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I grew up in Iowa. I inherited 160 acres of prime farmland from my grandparents and parents. I actively participated in the successful lobbying of the county co
by sverige 7y ago
I grew up in Iowa. I inherited 160 acres of prime farmland from my grandparents and parents. I actively participated in the successful lobbying of the county commissioners in the county where my property is located to change the offset rules for wind turbines to make life livable for the people directly affected by them. I personally turned down the offer to build turbines on my land.
What skin do you have in the game?
- Robotbeat 7y agoThat's astonishing, then, that you weren't aware that wind farms share land with productive farms just fine. I live on a planet and consume food. My family has rural acreage in Wisconsin, too, but that's irrelevant. Privilege doesn't have to stop the ability to think critically. That you're lobbying to make wind harder to deploy doesn't give you better moral or intellectual clarity, here...
- sverige 7y agoWhen you do the research, you discover that wind is not the panacea it has been portrayed to be. Building and placing turbines is not carbon neutral, the cleanup costs of decommissioned turbines are completely ignored because they are 40 years out, and they are not very profitable without subsidies. There are better alternatives that are less destructive to the environment. This also ignores the other part of my original comment, which was to build turbines nearer to population centers. Why aren't the hills east of Oakland and southwest of SV filled with wind turbines?
- Robotbeat 7y agoWe need to fire on all cylinders, here, to fight climate change. And as far as non-wind clean energy, there are literally zero options that are immune to NIMBYism like you're engaged in here. Not hydro, not geothermal, not even solar... And SURE as heck not nuclear.
- sverige 7y agoHave you invited the wind farmers to put a turbine on your acreage?
- Robotbeat 7y agoSvierge: I don't own the land yet (parents are still alive) and no one has approached us, but I absolutely would put wind turbines on it if there was an opportunity. My father and I have regularly discussed putting solar and wind and possibly some form of microhydro on the land at our own expense. We have planted trees on it.
- frank2 7y agoThose hills funnel the wind through the Livermore pass, where there have been wind turbines for decades
- sverige 7y agoSo all the available land suitable for wind turbines has been used? There's no more capacity?
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- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- j88439h84 7y agoHow do turbines affect people living nearby?