Better Plan, Wisconsin

Shadow Flicker: "Similar to flicker experienced when driving"

-Dr. Jevon McFadden, slide 15, 5/17/10 presentation to Wind Siting Council.

Click on image below to see Wind turbine shadow flicker video taken in a PSC approved wind project Fond du Lac County home at 6:30 am on Tuesday April 28th,

More shadow flicker from Fond du Lac County

Click on the image below to watch Better Plan's audio interpretation of shadow flicker

Click on the image below to see shadow flicker in a home in DeKalb County

The family living in this home is keeping a diary about their life with wind turbines.  CLICK HERE TO VISIT THEIR WEBPAGE

Not a good neighbor

Posted by Our Life with DeKalb Wind Turbines at 8:22 AM

Labels: sound

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Sound is horrible today

it's Sunday afternoon, 89 degrees, winds SSW at 17mph. the sound is horrible today and turbine number 30 is whistling again.

we were outside on the front porch and had to come in because of the noise. sitting at the computer now typing this out and can still hear the sound through the walls.

it is so upsetting to our family that this is happening. we're going to have to move someday. we are being forced to move from our dream home that we designed and built (with our own hands), the home we brought all our babies home from the hospital, the home that is close to our family/friends/and neighbors, the home where we have created such great family memories, the home that is close to a wonderful school where we volunteer and our children attend....HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY PUT A PRICE ON OUR HOME?

we wish the turbines could just be turned off. we could deal with what they look like, just turn them off.

we reported this disturbance to the Next Era hotline and the planning and zoning office of dekalb county. this is a noise that NO ONE should have to live with. it's heartbreaking that the wind industry misleads voting members in saying that turbines don't affect people.

we are proof that they do! wind companies who are reading this, please tell the truth in your presentations to county board members, landowners, residents, etc... we agree, yes they can sound like a light swishing, babbling brooke, a refrigerator as you claim. but, the reality is that they don't always sound like that.

most of the time they sound like jet plane engines in your yard and in your home. the quality of sound and low frequency hum is a nuissance that no one should live with. as a side note....say they did sound like a refrigerator all the time (which they don't)....who would want to sleep next to their refrigerator, bike and walk next to one, have a refrigerator running next to you as you push your child on the swingset, listen to a refrigerator as you sit on the front porch...and so on. that would be a nuissance....to ANYONE!

these turbines are way too close to homes. we are calling for the wind companies to be honest in their presentations to county board members, planning and zoning committees, residents, landowners, etc.

we heard 2 presentations last week from 2 different wind companies claiming the same thing...very minimal sound. live with them for a month and you will know what we're talking about!

Posted by Our Life with DeKalb Wind Turbines at 3:49 PM

Labels: sound

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Irresponsible Wind Company

last night there was no sound from turbines. slept through the night and woke up rested. this morning it was a good day to be outside, beautiful weather and some turbines off and some lightly spinning. the winds are picking up (winds from the S, 11mph) this afternoon and the blades are starting to feather out which is creating the low droning. one moment there is peace and the next is filled with this annoying background chopping/low frequency sound. these turbines are too close to our home. how irresponsible of the wind companies to erect these machines so close...this is happening all over. so many people have to suffer. this could be solved by placing the turbines at least a mile away.

WE Energies Blue Sky/ Green Field project in Fond du Lac County, WIsconsin

PSC Docket Number 1-AC-231

Announced March 16, 2010
 
WIND SITING COUNCIL

Tom Green, Wind developer, Wind Capitol Group, Dane County

Bill Rakocy, Wind developer, Emerging Energies of Wisconsin, LLC, Wind developer, Dane County

Doug Zweizig,  P&Z Commissioner, Union Township, Rock County

Lloyd Lueschow, Green County Board Supervisor, District 28, Green County,
 
Andy Hesselbach, Wind project manager, We Energies, Dane County
 
Dan Ebert, Vice President of Policy and External Affairs, WPPI Energy, Dane County

Michael Vickerman , Executive Director, RENEW Wisconsin, Madison, Dane County
 
Ryan Schryver , Global Warming Specialist, Organizer, Advocate: Clean Wisconsin, Madison, Dane County

