Keep city citizens thinking wind turbines are cute (and effective) and it’s OK to force them on rural residents

The strategy is clear: pushing the image of wind turbines as benign hides the fact they are an invasive industrial land use in rural areas. [Photo: Shutterstock]

November 18, 2024

Just this week we have seen news of exciting developments in the design of wind turbines.

The giant wind power profit machine is now focused on creating turbines or wind power generators expressly for urban locations. (It makes a change from pretending you can recycle gigantic wind turbine blades.)

One of the new designs just announced features a supposedly pleasing and “natural” tulip design. What makes this design different from the 650-foot vibrating behemoths in the countryside?

They’re quiet.

And they don’t kill things.

In a report in Eco-News, newly designed flower-shaped turbines, now being offered by several companies around the world, are  described as “very attractive, environmentally friendly, and almost silent, making them a safe energy source for cities and towns.”

On one hand, it’s nice that people are trying to create something that might provide electrical power without harmful effects. But the flip side of that, of course, is the understanding that the industrial-scale or grid-scale wind turbines currently installed in rural areas (forced on?) are unattractive, environmental damaging, noisy, and not a “safe source” of power.

The Eco-News report acknowledges that “the Flower Turbines have addressed one more problem associated with the traditional wind plants, such as noise pollution.”

And then there is the little matter of risk to wildlife, such as the fact that industrial wind turbines kill birds and bats in worryingly large numbers:

“… they are symmetric slow-moving blades, which reduces the risk of hurting birds and bats which are a drawback of wide-open blade designs. This initiative resonates with the increasing calls for renewable energy technology that does not negatively impact wildlife.”

The truth, at last

While these tulip turbines are a feel-good less industrial add-on to the power grid (the power generating capacity for some of the flower turbines is just 100 watts, ranging theoretically to 3000 watts for a larger application) the important thing here is that in announcing these small city turbines, the problems with industrial-scale wind turbines have been acknowledged.

They create noise pollution.

They harm wildlife.

They have a negative impact on the environment.

And, no matter what promoters may say, they do not improve the scenery.

Those problems and more are acknowledged again in yet another new design, the “vibrational” wind turbine.

In a report published in The Moment, are these statements about industrial wind turbines:

“Although wind turbines are one of the best technologies for producing electricity without greenhouse gas emissions, they are not without certain environmental impacts and even health problems for nearby populations. Impact studies for installing wind farms are becoming increasingly rigorous due to reports of reductions in bird populations.

“Hundreds of these animals are killed by collisions with the huge blades when flying near wind farms, and there have been cases where they interfere with migratory routes. They can also affect nesting seasons. On the other hand, health problems such as migraines and insomnia have been reported due to the low-frequency noise produced by the turbines when generating electricity.”

The bladeless turbine phenomenon is aimed at locations “unsuitable” for “traditional” wind turbines, and may work for homes, supplying as much as 1 kW of power.

Two-faced

Here’s the hypocrisy: when it comes to locating serious wind turbines, instead of whirling flower shapes, the  wind power industry continues to maintain that there are no problems with industrial-scale wind turbines. Health effects are unsubstantiated, says the powerful wind energy lobby, and environmental impacts on wildlife for example, are exaggerated.

Wind turbines, it is still maintained, create no more noise than a “quiet library” and when it comes to killing birds, well, cats kill more, the wind power lobby claims.

In Ontario, Canada, despite thousands of noise complaints on file with the provincial environment ministry, many of which contain references to adverse health impacts, there have been no changes to setbacks between wind turbine installations and homes, or to noise limits.

When asked about noise complaints by the IESO in a special web-based engagement event earlier this year, the environment ministry responded that the complaint process was running smoothly.

By that they mean, complaints are simply logged but not acted upon, and new complaint logging processes have been instituted* so as to minimize the number of official complaints — which are not subject to any sort of high-level review, assessment, evaluation or action, in any case.

Eye on the money

The giant world-wide wind power lobby strategy here is simple: at all costs, wind turbines must be presented as benign, even attractive little machines that quietly create power so that city dwellers simply cannot see the real problems.

Industrial-scale wind turbines in Ontario are costly and ineffective. And they have a raft of negative effects that cannot be resolved by designs that imitate flowers.

contact@windconcernsontario.ca

*As revealed in documents obtained via Freedom of Information request.