Man's Death Linked to Wind Farm?
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 05.25.07
A man was found dead in a drainage canal, close to his home in Marshland St James in the UK. The quiet Norfolk town has been the centre of a controversial battle over proposed wind farms, to which many believe the death is linked.
Richard Herbert was one of a local group in support of wind-power, who wanted to build 26 turbines on land belonging to the group. They claim that members were intimidated by those against the plans. In a statement made by his family it was made clear that they believe this animosity was a factor in his death, "In recent months Richard's health had created cause for concern, and he had commenced treatment at the Fermoy centre, King's Lynn [a mental health facility]. Anxieties relating to the decline of farming coupled with opposition to a wind turbine farm and personal matters are believed to be behind his recent out-of-character behaviour."
The tension between pro and anti wind in the village had grown quite strong. An 85 metre-high anemometer was erected to test the suitability of the area for a wind plant, which was promptly destroyed by anti-wind protesters, causing £100,000 of damage.
Not everyone is against alternative power, thankfully. Some local farmers like Nicholas Watts, rent land out for use by wind turbines. "We're raping this world, and we've got to try to do something about it. We got some flak when the planning application for these went in, and my wife said to me, 'Do you think it's really worth going on with this job?' But now we've got them up, it is worth it. I didn't do it for the money; I felt that I wanted to be producing some green energy.”
The complaints are always the same – for example, local family, the Harlocks, complain of noise, and "shadow flicker" when the sun is low. They also claim that their TV signal is affected, "We don't have many pleasures in life, but our TV is one of them."
Chris Tomlinson of the British Wind Energy Association says, "There are onshore wind projects that would generate eight Giga-watts stuck in planning right now, that equates to 6% of the UK's electricity supplies. If we are going to meet the targets, the government has to start getting its policy out to local authorities. At the moment it's not monitoring it and it's not enforcing it. We have 40% of Europe's wind resource in this country. We should be getting on with the job." :: The Guardian
See also :: Powering 4000 Homes: One Wind Turbine :: World's Biggest Wind Power Plan
Oh My God !
The Noise ! I bet the wind is much louder through trees when it blows . . . so we should just cut down the trees. TV signal? They should just get off their arse and do something besides sitting on it.
Nothing like sticking your head in the ground and talking with what's left sticking up!
I hope it gets built. We need every last watt we can get.
I have also heard about ice falling off the blades. Ice also falls off buildings and bridges and off the top of trucks. I guess we should go back into caves.
My condolences to the Herberts.
Nick Watts - born to be in the power generating biz.
vsk
It's pretty stupid, but there are quite a few people who oppose a proposed wind farm near where I live, on Wolfe Island near Kingston, Ontario, Canada. They're worried about noise and killing birds. As for noise, it's only a problem if you live right under the thing. As for birds, global warming is a lot worse for the environment than a few dead birds. I bet these people would really oppose building a coal power plant in their backyard.
Can't these things be built on a sea-based flotilla? Out where no one can see them or be bothered by them?
Sorry for the Herberts but this remind me the Hindelburg.
What happened when Hindelburg Crashed? a 1/4 of the people involved in the accident died, No passengers.
And Airships were banned.
What happened when Titanic crashed with an iceberg? ONLY a 1/3 of the people involved in the accident survived, Most of the casualties where passengers.
And Ships and Boats are still out there.
What about airplanes crashing/failing every year?
Airplanes and Boats are and were as dangerous as the Airships to transport people (that is what i learned by the Titanic and Airlines every year) . But Airships used less oil and no coal so the "oil-lords" and "coal-lo ards" of that time could not get richer if this transport get popular (also Hitler help a lot in making them unpopular).
What path the world should choose, to improve this little failures of Wind Power Generation or let us led by ignorance and Ban the future (again)?
Yair.