Wind Turbines

[schinz]

Has anyone actually been able to use smaller versions of the windmills to actually power their own houses in that area?

[JustSayNo]

Ah, such fond memories, and reminders of old friends.

So good to have all of our thoughtful, researched opinions and comments kept forever........

Anywho, the smaller version of the wind generators are still expensive for most. But, that is the way that I think, IMHO, this country should go. Frig big-business "the economy and world will collapse if the blue-chips fail" mentality. We are in a world of hurt already as a country, if we were all able to be a bit more self-sufficient and less dependent on the man perhaps we would all be better off. We are still looking at alternatives every day, and I remain firm on my stance on the farce called Industrial Wind Turbines!

A big hi and hope all is well to the old-timers. Hope all is well with you and yours

[Ellie C.]

Originally Posted by dwmumbulo

Yeah-Why have windpower?-lets pay more than $4 /gallon for petroleum.

How do you come to this conclusion? There are many more things that effect the price of oil than whether or not there is a 400ft turbine sitting in your backyard - NOT SPINNING or generating a single kilowatt. Let's talk about record profits for oil companies. Let's talk about cars being produced that get 15 mpg? Gimme a break.

Take a drive through Wilkes Barre PA. Most of the time those huge turbines that are along the mountain are completely still or barely turning. My gripe is not against wind power. I LOVE the idea of wind power - where there is actually some wind.

These companies do not want the expense of putting the wind turbines where there's actually some WIND because there is no power grid nearby and they don't want to cut into their profits to see one built. Therefore, they send their snake oil salesmen into rural areas of upstate NY (no wind, but conveniently located next to the power grid) and con these people who are desperate for money into allowing these monsters to be put up on their property.

T. Boone Pickens is at least trying to put forth a plan to get a centrally located grid built, and get wind fields built where there IS SOME WIND. Whatever you think of his motives, this country desperately needs an updated power grid. Someone who works on the grid posted here awhile back and he was telling us about how precarious the situation is. It's almost like it's being held together with chewing gum and a bobby pin.

I for one would like to see the price of smaller turbines for individual use come down and better tax breaks for people who install personal wind turbines and solar panels on their property. Right now it's just too cost prohibitive and the tax breaks you get just aren't good enough.

Small windmills are quaint and have been around forever. Something bigger than the Statue of Liberty that hurls ice chunks at your house in the winter?

NO THANKS!

[johntedder]

New York has the 3rd highest electric rates in the United States. The U.S. needs to buy less foreign oil. If wind turbines can lower our electric rates and help us to use less imported oil, we need them.

If the political and business systems that install them and monitor them are corrupt, we need to fix that.

[looking4home]

I don't know where the "new energy policy" will leave NYS. The wind men kind of came in like carpetbaggers with their slick lines (and lies) taking advantage of poorer, rural areas when it was being done piecemeal, and the state was dangling carrots in front of them. But now, if there is a more organized effort on the wind front nationally, NYS might not figure so heavily in the equation. If you're really serious about wind farms, you do it on a big scale in places that have a lot of open space and away from farms, residential, etc. Here in CA, we have several but they are in remote, non-populated areas. I don't know how much energy these massive wind farms actually produce for the grid. Must not be very much as we are always having energy issues. I still think they are an eyesore, intrusive, not cost-effective, and ultimately a boondoggle. It is not an efficient way of producing energy for the U.S. population and its needs.

[RogerB]

Boonville, New York, on the Tug Hill Plateau, is a wind energy project that is worth visiting.