Thoughts on mega wind and solar projects

[dodge man]

I’ll add one more thing. There is a lot of employment when they are built. Local is a relative word but many were local and most lived within 2 hours or less. There was well over a 100 most days. Concrete plants and quarries were very busy. Truckers were busy hauling in all the materials. Some days I worked on the project, another person from our office and I brought in people from another office to help. We put a lot of wood stakes in the ground.

Long term employment? I’ve been to their maintenance building. I don’t have an exact number but my guess would be about 10 people full time.

 

[fishheadbob]

I don't like seeing smokestacks, and I don't like seeing the haze from coal plants 100 miles away; but I don't like seeing mega windmills on the horizon either. Solar has a ways to go before it is much of an answer. Oh, and I'm a hardcore fisherman who wants those hydro dams gone so fish can go upstream. Time for me to teleport back to the 1840s? If I can't get back to the good old 40s looks like I'm going to have to adjust to progress.

 

[jyoutz]

There’s a huge wind farm being constructed about 50 miles SE of where I live. It’s said to be the second largest in the nation when completed. It’s in open ranch country, so not near any communities. The ranchers leased the land and that is their decision. Would I want to live near it? No. There are also lots of big solar fields all around the state and coal plants have all been converted to natural gas. It has cleared up the regional haze that the coal plants used to produce. Things change.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I feel we need a mix of energy sources, as there is no one perfect one. I'm sure there is a balance of coal, oil, gas, wind, solar, nuculear, hydro that can provide energy for all. Where they are built is the hard part. Parking lots, rooftops for solar? Fossil fueled in an area where wind patterns favor populations? Reality is, there will always be a population opposed to each source of energy. Diversification is the best answer for me.
As far as the blinking red lights atop windmills, I have 15 or so on the western ridge about 1-2 miles as the crow flies, We are on east ridge. They don't bother me, and when I star gaze, I'm looking up more than out. And when I look out, the red lights add a little. Another set of windmills is more than 10 miles, as the crow flies. They don't bother me a bit.
I have visited family on Martha's Vineyard MA, and the windmills there would bug the hell out of me if I lived nearby, as there are no faraway places to build them on an island. Around here, there aren't people living close enough to hear that whoosh whoosh.
Remember, our future is very dependent on energy due to technology alone, with growing population adding as well. I've only heard of data centers and the amount of energy needed to power them, just not sure why. But that energy consumption will not change, only get worse. Impossible to get back to "the good old days".

 

[BackRoad]

Some (not me) would argue that it's not your view. You don't own anything past your property lines, nor have a right complain about it.

I think about this often when I drive by the three huge data centers, a battery plant, a steel mill, a peaker power plant that have been built to the west of us. I think about the old farmer couple who never signed up for that view.

But then again, their neighbors sold out and moved on.

You're legally right, yet not totally right...at least in my county in PA.

The local tax appraiser showed up on my property measuring the outside dimensions of my newly built house.

Then started taking photos of the views off the front porch.

He said part of the taxable rate was based on the view FROM the property...so the view of the neighboring surround does have value to the tax man at least, and an added cost to the home owner...

 

[MossRoad]

...Its your business, not the counties. Make it work.

So if it's their business, why are you butting in to it? Hmmmm?

That's the question people ask when someone is all for individual property rights and no government interference, I hate lawyers, etc.. until what goes on at that property negatively affects them. Then government should save them, they hire lawyers themselves, and try and dictate what goes on on someone else's property.

It's massively hypocritical.

 

[MossRoad]

I’ll add one more thing. There is a lot of employment when they are built. Local is a relative word but many were local and most lived within 2 hours or less. There was well over a 100 most days. Concrete plants and quarries were very busy. Truckers were busy hauling in all the materials. Some days I worked on the project, another person from our office and I brought in people from another office to help. We put a lot of wood stakes in the ground.

Long term employment? I’ve been to their maintenance building. I don’t have an exact number but my guess would be about 10 people full time.

That's one of the things about these data centers being built west of us. Thousands of jobs during construction, push to get young people into the trades, etc.. hotels and campgrounds booked up for a couple years..... then it's over. Where are the thousands of tradespeople unemployed. So their unions push for more construction, no matter the project. If more construction doesn't come, those newly minted tradespeople have to move to find other jobs. Huge growth is temporary jobs.

Talking to several people I know in the trades and they say it'll be about a 10 year cycle. Boom then bust for them. The one's in their later years will make major dollars and retire. The younger ones will make major dollars then have to figure out what to do next. They expect a large chunk of the younger folks will leave the trades after the boom cycle.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't like seeing smokestacks, ....

There are three data centers to our west. Best count is about 600 stacks. They aren't visibly smoking, but something is coming out of them.

 

[ponytug]

Cooling towers? Natural gas fuel cells or turbine exhausts? Not much else needs venting.

Given the low human occupancy levels, fresh air exchange is pretty minimal.

All the best, Peter

 

[MossRoad]

You're legally right, yet not totally right...at least in my county in PA.

The local tax appraiser showed up on my property measuring the outside dimensions of my newly built house.

Then started taking photos of the views off the front porch.

He said part of the taxable rate was based on the view FROM the property...so the view of the neighboring surround does have value to the tax man at least, and an added cost to the home owner...

Location, location, location. A nice view is appealing and does affect the price of a house. However, I doubt there's a 'view tax'. There's an assessment of the total value of the property. View is just one factor of many. We're taxed on that total assessment.

For example, our house is desirable because we are near an airport, a bus terminal, two passenger train lines, and a city bus line. Those are pluses.

Then again, our house is less desirable because of the noise and lights from an airport, a bus terminal, two freight train lines, and bus traffic. Those are negatives.

Add in the part where we own the largest parcel (1.19 acres) in a several block area, and they cannot find a comparable home in the area, so we are compared to homes about 3 miles away for tax assessment.

There are so many things that affect assessment.

 

[MossRoad]

Cooling towers? Natural gas fuel cells or turbine exhausts? Not much else needs venting.

Given the low human occupancy levels, fresh air exchange is pretty minimal.

All the best, Peter

Not sure what they are. There are several hundred what look like air conditioner condensers on the roofs.

These things with the stacks on them look like generators on the sides of the buildings. There's 13 on each building and 16 buildings so far. Each has a stack sticking out the top that appears to be 2' in diameter.

Amazing that they went up in less than 3 years. Google street views still shows corn fields.