Travel Blog

It is the classic conundrum. Everyone wants to conserve energy and become less dependent on oil from other countries. Our own country is the same with all of the pollution etc that goes along with oil, as long as it is not in my backyard. No one wants an oil refinery or a coal fired electrical generation plant too close to them . Now it is going to be those magnificent windmills that are receiving a negative vote.

You can pretty much locate a coal fired plant almost anywhere, so most of the time they locate them a long way from concentrations of the population. Not so with wind farms. You have to find a location that has a lot of wind, preferably stable and located on a higher hill or across the flat plains were the wind blows.  You can see them for miles and they really are something to watch. Those majestic wings or propellers sweeping around with little noise and interference.

Wind Farms Decrease Property Values

Well it turns out that they are contributing to a lowering of property values. Whether it is real or based on perception. Many people are coming to believe that they generate some sort of interference that can affect humans in a variety of ways. Some people complain of headaches and other ailments. Nothing has been proven as far as this writer knows in terms of the link between the windmills and these claims.

Many folks do not like the aesthetic view of a windmill in their back yard. They feel it spoils their view and want nothing to do with it. And then there are the people who feel that they harm the wildlife. We are not going to debate whether these things are real or not. What is important is that many people feel strongly about these windmills. They do not want them set up anywhere near their property. So much so that buyers are staying away from properties where windmills have been installed!

Compensation?

Should they be compensated for their loss? We need these windmills desperately if we are ever going to get away from nuclear power or coal and oil fired generating stations. Why should one group have to pay for this contribution and not another?  Maybe we can take a page from the people who arrange for dumps to be located in or near populous areas. There is a huge public relations job here for someone to deal with. They will help take us into the next era of power generation which does not include nuclear facilities. We do not need another catastrophe like the one in Japan.

Not in My BackYard

The writer wants to see more of these windmills and solar power sites as long as they are not in our backyard. We need to become independent of oil and nuclear based power generation. Typical, but that is the reality of many people. Weigh in with your comments!

For more thoughts about US politics, click here.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.