Hi all,
I have been viewing the discussion on windfarms with a mixture of mild
curiosity and concern.
The curiosity comes from a desire to see if any new information proving the
viability and worth of
windfarms is being presented.
The concern comes from my observation that the discussion is the same old same
old.
What I have gleaned from this discussion is:
- most people promote the system of energy production which they would like to
see operating rather
than the system which can be viably operated;
- most people only promote the desirable aspects of the system/s they prefer
and the undesirable
attributes of the system/s they oppose;
- many people are prepared to operate renewable energy production systems which
kill an acceptable
number of animals;
- many people are prepared to justify another method of killing wild animals by
claiming that
certain current methods are acceptable;
- most people greatly underestimate the amount of energy required to be
produced;
- only one person on this forum has touched on the most relevant point in this
discussion: the
number of human beings being generated.
What I would like to know is:
- how large a windfarm (in area) would be required to produce the energy needed
for a city such as
Sydney or Melbourne?
- where would such a farm be located?
- how much land would need to be cleared to accommodate the turbine towers?
- how much pollution would be produced (and where) manufacturing, installing
and maintaining the
turbines in such a farm?
- what would the noise output level be from such a farm (considering that the
tips of the blades
travel at extremely high speeds even if the revolutions of the blades are quite
low)?
- how long has the monitoring of bird/bat-kills been going on in the windfarms
operating in
Australia?
- what is an acceptable number of bird/bat kills?
- why is it acceptable to condone a small amount of 'by-product' killing of
species classified
presently as common and not acceptable to condone any 'by-product' killing of
species classified
presently as rare?
- how long would it take for a common species to become a rare species if 1 or
2 percent of breeding
adults (of wild animals) are killed annually in addition to those already dying
of natural causes?
- are the eyesight and visual perception capabilities the same for all birds or
are hawks/eagles
able to see things (moving wind-generator blades) which other birds can't see
or recognise?
- considering that many communities around Australia are demanding that
powerlines be placed
underground to, apart from other reasons, reduce visual pollution, what would
it take to make our
society tolerate the sight of thousands of wind generators on the skyline?
It is my opinion that, if the world population continues to grow (even at a
reduced rate) and the
rest of the world is allowed (or encouraged) to achieve the quality of life we
enjoy here in
Australia:
- the amount of energy the world requires will continue to grow in spite of
technology which helps
reduce power consumption of individual items;
- currently working systems of renewable energy generation cannot provide for
the current demand for
energy being met by coal/oil/nuclear power generators;
- renewable energy generation systems being operated now or being planned for
the future will not
cope with future demands;
- energy produced from hydrogen is not renewable energy.
Please note: I am not making a statement on whether or not I believe windfarms
are a good thing or
not.
I don't have enough unbiased, scientifically tested information to be able to
make an informed
opinion.
However, my own experience with solar voltaic cells indicates to me that the
rhetoric associated
with that technology does not fit the facts; I suspect the same applies to wind
generation of power.
Also, please:
- send all emotional, abusive, reactive responses to me at:
and not to Birding-Aus.
Cheers
Bob Inglis
Sandstone Point
Se Qld
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