George Krause Jr. Real estate broker: Choice Residential LLC, Manitowoc County

Tom Meyer, Real Estate Agent, Restaino & Associates, Middleton, Dane County

Dwight Sattler Landowner, retired diary farmer, Malone, Fond du Lac County

Larry Wunsch, Landowner, fire-fighter, non-participating resident of Invenergy Forward Energy wind project, Fond du Lac County
 
David Gilles, attorney specializing in energy regulatory law, shareholder, Godfrey & Kahn Attorneys at Law, Madison, Dane County

Jennifer Heinzen, Wind Energy Technology Instructor, Lakeshore Technical College, Manitowoc County, and President of RENEW Wisconsin, Madison, Dane County
 
Jevon McFadden University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine & Public Health, Dane County

NOTE FROM THE BPWI RESEARCH NERD:

Questions are being raised about the PSC's appointment of the President of RENEW Wisconsin as well the the Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin. For those wonder why RENEW has two top representatives on the siting council, why not contact the PSC and ask? We'd appreciate hearing any answers they give you. CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US

Also, we can't help noting that of the 15 members on the siting council, ten of them are from Dane County. There are 72 counties in the state of Wisconsin.

In the news:

TOUGH TASK AWAITS WIND SITING COUNCIL

SOURCE: www.jsonline.com

Thomas Content

March 17, 2010

The controversial decision about how close wind turbines should be placed from homes is now in the hands of the Wisconsin Wind Siting Council.

Homeowners who live near wind turbines built in some wind farms in Wisconsin have complained about the turbines and effects including shadow flicker and noise.

The council, appointed Tuesday by the state Public Service Commission, was set up as part of a law that passed last year to set up uniform wind siting standards for the state.

The legislation came in response to local ordinances that wind developers contended amounted to virtual outright bans on wind development. Some counties and local governments also enacted wind-development moratoriums. That stalled development of small wind farms across the state, with some developers saying they were looking to develop wind power projects outside the state.

Concerns from property owners led the Public Service Commission last fall to limit how far turbines could be located from properties in the Glacier Hills Wind Park to be built by We Energies.

More recently, concerns about living near turbines have led to nearly 200 public comments in concerning Chicago-based Invenergy’s proposal to build a big wind farm south of Green Bay in Brown County.

Two members of the council have ties to the PSC, including former chairman Dan Ebert, now with WPPI Energy, and David Gilles, former commission lawyer, now with Godfrey & Kahn. Other panel members hail from utilities, wind developers and local governments that have wrestled with development of local wind siting ordinances.

In a statement Tuesday, Eric Callisto, PSC chair, said, “Wind siting regulation is complex and sometimes controversial. I look forward to the Council’s input as we develop these rules for Wisconsin.”

SECOND FEATURE

Brown County wind farm could be slowed by new state rules

Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette, www.greenbaypressgazette.com

Scott Williams

March 17 2010

The developer of a proposed Brown County wind farm said today the project could be slowed by a move to establish new statewide standards for wind farms.

Kevin Parzyck, project manager for Invenergy LLC, said the company already is adjusting its plans to account for standards imposed by state regulators on another wind project — with wind turbine setbacks of 1,250 feet from surrounding properties rather than the 1,000 feet originally planned by Invenergy.

If a new state advisory group recommends statewide standards before Invenergy’s project is under way, Parzyck said, that could require more adjustments.

“We’re moving down some parallel paths here,” he said during a meeting with the Green Bay Press-Gazette editorial board.

The state Public Service Commission on Tuesday named a 15-member advisory group to consider whether Wisconsin should set uniform policies regarding the construction of wind farms.

Invenergy submitted a proposal last fall to build Brown County’s first major commercial wind farm in the towns of Morrison, Holland, Glenmore and Wrightstown.

Once the firm’s application is deemed complete — the adjustments are under way — state regulators will have six months to hold public hearings and render a decision.

WANT MORE? CLICK HERE TO READ TODAY'S "WIND TURBINES IN THE NEWS" What did the wind developer say to the 1000 people in a bad mood?

WARRING OVER WIND-

"With well over 1,000 people in attendance – and most of them in an unpleasant frame of mind – a public information session about the proposed Belwood Wind Farm project was held at the Lions Hall in Belwood on Tuesday, Mar 9."

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