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Comment by Escapado | Hacker News Reader

I live in Germany and I am in the camp of those who believe that paying for pretty clean and sustainable energy source with having a couple of turbines installed and "ruining" the view of some places is worth it (as long as it is planned with at least some degree of care). But of course a lot of it is nimbyism as support for renewables and clean sources or energy is rather high.

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And that's even if you believe the view is ruined by windmills. Personally I don't mind seeing them at all, but there have been protests here against installing them off the beach. By now that windmill park is complete and all you can see from the beach is some toothpicks on the horizon on an exceptionally clear day.

I really wonder what causes this split among people, why do some people not mind at all and other people mind so much when they are looking at the same things.

I wondered the same thing. In Massachusetts there were protests that help scuttle the cape wind project.. Wealthy opponents (Koch/kenedey et al) litigated it to failure, after raising 40 million to “protect Nantucket sound”

Plus Massachusetts. (generally has trouble getting anything done.)

[1]https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1462962/cape-wind-r...

The biggest problem with nearby wind turbines is not the view but the _noise_. They make an extremely annoying continuous whumping sound.

Source: am a big fan of renewables, don't mind seeing windmills, but know and visit 'green' people who live near them. Nobody near them loves them, no matter how 'green' they aspire to be.

Of course, offshore makes the whole sound problem go away. I've seen plenty of near-shore farms, big stacks of the things laid out in a grid, and they are not even bad looking.

I normally love how they look. However, I specifically remember one time when I went to Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia, and I actually disliked what they did to the view in the area. I do believe we should look at them as development. Areas like national parks or reserves should be off limits to any sort of development, to include wind turbines.

Newspaper had an article about a couple having their home in the shadow of a huge windmill. Basically, every time it turns 1/3th, a huge shadow falls over everything. light - dark - light - dark. That would drive anybody nuts.

The law requires the windmills to be build at least 200m from homes, but in this case, the law was simply ignored and a permit was given, to reach some green target.

The windmill owner suggested they sell their house (to who?) and move.

I completely sympathize with those people and as you stated the law was broken and I think the proper law should be enforced. Yet, from what I gather people are still on the fence even if all laws are considered properly because even with the windmills 3 miles away they will hate on them.

Uhhh. Sorry but I am having a very difficult to time believing this. If it were true, the windmill and permitting jurisdiction are looking at a huge lawsuit that they cannot win. Please provide a link or citation to this newspaper article.

Kinda hard. It was a (paper)newspaper abandoned on a train.

But there are plenty comparable situations. Here an article from a family living in a situation allowed by law: at most 30h per year in the shadow which turns out to be 30 minutes per day while they are eating. They made a youtube movie.

https://m.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20120601_00170047

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OMO4Mf2mJyM

If you ever stood close to such a huge windmill, you might have realized that they are actually pretty loud. Even if you're inside a house, there is a constant noise from these windmills, day and night. I understand that they are necessary to meet the goals for renewable energy production, but I see the point of the residents living close to them.

I've stood right under a big one on a reasonably windy day and my shock was at how quiet it was.

I wonder if older ones were louder?

Yeah, older ones had some issues with the blade geometry iirc which caused a fairly penetrating "Wump" noise which people complained about. There's a big one in the town I live in, and people were complaining that the low frequency noise it was generating was impacting quality of life.

I presume that's something which has been optimised away with newer designs?

I find this very difficult to believe. I have been very close (~100 ft) to a "huge" windmill. I did not find it loud in any way at all.

Being as generous as possible to the claim (although I agree it’s probably bollocks) — being near a turbine turning means you’re also in a windy environment, which would drown out lower power sounds while you’re outside. Inside, that masking sound is absent, and a lower-power sound might be perceptible. Maybe.

"having a couple of turbines installed"

It's not 'a couple' it's a considerable amount of them, and though you might not mind, it's not entirely unreasonable that those who live in those communities might mind.

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