Green Group discussion

Does anyone know about wind turbines for producing electricity? This movie review by the great critic Roger Ebert expresses some doubt about their value:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/p...

I do not know anything about it. BUT I rarely believe any critic.....

It was the documentary that expressed the doubt. The critic was surprised at what he watched. He always thought they were a good thing.

I somehow missed this post originally. Thanks for sharing, I think this is worth discussion.

I'd been puzzled a while back driving through an area that's starting to get some turbines, seeing signs that asked "If wind energy is so clean, why are people getting sick?" or something to that effect. I thought it pretty silly at the time, like "gee, you think it might have something to do with the pesticide ridden agricultural land they're standing in?" I still think that's part of it, perhaps exacerbated in combination with wind pattern disturbances that make chemicals settle in different places. But I never visited the posted websites to hear their claims or what "sick" referred to in that context.

Jump forward, and I'm temporarily living in the top floor of an apartment complex with a giant AC unit on the roof with a booming rumble so deep it's barely audible, and (as Ebert said of the thrum-thrum-thrum of the turbines) it "seems to emanate from the very walls of your home." Therefore, the potential for disturbances in the body from low-frequency noise pollution resonates with me.

Areas of extreme pressure for some reason hadn't occurred to me, and bats can't be the only ones affected. In light of this (if it is true, I've yet to research the science of wind turbines) and the trend to cover large rural areas with them, it seems like we might be speeding forward recklessly. What effect will all these planned offshore wind farms have on already troubled seabird migration? Or life underwater? Do we know the answers? Do we know the questions?

It's starting to feel like the dam problem all over again. Hydroelectric is "clean" and "renewable" too, but on large scales, it quickly devastates ecosystems and human communities, and thus cannot be considered a "green" or "sustainable" solution. Not to mention when all the energy comes from a central source, be it coal plant or wind farm, it must be transmitted great distances, and loses energy (I forget the percentages) with each transformation, so that the amount that makes it to the outlet is a sad fraction of what was produced.


I'm just thinking aloud here...
Any thoughts out there?
Any suggested reading to relieve my ignorance?

Here's one story I found:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/hot-w...