the non-operating windmills when the wind didn't blow.
Customers would thus have to pay for two very expensive power plants to cover just one block of power. None of this would reduce the present CO2 load on the environment even if the windmills could run 100 percent of the time. What do we do then....build 350,000 X 2 MW windmills?
Jim Greenwood
Two Rivers
The BPRC Research Nerd
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