I've been following this thread with particular curious interest. Never
heard of any these alternatives before that Joe provided in the initial
thread launching link, and Devorah with the alternative second ones (see those
links again at the end of this message). Very interesting, especially
right now and kind of hits personal as wind farming and massive wind turbines
(with blades) is reshaping the big skies and skyline not to mention
introducing new 'sounds' to the otherwise and former soothing natural silence and
solitude of the rural farming country apart from the occasional mooing cow,
birdsong, crickets, and frogs in NW Missouri which includes my three
tracts of crop growing farmland there. Most are small relatively in coverage
and dotted about, but what's small in coverage, a dozen here, a few dozen
there, the rigs themselves are positively MONSTERS, and among the biggest and
tallest I have ever seen. A much bigger operation is in the planning stage
now, with one or two, maybe three or more even, of these wind farms
overall to each accommodate 200 or more giant wind turbines, some of those even
bigger than those currently existing, and spread over a several hundred
square miles, from north of St. Joseph along the Missouri River flood plain
adjacent bluff and hill country to the Iowa line and further east and upland
which includes all the areas in which my land in two counties are located.

It's windy there, but I never thought it windy enough, more seasonal
really, and even then, comes and goes, but apparently determined to be enough to
make the venture worthwhile. It's also tornado country, tornado alley,
and one of those big monster F4's or 5's ripping through one of those wind
farms with the monster turbines, yikes, lookout below!! Of course there are
scads of wind farms strewn all over the landscape in 'Tornado Alley" from
Texas to the Dakotas, but I haven't heard of any impacted or if so, none too
seriously. But then, you never hear about most of the ordinary routine
twisters grinding their way across the Plains largely steering clear of harms
way. It's just the big ones and the relative few that leave a wake of
massive destruction and death that make the News and leaves the rest of us in
'shock and awe'. Just a wind turbine or two, even the giant ones but
impacting little else, isn't going to make headline news or even the Internet
without a google search.

With no real expectations at least in my mind of any of my tracts ever
actually hosting one or more of these giants, it could, but I'm betting not, I
still signed on and contracted with the project a few years back as did
most of my near farming neighbors and the majority of other farmers all over
the counties and land environmentally studied and deemed suitable which
essentially gives the companies involved virtual life time rights to build
there and access. At the very least, it was 'free' income, and in this
economy, every penny counts. Impact is actually surprisingly minimal to the land
and to the business of farming, crops, cattle, etc., but I have always
been quite unsettled and skeptical about the 'air space'; meaning birds, and
have questioned that every chance I get. That's the heart and main line of
the Great Central Flyway right there, with hundreds of thousands of Snow
Geese plus Ross's, Greater White-fronted's, Canada's, ducks, shorebirds, and
songbirds every Spring and Fall, bats even, and it's raptor country too.
As for the geese, the very fields which host those wind turbines, also host
those countless thousands of geese, Snow's mostly, feeding and vacuuming
up the corny bits left behind after the Autumn harvest. There is also the
noise factor, soft but persistent day and night, insomnia, migraines, maybe
other complaints, all potential though yet not fully determined or
connected to wind turbines as health risks for those who live near one or a bunch.

Even without ever seeing such a beast as one of those giant turbines ever
established on my tracts, just the "maybe, even if never" contract still
generates the 'free' annual income virtually forever, or at least until the
company completely gives up, pulls out having done nothing nor has any
further intent of doing so, or goes bankrupt. Of course, if something big were
to get planted on the 'lucky' landowner's land, then the return would go up
quite handsomely, the more wind turbines, the merrier. But is it all
really worth it in the grand scheme of things and all sides of the arguments
considered, a 64-million dollar question and a wrestling match with one's own
conscience.

