On my drive back from Texas I traveled along Highway 287. This is a pretty desolate stretch of road with seemingly endless miles of brown, dry prairie grass brought on by the severe drought. I was struck by the wind turbines against the blue skies and the open land so I had to stop. And, yes the wind was blowing. We are seeing more of these farms along the eastern plains of Colorado. This one is called the Lamar Wind Farm and is the largest in Colorado. It utilizes 108 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines. It resides on an 11,000 acre cattle ranch and only uses 2% of the land. So, each turbine takes up about one cow. I did not count them but will go with what the website says.
8 Comments
Paul
Well, Monte, it is Texas! 🙂 I remember seeing wind farms when I went to California, near Tehachapi. It was rather mesmerizing as there were so many of them and they were all in motion. I stopped along the side of the road, got out of my car to listen, and could hear them swooshing through the air.
Monte Stevens
Even though they are an alternate to fossil fuel they have a negative impact. However, their footprint is much smaller to me. Some people worry about the harm these turbines have on birds.
Tom Dills
A lot of people would probably disagree with me, but I happen to think that wind farms are beautiful. I’d much rather have several hundred of those towers in my view than a nuclear or coal plant. As far as the birds, I think they are far smarter than we give them credit for and make a convenient excuse for those who oppose the turbines. Besides, how much harm would the birds have from a conventional power plant?
Glad to see you back on the blog, Monte!
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Tom. I was upset the first time I saw them out at the Pawnee Grasslands, because they took away the view we used to have out there. I’m okay with it now and much prefer to see them instead of an oil pumper.
Cedric Canard
I saw a lot of these around San Francisco, all along the ridges of hills. I can’t say I mind them. As others have pointed out they are better than some of the alternatives.
Monte Stevens
I like them as alternatives because fossil fuels are not our only answer.
Mark
I really like the different size perspectives in this photo Monte. Indeed, wind is not without quite a few negative side effects. I don’t mind them so much on the landscape either visually, but they do indeed have impacts on birds, especially larger raptors, eagles, etc. I also read recently about how some animals that live around them have developed mental issues. I am not sure if it is from the vibrations, electrical fields, etc. Just goes to show that our footprint on this planet can never be 100% negligible.
Monte Stevens
Too many do know the size of our footprint on nature. This latte I’m enjoying this morning has a larger footprint on nature than many people suspect. Even the manufacturing of this little tablet I’m on has a certain impact on resources. Our industrialiced world has changed our impact in large numbers. And, the waste we create is another story by itself.
We don’t know all our impact until later on, after the damage has been done.