The Communist Greenies don't want the public to know these sort of things about the Bob Brown endorsed windy farms - Part 1.
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Wind TurbinesPosted on January 10, 2012 by Administrator
How big is a wind turbine? Industrial wind turbines are a lot bigger than ones you might see in a schoolyard or behind someone’s house. The widely used GE 1.5-megawatt model, for example, consists of 116-ft blades atop a 212-ft tower for a total height of 328 feet. The blades sweep a vertical airspace of just under an acre. The 1.8-megawatt Vestas V90 from Denmark is also common. Its 148-ft blades (sweeping more than 1.5 acres) are on a 262-ft tower, totaling 410 feet. Another model being seen more in the U.S. is the 2-megawatt Gamesa G87 from Spain, which sports 143-ft blades (just under 1.5 acres) on a 256-ft tower, totaling 399 feet. Many existing models and new ones being introduced reach well over 400 feet high.
How are the wind turbine components transported? Transport of such large items and the cranes needed to assemble them often presents problems in the remote areas where they are typically built. Roads must be widened, curves straightened, and in wild areas new roads built altogether.
What kind of platform is a wind turbine set in? The steel tower is anchored in a platform of more than a thousand tons of concrete and steel rebar, 30 to 50 feet across and anywhere from 6 to 30 feet deep. Shafts are sometimes driven down farther to help anchor it. Mountain tops must be blasted to accommodate it. The platform is critical to stabilizing the immense weight of the turbine assembly.
How much do wind turbines weigh? In the GE 1.5-megawatt model, the nacelle alone weighs more than 56 tons, the blade assembly weighs more than 36 tons, and the tower itself weighs about 71 tons — a total weight of 164 tons. The corresponding weights for the Vestas V90 are 75, 40, and 152, total 267 tons; and for the Gamesa G87 72, 42, and 220, total 334 tons.
What is the nacelle? The gearbox — which transforms the slow turning of the blades to a faster rotor speed — and the generator are massive pieces of machinery housed in a bus-sized container, called the nacelle, at the top of the tower. The blades are attached to the rotor hub at one end of the nacelle. Some nacelles include a helicopter landing pad.
Are wind turbines more intrusive than other structures of similar size? Besides the noise and vibrations such huge moving machines unavoidably generate, they must be topped with flashing lights day and night to increase their visibility. The moving blades attract attention.
How much area is required for a wind power facility? The huge turbines require a correspondingly large area around them clear of trees and other turbines to maximize the effect of the wind and avoid interference. They should have 10 rotor diameters of clearance in the direction of the wind and 3 rotor diameters in every other direction. In a line of several turbines perpendicular to the wind (as on a mountain ridge), the GE 1.5-MW model would need at least 32 acres and the Vestas V90 78 acres for each tower. In an array that can take advantage of the wind from any direction, the GE needs 82 acres and the Vestas V90 111 acres per tower. In practice, the area varies, averaging about 50 acres per megawatt of capacity. On mountain ridges, the turbines are generally squeezed in about eight per mile.
Can the area around a wind turbine continue to be used? Only by putting oneself in danger. Besides the unpleasant noises and distracting motion, wind turbines are not safe. They are high-voltage electrical devices with large moving parts. It is estimated that for every 100 turbines, one blade will break off (see Larwood, 2005). In the winter, heavy sheets of ice can build up and then fall or be thrown off. Access to the land around wind turbines is usually restricted, even to the landowner.
Are bigger turbines more efficient? No, they are just bigger. Output depends on wind speed and the combination of blade diameter and generator size. Bigger blades on a taller tower can capture more wind to run a bigger generator, but they don’t do so more efficiently than smaller models.
http://www.wind-watch.org/faq-wildlife.php
Do birds nest on wind turbines? Modern turbines have solid instead of latticed towers, so birds can’t rest or nest on them. They can, however, still perch on the nacelle (the bus-sized generator housing at the top of the tower).
Is the lower rpm of modern wind turbines safer for birds and bats?
Modern utility-scale wind turbines turn at a much lower rpm than older models. Because the blades are so long and are moving 150 to 200 mph at the tips, depending on the model, the impact on birds and bats remains substantial.
What studies have been done on the impact of wind turbines on birds and bats? Few studies have been done to determine the true effect of industrial wind turbines on birds and bats, and fewer studies still that have been done independently of the wind companies’ control. The evidence is clear, though, that wind turbines present yet another threat to the lives of birds and bats. The risk appears to be much greater in some areas than in others. The first-year study of the \”Maple Ridge\” facility on the Tug Hill plateau of New York estimated that 2,000 to 4,000 birds and bats were killed by 120 turbines during the 5-month study period in 2006 (click here for the report; click here for May 1, 2007, testimony to the U.S. House Natural Resources subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans).
What does the US Fish & Wildlife Service think about wind power? The US Fish & Wildlife Service is concerned about the danger to birds. They have issued siting guidelines which recommend that wind turbines should not be installed near wetlands, on mountain ridges, near shorelines, or in other locations known as concentration areas for wildlife or at sites subject to frequent fog or low-lying clouds during spring and fall migrations.
How do wind turbines affect birds? Mountain ridges and coastal areas, where industrial turbines are often installed, are features of the landscape that concentrate many birds. Songbirds mostly migrate at night and low enough to collide with the blades of large wind turbines. The presence of large wind turbines may cause birds to avoid the site, thus losing a foraging resource and requiring extra energy to fly around it. The cumulative effect of multiple facilities could have a serious toll on bird populations. The activities of prairie birds, including mating and nesting, are easily disturbed — even at a great distance — by the construction and continuing operation of an industrial wind power facility, which can spread over hundreds, often thousands, of acres.
Are raptors threatened by industrial wind turbines? Wind power is a unique threat to raptors (hawks, eagles, falcons, owls, and vultures) — many of them already rare — and other large birds, such as ducks, geese, swans, and cranes. The risk of collision not only threatens individual birds but also augments existing threats to their populations. The cumulative effect of multiple facilities may threaten the viable breeding of several species already in decline.
Do wind turbines kill more birds and bats than other human activities? Promoters of industrial wind power often try to divert our attention to the carnage wrought by office tower windows, cars, and housecats, as if a greater wrong excuses the lesser. Even using the scant data inconsistently compiled by consultants hired by the wind power developers, it is clear that industrial wind turbines kill many more birds and bats per unit than these other causes, particularly raptors (such as eagles and hawks) and migrating bats and songbirds.
Is the impact to birds and bats justified? Promoters of industrial wind power try to justify the threats to birds and bats with the claim that they are actually saving even more birds by cleaning the air and reversing global warming. They are wrong in that rationalization, because wind power does not replace other sources of electricity (see the \”Output\” FAQ).
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