Check out this story of two couples complaining about the whoosh sound of wind turbines recently installed on Vinalhaven, an island off Maine (click on headline): For Those Near, the Miserable Hum of Clean Energy
I love the 345 reader comments that follow the article. They run the gamut of opinions, but most suggest the buzz of local clean energy is a tolerable and necessary cost. I also like this use of the newspaper as a forum for input. (Two of my favorite comments are at the end of this post.)
In July, I sat under these turbines for an afternoon. They emitted a low machine hum and a breezy whoosh. ‘Hard to believe they can be heard half a mile away, but I can imagine it’s a new background vibration. Perhaps these complainers are lobbying for a settlement check or a home buyout by the electric cooperative (a few nearby homes were purchased before the project was installed).
Here’s a link to my photos of my afternoon at Vinalhaven’s wind turbines. Photos
Read Richard Podolsky’s comments at #45 (copied below).
I was on the island under the turbines when this NYT reporter and photographer visited the site. The Boston Globe had been out the week before and wrote a similarly one-sided piece. I politely suggested that they not let their coverage of the incredible success story of the wind power project on Vinalhaven get hijacked by a few folks that have convinced themselves that they are unhappy. I told him the real story on the island is the elderly folks and veterans of 5 wars living on fixed incomes that no longer have to worry about their electric bills skyrocketing and forcing them to move to the mainland.Obviously, he did not tell their story!
I so wish someone would come up here and really cover this important and ground-breaking community wind project. Be aware that it would mean spending some real time and talking to a lot of people. Not blasting up here, finding one whiner, spending a NY minute with them, and leaving thinking you have the story….