Ellin Beltz's Blog (62)

A different kind of fire was applied to Terra-Gen corporation 12.17.19 by the Board of Supervisors of tiny (140,000 people) Humboldt County.  

Four to One against a project offering forty-seven 600 foot high monsters on top of seismically active ridges in the Cape Mendocino Bird Flyway - truly what's "not to like" about that - and a company which drops money left and right to change people's minds and even offered the Wiyot people one million dollars (1/10th of the total tax…

https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/humboldt-wind-farm 

These are to be the tallest ever installed in the U.S., dwarfing the adjacent redwoods by double.

Separate from the petition, CEQA comments are due by June 5, 2019 (Email is fine!) 

*> Details at …

A large “experimental” wind turbine has been proposed near the Lake Erie shoreline for the Ohio Air National Guard’s (ANG) Camp Perry base. It will be stationed directly in the path of migratory birds. Not only will this turbine produce little renewable energy: It will place birds and bats at risk and could open the floodgates to additional turbines on the Great Lakes....

To celebrate International Translation Day, the BBC asked translators around the world for their favorite phrases. Judith Sauerzapf-Christopherson, Institute of Translation and Interpreting submitted:

"Verspargelung der Lanschaft"      (German)

"Transformation of the surrounding landscape into an asparagus field."   (English) 

... a pejorative phrase to criticise the impact of wind farms on the…

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-sej-wyoming-wind-tax-snap-story.html

Can't do it, no money in it at all to pay taxes???

I thought renewables made piles of $$$

HUMOR:

Having sat through one too many student statistical presentations, I recently noticed a striking ''correlation''.

There is nearly a perfect alignment to the traditional global warming hockey stick. Therefore, I suggest that the current apparent rise in global temperature referred to as the hockey stick is a…

OPINION:

I would like it if wind bloggers learn how to preview and proofread before hitting "PUBLISH POST"  multiple times on a single article.

I don't get my email on a cellphone so my anger quotient isn't as high as those who do... but there have been days I've logged in…

Researchers prove human hearing is better than thought and 'turbine phenomenon' is real...    German study found humans hear sounds from around 8 hertz...    This is a whole octave lower than had previously been assumed...    Wind farms produce something known as infrasound at 16HZ...    Wind energy sector has previously claimed noise was inaudible...…

"A report last year found that nearly 30,000 birds flying over California near the world’s largest solar plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, were scorched to death."...

"The KCET Rewire reports that over 100 birds were injured during a Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project test. On January 14, the energy facility was testing a 110-megawatt solar project near Tonopah, Nevada, when biologists witnessed approximately 130 birds enter the concentrated energy zone and…

Scenic Cornwall... or (guess)... turbines. 

Longish read but of interest near bottom describing legal struggles the area is going through.  ...

Something of great interest following a recent link on this blog is as valid for Cornwell as for Maine...…

from the BBC: Giant Northern Ireland turbine collapses without storm or high winds, read more here

A giant 67 turbine wind farm planned for the mountains overlooking Loch Ness will be an environmental disaster thanks to the sheer quantity of stone which will need to be quarried to construct it, according to the John Muir Trust. In addition, the Trust has warned that the turbines spell ecological disaster for the wet blanket peat-land which covers the area and acts as a huge carbon sink, the Sunday Times has reported.…

A company that operates at least 13 wind-energy facilities across three states is suing in federal court to block the U.S. government from releasing information to The Associated Press about how many birds are found dead at its facilities.  Read the rest at the Seattle Times.

"Germany, though often celebrated for its embrace of solar and wind energy, not only gets more than half its power from coal but opened more coal-fired power plants in 2013 than in any year in the past two decades." ... read the rest at ... Renewables Aren’t Enough. Clean Coal Is the Future

New style wind turbines were "successfully transported and deployed into the air at Loring Commerce Center in Limestone, Maine, from a towable docking trailer." They don't sit on towers, they go to higher elevations than a tower can reach, and might be something to point at for lawmakers "Why make the laws just for the antiquated lollipop style?"  .... …

SheerWind claims world's first 25 MW wind power tower (Video) on You Tube. 

Read more about it.

At present the only "concern" is that no one outside the company has tested it.  But oh hot diggetty if this works, we can get them to cover the state capitol buildings in these things and harvest…

Plans for £5.4bn Argyll Array offshore wind farm near Tiree dropped

Wind turbine Up to 300 wind turbines were planned for the Argyll Array near Tiree

... Scottish Power Renewables (SPR) announced it would not proceed with the Argyll Array scheme following technical and environmental site studies. It would have had up to 300 turbines and a capacity of up to 1800MW, enough to power one million homes...…

At first glance, "Walkable City" by Jeff Speck may not seem to have a lot to do with wind power, but if you're looking for an interesting read that will help in arguments about energy, energy use, planning, land use and urbanization (or lack thereof), I highly recommend it.  Here's an excerpt and the link to the author's TED talk on the topic.

One of the most controversial issues emerging from the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report is the failure of global climate models to predict a hiatus in warming of global surface temperatures since 1998. ...  A new paper published…

Some people say that wind power is good for the world and the global warming.

This photo shows the condition of the air over mainland China on 21 October, 2013.

Incidentally, China has the most installed wind power of any nation on earth, with total capacity at the end of 2012 in MegaWatts of…