If you’ve driven to Sydney lately, you would have seen the dozens of wind generators on the hills behind Lake George.
Over the last few months, they have been increasing and at last count I reckon there were around 60 of them. (63 to be exact)
Knicked from toaf on Flickr
These turbines have yet to start spinning, but when they do, they will generate 2.1 Megawatts of power each (132 MW of power in total), and it is estimated that in their 25 years of service, they will produce clean energy for up to 90,000 homes.
Not bad hey?
Unsurprisingly a large number of locals are upset about the interruption to their peaceful existances as well as the ‘shadow flicker’ and noise that will be generated by these 124m tall monstrosities.
Maybe they should be built on the water, like these beauties off the coast of England.
Offshore wind farm off the coast of England
For me and the majority of people, we won’t care about this as we rumble along the Federal Highway at 120km/h.
And to be honest? The complaints of a few will never amount to anything, especially when clean energy is something that we ALL need.
These massive windmills are somehow peaceful and powerful at the same time.
Personally I would rather see a solar panel farm built in central Australia that could power our whole country. Apparently, it would take solar panels 50km by 50km (imagine a straight line from Queanbeyan to Braidwood as a square)
..to power the whole of Australia. (and solar panels the size of Victoria to power the whole world)
Maybe we should just wipe out Bundengore and Braidwood all together and buildd a solar panel farm to power our country. (although building it in the Kimberley’s would probably work a lot better, in regards to that sunlight stuff that is needed)
Isn’t solar energy, the technology that should be investigated and invested in as soon as possible?
Until the time we can run our laptops, fridges, LCD TV’s and Electric cars off renewble energy, there is nothing much else that anyone should be focussing on…
But for now, enjoy this whack cartoon from xkcd.
2 Blog or not 2 Blog 
April 9th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Never seen em in water like that, cool idea, then no silly bastard can whinge! 😀
April 14th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
As someone who lives with them on the horizon, I think they’re beautiful.
I heard during a podcast last year that if the roofs of Australian homes were covered in solar cells, we’d have three times the electricity needed for the whole world. In other words – the solution is out there, we just need to take the decisions necessary.
April 17th, 2009 at 1:49 am
It’s coming up to twelve months since I last went to Sydney … what a crime. So, haven’t noticed any wind farms.
I don’t really get the objection to wind turbines, though (admittedly, I’ve never seen one up close; how noisy can they be, really?). I can’t imagine classifying them as an eyesore — to me, they’re beautiful things, from the wind pumps in the Outback to the big stone thingies Don Quixote tried to joust with to the modern wind turbine … simply gorgeous (the wonderfully atmospheric photo of the offshore farm you post reinforces the windmills-are-lovely view to Epic Win levels, too).
So, what’s the deal with the NIMBY chaps and chapettes? First of all, why not in your backyard? I wouldn’t mind ’em in mine. Secondly, don’t be so bloody selfish — your country needs these beauties. And finally … come to think of it … why do they have to be in anyone‘s backyard? There must be dozens of suitable sites in Australia windy enough for operation, close enough for maintenance, and yet far enough away that even Davy Crockett couldn’t complain. Of all the countries struggling with the question of alternative energy, it’s hard to think of anyone who has it easier than us here in Godzone.
December 15th, 2014 at 1:54 pm
We need more ingithss like this in this thread.