It strikes me as a profoundly expensive operation from the bottom up, a lot
of natural resources and carbon-based energy is expended in just making
those things, often overseas, then shipping them to the US. In San Diego,
Port of San Diego, Terminal 10 near downtown, actually just a few blocks down
the street from the SD Convention Center, is where those ships offload and
which share our berthing spot where our 'little' NOAA research vessels
seem dwarfed by those larger ships and their very large cargo. The SD
terminal grounds are covered and stacked with those components which are then
loaded onto really big trucks, 32-wheelers actually, and eventually carted
away, mostly to Texas when I was last down there, in convoys of several that
can only leave the Port of San Diego and San Diego under the cover of
darkness, late at night, involving escorts, police, and take hours to complete
sometimes since major thoroughfares and streets and exits out of town, even
the railroad, have to be closed down just to allow the trucks exit room and
the huge turning radii required at a corner that requires occupying both
north and southbound sides and all lanes of a six-lane and usually daytime
busy thoroughfare. It's quite an amazing sight when all this is
orchestrated!

At any rate, I need to probe deeper into these alternatives just to edify
and arm myself with a foundation of legitimate knowledge minus negative
speculation and hysteria. I tend to think probably not so practical in the
Midwestern farm belt where the 'footprint' appears to be sizable, far more so
than current bladed wind turbines. Maybe better in areas a bit more
desertified, like the Basin region of central Washington and similarly largely
wide open range land throughout the West where the 'footprint' might,
...might, be less significant, but there's bound to be compromises there too.
When I'm flying across the country, especially the western half, I always
plan ahead and pick my seat forward of the wing and on the side opposite the
sun where I spend nearly the entire flight just gazing out the window,
weather and 'under'cast permitting, studying the geography in fine detail,
connecting the dots, hills and dales, streams here connecting to rivers there,
roads and small towns, and the widely scattered sprinkle of homesteads
about, and marveling at it all as it makes perfect sense. Even after seeing it
all dozens of times, even the same routes, it never gets boring, a
slow-motion unfolding panorama every single time. From this 35,000-ft
perspective, there sure is one heck of a lot of wide open vast empty space down there
where a 'crop' or multiple 'crops' of windstalks would seem to fit in just
fine where seemingly might have the least of minimal impact. The reader's
comments in Joe's link make for interesting reading and many of those
appear to have been posted by some pretty smart sounding people, scientists,
engineers, and the like which add a variety of rational perspectives and
opinion, and I need to go back and wade through those with closer scrutiny.

At first glance, the alternatives look from the artistic representation
pretty darn weird to say the least, but then, so did the artistic concept of
a 'smart phone' with all it's bells and whistles 20-30 years ago; oh yeah,
right, that's not going anywhere. For me, the jury isn't anywhere in sight
much less a verdict, and I have numerous environmental impact concerns from
'footprints' to others that goes beyond simply the initial gut impact
impression that the fanciful artistic renderings portray. To me and maybe
others too, there was a shocking impact of sterility in the images, like a
forest of charred trees after a forest fire, but certainly no woodpeckers to
scrounge for beetles, or bluebirds looking for a nest hole, and a forest
stone dead silent of all song apart from the wind screaming through the stalks
that probably sounds not unlike a jet hitting the runway and going into
reverse engine braking mode at any jetport, USA. But, I always keep an open
mind, even if an aging one, that needs this kind of thought provoking
stimulation now and then, but for now, I am totally unprepared to argue about
anything yet, yea or nay. Interesting concept, yes indeed, but practical or
even environmentally sound? Not so sure. Would make for a nice
skateboard park though and would fit right in as a set piece in a remake of "Look
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

Maybe after this coming week and a fun-filled week of Missouri farm
business and other matters which already has 'wind farming' on the agenda anyway
even before the 'windstalk' thing came up at all here on tweeters, I might
know a bit more, ...or not. Good timing though for this Joe and Devorah,
and to others who contributed comment, thanks.


Joe's link again:
_http://news.discovery.com/tech/wind-power-without-the-blades.html_
(http://news.discovery.com/tech/wind-power-without-the-blades.html)


Devorah's links again:
_http://is.gd/JzkbZE_ (http://is.gd/JzkbZE)
and here's a similar idea, made of bamboo:
_http://is.gd/hyxjXl_ (http://is.gd/hyxjXl)



Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA