A powerful wake up call from Tom Adams concerning the Green Energy Act in Ontario Canada.
OPA
Editor:
“Wind turbines are popping up in rural communities around the world, including Canada, in the hope that they will reduce reliance on coal and other sources for power.”
Hope is not what you build an electrical system on. The politicians can “hope” till the cows come home, but the facts speak for themselves.
Nowhere on the planet has the use of industrial wind turbines caused a reduction in the use of coal or any other source of energy.
I would like to thank CTV and those responsible for bringing this story forward and into the mainstream media.
To all those fighting poorly sited wind farms – keep up the great work.
Without your hard work and insistence for the truth, this story would not likely have seen the light of day.
Ontario Wind Farms – Dalton McGuinty
(using wind to power press release – short video)
Premier, Dalton McGuinty Talks About Renewable Energy For Ontario
Wind energy unreliable, says E.On
Green, not dumb – The Reality of Wind Energy
By Jan Carr – former CEO of Ontario Power Authority
Homeowners living near windfarms see property values plummet
Wind turbines cause health problems, residents say
A wind turbine looms over Helen and Bill Fraser’s house in Melancthon, Ont.
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Ernie Marshall and his wife look at the windmills near their former home near Goderich, Ont. The Marshalls moved from several kilometres away after they began developing health problems.Wind turbines cause health problems, residents say
Updated Sun. Oct. 5 2008 10:23 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Windmills may be an environmentally friendly alternative energy source but they also cause debilitating health problems, say people who live near them.
Wind turbines are popping up in rural communities around the world, including Canada, in the hope that they will reduce reliance on coal and other sources for power. Currently, there are about 1,500 turbines across Canada and there are plans to build another 1,000 to 1,500 in the next year.
But some residents who live near wind farms complain the turbines cause a number of adverse health effects, such as crippling headaches, nose bleeds and a constant ringing in the ears.
Helen and Bill Fraser initially supported the nearby wind farm in Melancthon, Ont. One turbine sat close to the Fraser’s kitchen window.
“We thought, more green energy, this is great,” Helen told CTV News.
However, Helen says she developed headaches, body aches and she had trouble sleeping. The dog began wetting the floor at night.
“There were nights I was lying in bed and my heart would beat to the pulse of the turbine. It was an uneasy feeling,” Helen said.
Ernie Marshall at first supported the wind farm that was placed near his home near Goderich, Ont. However, he also says that once the turbines got rolling, his health began to suffer.
“I had problems with my heart, with my eyes, my digestive system,” Marshall told CTV News. “It traumatizes your whole body.”
Dr. Nina Pierpont, a pediatrician in upstate New York, has interviewed dozens of people who live near windmills in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Her soon-to-be released book, Wind Turbine Syndrome, documents the litany of health problems experienced by some people who have wind farms near their homes.
Pierpont believes that with the growth of wind farms near residential areas, Wind Turbine Syndrome “likely will become an industrial plague,” she states on her website.
Scientists have only begun studying the phenomenon in the last few years.
Some early findings suggest that wind turbines create a high intensity, low frequency sound that may have an effect on the body. Not only can the sound potentially cause debilitating illness. Some researchers believe that the vibrations the sound causes in the inner ear may lead to vibro-acoustic disease, which can cause dizziness, nausea and sleep disturbances.
From CTV NEWS
Editor:
As happy as I am to see this article show up in a “Mainstream Canadian Newspaper”, I still have to ask-why has it taken so long to expose the scam that is the wind industry?
Hell, Enron started this scam years ago. Google- Enron, Al Gore, Maurice Strong and Bill Clinton. Like the media never noticed what was going on.
I’ve noticed the Globe and Mail reading my blog lately ‘site tracker’ and that’s good. But, why does it take so long to get a story out. People have been sending the mainstream papers this same information for years. Why have they remained silent for so long?
Billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted, landscapes ruined and peoples lives destroyed, while the media sat on the information.
I called the head office of CanWea two years ago this coming Nov. I told them the wind scam would be shut down within two years. I still believe it is possible.
It’s time for journalists to shake the cobwebs from their brains, remember the journalist oath and get back to doing what they are supposed to do- inform the public of the truth.
Leave the lies and bullshit to the politicians and industry.
As J. Lennon said “Just give me the truth”
Anyway, I thank Mr. Reynolds for this story. Good work-even if it’s years late.
NEIL REYNOLDS
OTTAWA — Republican presidential candidate
Senator John McCain travelled to Oregon in mid-May to deliver the
definitive climate change speech of his campaign. He spoke in Portland,
at the U.S. headquarters of Vestas Wind Systems AS, a Danish company
that markets wind turbines around the world. He started on a
self-deprecating note. “Today is a kind of test run for this company,”
he said. “They’ve got wind technicians here, wind studies and all these
wind turbines. But there’s no wind. So now I know why they asked me to
come and give a speech.”
It was perhaps his most perceptive statement of the day. Five
sentences later, Mr. McCain made perhaps his least perceptive. “Wind,”
he said, “is a predictable source of energy.”
Really? Define predictable. Wind turbines operate occasionally with
remarkable efficiency at 100 per cent capacity. More often, they
operate with 20 per cent capacity. Once in a while, they operate with
subzero capacity – taking electricity from the grid to keep themselves
running until they get hit again by a restless wind.
British energy consultant Hugh Sharman, based in Denmark, documented
wind power’s capacity for subzero performance in a report published by
Civil Engineering magazine in 2005. With more wind power per capita
than any other country, Denmark (population 5.4 million) is the world’s
showroom nation for this highly fashionable form of renewable energy.
Why, then, does Denmark export almost all of its wind power – at a
revenue loss? Why, then, does Denmark still operate all of its
conventional coal-fired power plants? In a phrase, Mr. Sharman says,
the reason is Denmark’s “wildly fluctuating wind power.”
It turns out that Denmark’s vast array of turbines often produce
minimal electricity when demand is high, maximum electricity when
demand is low. Basing his analysis on data from a single year (2002),
Mr. Sharman reported that wind power produced less than 1 per cent of
the country’s electricity supply on 54 different days. On one of these
54 days, the wind turbines took more power from the grid than they
produced. (Wind turbines consume considerable electricity whether winds
are blowing or not blowing.)
British author and energy analyst Tony Lodge makes the same point in
a report by the Centre for Policy Studies, a London think tank. “Not a
single conventional power plant has been closed in the period that
Danish wind farms have been developed,” he says. “Because of the
intermittency and variability of the wind, conventional power plants
have had to be kept running at full capacity to meet the actual demand
for electricity and to provide backup.”
Mr. Lodge says it is not practical to turn coal-fired plants off and
on as winds rise and fall – because ramping them up consumes more fuel
(and emits more carbon dioxide) than running them at a constant rate.
Thus Denmark relies almost exclusively on coal-fired plants for its own
consumption and exports its wind power at whatever off-peak price it
can get.
Only 3.3 per cent of Denmark’s wind power gets “accepted” on the
grid for domestic consumption. In 2003, Denmark exported 84 per cent of
its wind-generated electricity at money-losing rates. And CO{-2}? In
2006, Denmark produced 36 per cent more carbon emissions than the year
before.
Messrs. McCain, Dion and Pickens notwithstanding, winds do not blow
predictably. Without an energy storage battery the size of Mount
Everest, most wind-powered electricity will be wasted and will almost
certainly increase a country’s carbon emissions – albeit inadvertently.
When your power plant operates at only 20 per cent capacity (or less),
you have to build four or five times as many plants as you need. For
reliable backup, you still need either coal, gas or nuclear power – all
of which are cheaper than wind.
The conclusion seems self-evident. Apparently it isn’t. Fortunately,
you can test wind power for yourself. Go outside on a hot and humid
day. Feel the breeze. Or don’t
Editor
This wind farm is located in Northern Ont. far away from the heavily populated southern part of the province. What I find interesting about this piece is the statement below.
“Noise isn’t expected to be a concern because the nearest dwelling is two km away from any of the proposed turbines, Kerr said”.
What about the people in Southern Ont. where the wind turbines will be, on average, only 400 meters from homes. Should these people expect noise problems.
Research and real life experiences show that the odds on these people suffering noise, flicker, and real estate depreciation will be very high.
The wind industry has convinced the govt. that they need small setbacks in order to make their project cost effective. The fact is, homes are to close together in Southern Ont. to accommodate a reasonable setback. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO………
The govt., from your local council to the office of Premier Dalton McGuinty, and the wind industry have decided that you and your property are not important. They sell wind farms on the idea of saving the environment, while they trash your environment. Ironic.
The wind industry making money is more important than you, your family or your property.
Give Dalton a call and ask him yourself. If he tells you the wind turbines are to reduce C02 which causes GLOBAL WARMING. You might want to inform him the warming stopped in 1998. The C02 – global warming argument doesn’t hold water.
Wait a minute you say. If the warming stopped in 1998 why are they building wind farms?
Good Question
The only GREEN I can find in the wind industry is the cash being made, at your expense.
Germany has the most wind yet they are building 26 new coal fired plants. Doesn’t give one much faith in wind, does it.
Anyone from the govt. or the wind industry that wants to debate, I’m available. 519-396-1958
.
Wind farm raises health concerns
Editor
“research has suggested that those effects don’t cause long-term health impacts after people are no longer living near wind farms”.
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Wind farm prospects promising
One of the more significant economic developments Marathon has seen in several years has taken another step to being approved.
Brookfield Power‘s plan for a $250-million wind-power farm about 20 kilometres west of town could receive government approval this spring following a mandatory public review of an environmental “screening” report.
The Ottawa-area company wants to build 66 turbines on Crown land in an unpopulated area just north of Neys Provincial Park.
The turbines, each 80 metres tall and sporting three blades as long as half a soccer field, are to collectively produce up to 100 megawatts of electricity.
That‘s about half the capacity of Brookfield‘s existing wind farm just outside Sault Ste. Marie.
Brookfield project manager Ian Kerr said construction on the Marathon-area site is expected to begin in 2010, creating a maximum of 200 jobs over the 18-month construction period.
The company will likely establish an office in Marathon to be staffed by about 10 service technicians, Kerr added.
Though the network of turbines will require the construction of about 40 km of access roads, there will only be a handful of locations from the Trans-Canada Highway that will offer a view of the machines, said Kerr.
Noise isn‘t expected to be a concern because the nearest dwelling is two km away from any of the proposed turbines, Kerr said.
The environmental report does not identify any significant impact on birds or other wildlife.
Though details haven‘t been finalized, the wind farm is expected to plug into the provincial energy grid through an existing 230,000-volt transmission line.
Kerr said the turbines the company plans to use have a life-span of about 25 years. Service technicians access the hub and blades by climbing up inside the towers.
The environmental screening report can be viewed online at coldwellwind.com.
Hard copies can be obtained at Marathon town hall, Pic River First Nation band office or the Ministry of Environment office in Thunder Bay at 435 James St. S.
Public comments must be received by May 1.
By CARL CLUTCHEY
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
From the editor
It appears from all the research that has been done on wind turbines and wind farms that not only is the wind industry not telling you the truth, neither is your govt. When I say your govt., I am talking about all govt. bodies that are involved in the promotion and licensing of wind farms. The evidence is in. The question at this point in time is really very simple. Are you going to stand up and be counted or are you going to do nothing?
Thousands of lives have already been ruined by poorly sited wind farms, you may be next. Both the wind industry and your government knew and continue to know that these wind farms are sited too close to people. It is about economy of scale. Never forget “By the people for the people”
I don’t remember it being changed to
“By the government for the corporations.”
The wind companies are in the process of sucking billions of dollars from taxpayers pockets and your govt. is helping them.
Is Democracy still alive in the so-called free world?
Leave a comment
The document below says it all
Frey_&_Hadden,_Wind_turbines_and_health
Wind turbines are large industrial structures that create obtrusive environmental noise pollution when built too close to dwellings. This annotated review of evidence and research by experts considers the impact of industrial-scale wind turbines suffered by those living nearby. First, the paper includes the comments by some of the families affected by wind turbines, as well as coverage in news media internationally. The experiences described put a human face to the science of acoustics.
Second, the paper reviews research articles within the field of acoustics concerning the acoustic properties of wind turbines and noise. The acoustic characteristics of wind turbines are complex and in combination produce acoustic radiation. Next, the paper reviews the health effects that may result from the acoustic radiation caused by wind turbines, as well as the health effects from noise, because the symptoms parallel one another. Primarily, the consequent health response includes sleep deprivation and the problems that ensue as a result. In addition, this paper reviews articles that report research about the body’s response not only to the audible noise, but also to the inaudible components of noise that can adversely affect the body’s physiology. Research points to a causal link between unwanted sound and sleep deprivation and stress, i.e., whole body physiologic responses.
These injuries are considered in the context of Human Rights, where it is contended that the environmental noise pollution destroys a person’s effective enjoyment of right to respect for home and private life, a violation of Article 8 of the European Court of Human fights Act. Furthermore, the paper considers the consequent devaluation of a dwelling as a measure of part of the damage that arises when wind turbines are sited too close to a dwelling, causing acoustic radiation and consequent adverse health responses.
The review concludes that a safe buffer zone of at least 2km should exist between family dwellings and industrial wind turbines of up to 2MW installed capacity, with greater separation for a wind turbine greater than 2MW installed capacity
At noon today I checked how much power was being produced by the wind farms in Ontario. The govt. has this idea that if they spread the wind farms around the province wind farms will produce power. Their logic is that it has to be windy somewhere. Port Burwell = O MW Kingsbridge l = O MW Amaranth = O MW and last but not least Princefarm = O MW. Lets add that up now. 400 plus MW of wind capacity producing O MW of power at noon today.
Mr. Dwight Duncan our esteemed Energy Minster wants more wind power. Maybe it’s time Duncan and McGuinty had a brain scan. I think most of the wind in Ontario is blowing around between their ears.
Time to wake up people.
Time to raise a little hell………….or you can do nothing, but please don’t bitch and complain when your hydro bills go through the roof. This province doesn’t belong to McGuinty, Duncan or the wind industry, it belongs to you. Please act accordingly.
Remember when Bush said he knew what he was doing in Iraq. McGuinty and Duncan have ignored all the advice from the experts to follow their green dream and if it’s not stopped it is going to cost you and your children dearly.
Send an e-mail, write a letter or make a phone call.
If you own a plane a little sky writing might be a nice touch.
Get active!
There’s nothing on TV anyway
I am your Energy minister and I want more wind
or do I just have Gas
This paper was written in 2004.
It looks at all options for replacement of coal. This 31 page document shows how wrong the Liberal govt. is when it comes to electrical generation in Ontario. If you really want high prices and an unstable grid then embrace the wind. If you want a cost effective reliable grid then get active. I thank Mr. Rogers for his work and allowing me to share it with you.
J.T.ROGERS, PhD
Professor-Emeritus
Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario
The low intensity of wind power results in a requirement for many large wind turbines to generate any significant power. Furthermore, these turbines have to be well-spaced to ensure
that wake effects on adjacent turbines do not reduce blade efficiency, and thus power generation, significantly. Based on data from different sources, the power-to-area intensity for
wind farms varies from about 2.8 MW/km2 to about 5.0 MW/km2 [32, 33, 34]. Therefore, to replace the capacity of the OPG coal plants by wind power plants, assuming an optimistic
power intensity of 4 MW/km2, would require a total area of about 1,900 sq.km., about three times the size of metropolitan Toronto. The cost and difficulty of assembling adequate wind
sites over such an area in southern Ontario would be prohibitive, even though some of the required area would also still be usable for agricultural purposes. In addition, the total electricity produced annually by this capacity would be considerably less than that produced by the coal-fired plants because of the low annual capacity factors of the wind plants. From the above data on the current installed capacity and energy production of wind power plants in Ontario, the annual capacity factor of these plants is 18.7%, compared to about 60% to 65% for
the coal-fired plants. An ACF of 18.7% is on the low side of the range of ACFs for existing
wind farms, 20% to 30% [35]. Assuming an average ACF of 25%, replacing the coal-fired plants by the same capacity of wind-fired plants would result in the generation of only about
40% of the electricity produced in a year by the coal-fired plants. Furthermore, unlike power from the coal-fired plants, power from the wind plants would not be available on demand to
meet varying loads, but would depend on the variability of the wind. Since there is no practical means of storing electricity directly on a large scale, building additional wind plants to
overcome this intermittency would not be helpful12.
In effect, wind plants cannot really replace the coal-fired plants, since they cannot meet the requirements of intermediate-load service, that is, being available on demand to meet varying
loads over a day or other period. Similarly, wind plants cannot be used for base-load to provide continuous power or for peaking plants to provide peak power on demand. Wind generation is
only useful for now as displacement energy, being accepted by the grid, when it is available, in preference to energy from conventional plants whose operating costs at that time are greater
than those of the wind energy plants .
It is concluded that wind energy is not a realistic option to replace the coal-fired plants and will continue to play only a very minor role in electricity generation in Ontario.
For the full text of his paper
http://www.cns-snc.ca/media/CNS_Position_Papers/Ontario_coal.pdf
I sure wish Mr. Duncan would try telling the truth about wind energy to the people of Ontario.
He continues to use plate capacity numbers as if they are a real number.
Germany allows 8% of capacity rating for wind turbines. So when Dwight tells you 1000mw
have been installed he really should be saying 80mw. How often have you heard him say
they plan on using high priced gas for backup. He is counting on the population to remain ignorant of the truth. He is spending your tax dollars like a drunken sailor. You will get higher costs for hydro and an unstable grid. The wind companies and promoters get the money. Your money. You should be mad as hell at Mr Duncan. I voted Liberal.
Tags: project | MEGAWATTS | homes | generating | SAULT STE. MARIE | prince | Ontario | DUNCAN | Canada | brookfield | Alberta
