Wind Turbines

I was reading the other day about the wind farm they are trying to build on Nantucket Sound and I found some of the information and the problems they are facing very interesting. A Massachusetts energy company is trying to build 130 wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod. They are proposing to build the towers over five miles from the closest shore, and the proposed towers will be able to provide 75% of Cape Cod’s electricity. This is a project that had a proposed completion date of 2010but because of problem after problem they have yet to even complete the permitting stages of the project. One of the main arguments against building Cape Wind is that some say it will ruin Cape Cod’s view. Many people have huge expensive houses and are concerned that the view of the windmills will degrade their multimillion dollar homes. The windmills from the closest shore will only be visible 1/2 an inch above the horizon on a very clear day. Below there is a visual stimulation of what the views will be on a clear day. As you can see the windmills are visible, but not so visible as to ruin a view.
This picture is a stimulation of a view from Cotuit which is 5.6 miles away.



This is a stimulation of a view from Nantucket which is 13.8 miles away.



There have been many other arguments against building the wind turbines and they range from spiritual to the degradation of the marine ecosystem. One of the things that people who are against this project need to think about is that wind turbines are not the perfect solution to our energy problems. However, we depend on oil for so many aspects of our everyday lives. Not only is oil running out, but our country is in so much debt from buying oil and people are dying while fighting for the oil that we have come to depend on. We need to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and clean up our environment. Windmills give us an opportunity to start to do both. It is not a perfect solution, as windmills have been shown to be hazardous to birds and other animals. However I do not believe they are more hazardous overall than the oil we use every day. Windmills would give us a way to start to lessen our dependence on oil, and I think that it is an idea that needs to be considered with a more open mind.
Source: http://www.capewind.org/index.php