Wired News: Wound Up Over Windmills

This is right in my backyard. And Not In My Backyward (NIMBY) seems to be part of the issue here. Well, not literally, but within an hour's drive. If this is privately financed I think it's probably a good idea. I don't know the answer, but I would be very interested in learning if the windmills provide a net gain. That is, they generate more than they cost, without any kind of subsidies. How long until the initial start-up costs are made up?

That said, some of the critics sound downright loony:
"Group members also warned of health problems ranging from strokes caused by the sunlight as it pulsates through the spinning turbine blades to mange in cattle. Others claimed that women living near the wind farms are having as many as five menstrual cycles a month."

The article mentions a "power crunch" which I presume means a shortage. But a shortage can not really exist (well, maybe briefly) if the market is allowed to clear freely. But there is so much interference with this industry that I doubt it is clearing even close to efficiently.


Wired News: Wound Up Over Windmills: "Upstate New Yorkers are up in arms about widespread plans to install wind farms. In some cases, they're fighting the green power plants with scare tactics more often associated with the anti-nuclear lobby.

The whole state of New York is experiencing such a serious power crunch that Gov. George Pataki has taken drastic measures to help combat energy-supply problems and decrease the Empire State's ecological footprint.

Part of his plan includes dotting the rural upstate lake region with windmill farms because they provide clean and practically free energy once they're installed. It sounds like an excellent solution, unless you dislike the look of hulking white shafts supporting giant propellers on your horizon."