OHGODWHAT?

sneapy:

ohgodwat:

Along with the fact that the amount of energy produced is inconsistent, they’re unreliable, mess with birds and bats, look like utter shit and to top it off we can’t put them out when they catch fire as they’re too high for all our shit to reach, so we have to sit and watch them burn. Good. Fucking things.

1. They don’t mess with birds and bats, I did a literature review on this and the number of birds killed by wind turbines is practically non-existent compared to sky scrapers, cars and cats. Ok fair dos, there are not many wind turbines compared to sky scrapers, but it’s probs 1 bird killed a year on a small/medium wind farm compared to 100s on the A road next to it. They only cause a problem to birds if placed on a migratory route - like any sort of development, it needs to be placed appropriately where it will cause minimal effect. Even the RSPB are pro wind turbine as long as they are placed in areas that are not rare habitat/migratory routes.

2. A wind turbine catches fire - a nuclear power plant exploding would wipe out half of England. The waste takes 1,000s of years to disintegrate and if we all start using nuclear power we will eventually run out of uranium. What’s sustainable about that!?

3. If placed in an appropriate place (e.g. not a national park) they do not look like shit, NIMBYs say this! They are a hell of a lot nicer than a housing estate/sky scrapers. At least they don’t cause a concrete jungle. (JORDIE EDIT: NOT ALL SKY SCRAPERS HAVE TO BE POORLY DESIGNED CONCRETE TOWERS AND NOT ALL HOUSING ESTATES HAVE TO LOOK LIKE POST-WAR COUNCIL BUILDS JUST SAYIN’, BUT I LIKE THE REST OF IT)

Finally, any method of power will have it’s faults, I am not disagreeing there, but wind power seems to be the one with the least disastrous faults and the most sustainable. Of course, idealistically, a variety of renewable power methods would be best.   

My major issue with them is the money we waste on them. I mean you say they’re not perfect but goddamn they can be practically useless sometimes; if it’s too windy we have to shut them down because they’ll break, even then they can overcome the brakes and rip themselves to pieces. In a world where we have increasingly unpredictable weather, surely this is a bit silly? We need renewable energy sources that are predictable, things like anaerobic digesters, pump storage hydro-electric and tidal, things that are worth investing in. The uneducated masses see these great white monstrosities as our solution to the energy crisis when they aren’t. Maybe if we stopped with this wind and solar bullshit we could save some money and invest in some real renewable sources.

(Source: world-shaker, via architectureofhappiness)