WPG - Giant windmill eyed for Forks - Page 4

flatlander · #61 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 1:26 AM**

I've seen some different type of spinner around Pincher Creek and it was noisier than the St. Leon model. Maybe newer ones are quieter.

Marc B. · #62 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 1:29 AM**

From the Westman Energy website:

Quote:

How much noise do they generate?

The sound emanating from a turbine is a low and slow "swoosh" sound and new modern turbine designs have greatly reduced this sound. Today's large wind turbines make less noise (about 45 decibels-dB) than the background noise you hear in your own home (50 dB)! According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), an operating wind farm at a distance of about 750 to 1,000 feet is no noisier than a kitchen refrigerator.

http://www.westmanwindpower.com/community.html#q4

Only The Lonely.. · #63 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 2:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatlander

What are you talking about? I was standing in the middle of 63 of them and couldn't hear anything. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. They sure are more attractive than oil rigs.

It all comes down to whether you view a windmill as a piece of art or as a piece of infrastructure.

I guess another way of looking at it..

Is the Tokyo tower a piece of art worthy of being considered an architectural marvel, or is it just a huge radio broadcast tower that is blocking the view of the surrounding city?

I just can't find beauty in these sorts of things. Infrastructure is infrastructure, and it can't be made sexy.

Let's leave the windmills to the Dutch.

Only The Lonely.. · #64 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 2:10 AM**

Further to my earlier comment..

Here's a picture from a valley near Palm Springs, California.

Wouldn't you say that these windmills take away from the natural beauty of their setting?

Now why on earth would anybody want to have something like this set against our skyline?

1ajs · #65 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 2:25 AM**

aww i like the idea of having them in the peg thankyou very much.... my dad woulda put on up on the roof (small one) but theres a stupid bylaw from the 20
s or 30's saying ya can't have windmils within city limits wtf?

i have been to the windfarms east of L.A. ......... nice site may i say... also been to the ones south of the TCH in sask....

flatlander · #66 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 4:52 AM**

I guess perhaps its relative too. Is a wind turbine less attractive than a nuclear reactor, smokestack from a coal-fired generating plant or a hydro dam?

I used to dislike the Eiffel Tower too until i saw it in person. It's actually quite elegant (almost too elegant for my taste).

People used to criticize grain elevators and now they're icons. There's a certain beauty in functional simplicity. That's how my wife describes me anyway.

1ajs · #67 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 5:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatlander

I guess perhaps its relative too. Is a wind turbine less attractive than a nuclear reactor, smokestack from a coal-fired generating plant or a hydro dam?

I used to dislike the Eiffel Tower too until i saw it in person. It's actually quite elegant (almost too elegant for my taste).

People used to criticize grain elevators and now they're icons. There's a certain beauty in functional simplicity. That's how my wife describes me anyway.

lol

if we start with one and then start more windmill projects we could become a world leader........................... and put the netherlands to shame......

wags_in_the_peg · #68 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 11:34 AM**

build it - it will make a HUGE green statement for winnipeg. no worry about noise, its by 2 major bridges + a railroad track. it would be a great attraction for the forks for locals + tourists. when i stopped on hwy to see st leon ones, there was no fewer cars than 10 others. and this was in dead of winter after they had been there for over 1 year.

Archiseek · #69 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 12:03 PM**

I like windmills - they're an elegant moden engineering expression of an old technology - and I like that contrast between the natural environment and the man-made.

I've been to windfarms in Ireland on the tops of mountains, and the whooosh noise is pretty cool.

Andy6 · #70 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 12:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

build it - it will make a HUGE green statement for winnipeg. no worry about noise, its by 2 major bridges + a railroad track. it would be a great attraction for the forks for locals + tourists. when i stopped on hwy to see st leon ones, there was no fewer cars than 10 others. and this was in dead of winter after they had been there for over 1 year.

Maybe, but these things are popping up everywhere...they're not quite the novelty for most tourists that they seem to be for Winnipeggers.

LilZebra · #71 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 3:26 PM**

10 cars in St. Leon...

Is that the total population of that town?

LilZebra · #72 Posted **Mar 29, 2007, 3:28 PM**

I'd also like to see a windmill at Gimli beach, to blow away all those jetski users.

LilZebra · #73 Posted **Mar 30, 2007, 7:22 PM**

Wowzers, 3 pages of discussions about a WW (Winnipeg Windmill) and yet none of the Test Mill that someone said has been up since February 2007.

Amazing.

wags_in_the_peg · #74 Posted **Mar 30, 2007, 7:31 PM**

i see the test mill everyday, nothing too exciting to talk about

fengshui · #75 Posted **Mar 30, 2007, 7:55 PM**

The "test mill" is just a small computerized met station attached to a tall steel antenna-like structure. It's not an actual wind turbine. It sticks up well above the Main St. Bridge. Most people wouldn't notice it because the structure is quite slender.

Bison ghost · #76 Posted **May 3, 2007, 2:42 PM**

Hey Winnipeg! A wind turbine at the forks? Go for it!!! Just remember... in 10 years you will have 1 turbine out of the thousands planned for Manitoba, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ontario, etc, etc, etc.. Make a statement AND put a feather in the cap of big energy!!! Maybe we could build a hydro dam at the forks as well.

rrskylar · #77 Posted **May 3, 2007, 3:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bison ghost

Hey Winnipeg! A wind turbine at the forks? Go for it!!! Just remember... in 10 years you will have 1 turbine out of the thousands planned for Manitoba, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ontario, etc, etc, etc.. Make a statement AND put a feather in the cap of big energy!!! Maybe we could build a hydro dam at the forks as well.

Actually a wind turbine wouldn't be out of place (or anything else for that matter) at the Fork's, when they stuck a skate park, hotel , etc. and eliminated virtually all of the green space it once had it diminished what we once had there. Like I said before, the Forks I knew and loved died years ago!

dennis · #78 Posted **May 3, 2007, 5:41 PM**

Dp

dennis · #79 Posted **May 3, 2007, 5:45 PM**

^I disagree. The forks I knew years ago was relatively dead. Today its alive. However, I fail to see how a wind turbine will attract people to the forks. In a few years, it may be as much of an eyesore as a large radio transmitter antenna.

fengshui · #80 Posted **May 3, 2007, 6:03 PM**

The Forks has never been green space. It was a working industrial rail yard. It looks brown on all the older air photos. Only when it was developed as The Forks Market did there start to be some green space provided, but it was all landscaped by people, none of it was natural, except the riparian zone along the rivers.