[pf] Fw: windturbines on urban _edge_ generate heat from neighbors

· This San Jose Mercury News article contains:
  “A new state law will make it a breeze to erect more of the slender,
silver towers, which advocates say provide a safe, non-polluting source of
renewable power. Prompted by California's recent energy woes, Gov. Gray
Davis signed a law last month that requires local governments to allow
personal-use windmills at least 65 feet tall on one-acre lots or larger,
outside ``urbanized'' areas. Previously, each jurisdiction could decide
whether to issue a permit.  The state will even rebate half the $45,000
cost, just as it does for solar panels, which cost twice as much. Advocates
hope windmills will become as commonplace as satellite dishes outside
densely populated cities. *Target* stores already have a 30-foot version
available online.
  Although windmills are required to be quieter than a vacuum cleaner,
protests about noise and unsightliness have already begun trickling in.

`Urbanized' defined
  Windmills also won't turn up in downtown San Jose, Oakland or most large
suburbs. The state used the U.S. Census Bureau's definition of
``urbanized,'' which essentially means areas with 500 to 1,000 people per
square mile. The bureau will publish detailed maps in the spring showing
which parts of the state it considers urban.
  But that leaves plenty of unincorporated areas on the edge of suburbs
throughout the Bay Area and in small towns across the state.”

 “Promoted by Oklahoma windmill manufacturer Bergey Windpower, the bill was
sponsored by Assemblyman John Longville, D-San Bernardino, and backed by
the California Energy Commission. Audubon California supported the bill,
because it says smaller windmills don't chew up birds, unlike the huge
turbines on wind farms. The League of California Cities and Solano County
opposed it.
  Longville said he supported the bill because he'd heard homeowners and
businesses had been having a hard time getting permits.

``We really need to take advantage of the free power God gives us every
day,'' Longville said. ``Personally, I don't see a problem even if they
were in city. There are tons of things in cities that are less attractive,
like litter.''
... Nelson, a genial captain for the area fire department, said he's
distressed by Warmerdam's reaction but has no intention of taking the
money-saving windmill down. 
  Nelson's electric bill was only $48 last month, down from a high of $248
the year before. He air-conditions his 3,100-square-foot house in September
and filters his pool. The windmill cost him only $22,000 because he erected
it himself, and with the state rebate, he expects it to pay for itself in
seven to 10 years. 
  Mike Bergey, whose company manufactures the windmills, said many
innovations have been greeted with resistance. When cars were introduced,
some cities even required a flagman to walk ahead of the car to warn that
it was coming, he said.”

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Yesterday, at 11:34 20/11/2001 +1300, I sent:
>At 14:55 19/11/2001 -0500, Tom Gray of the Am. Wind Energy Assoc sent {at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awea-wind-home/message/6180 } :-
>Subject: [a-w-h] U.S. Small Wind Issues
> ...
>   Two actions taken last month highlight a major barrier to the use of
small wind turbines; the permitting process. The first in California offers
great promise, with a new state law designed to ease permitting
requirements for small wind systems. ...
>
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At 14:19 20/11/2001 -0500, Mike Bergey forwarded to the [a-w-h] list {at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awea-wind-home/message/6187 } :-

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/windmill20.htm
  which is:
{ Published Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News }

Wind turbines on urban edge generate heat from neighbors

BY TRACEY KAPLAN [mailto:tkaplan@sjmercury.com]
Mercury News 

Propelled by California's energy crisis, windmills are making a comeback in
the state's hinterlands. But they're also stirring up neighborhood
conflicts on the edges of growing suburbs, as six- to eight-story towers
sprout above ranch houses and swimming pools.

``What you come home to is an airplane whirling above your head,'' said Al
Warmerdam, a Tracy resident whose neighbor built a 100-foot-tall windmill
this summer, 10 feet from his property line. ``It's a total invasion.'' 

A new state law will make it a breeze to erect more of the slender, silver
towers, which advocates say provide a safe, non-polluting source of
renewable power. Prompted by the state's recent energy woes, Gov. Gray
Davis signed a law last month that requires local governments to allow
personal-use windmills at least 65 feet tall on one-acre lots or larger,
outside ``urbanized'' areas. Previously, each jurisdiction could decide
whether to issue a permit.

The state will even rebate half the $45,000 cost, just as it does for solar
panels, which cost twice as much. Advocates hope windmills will become as
commonplace as satellite dishes outside densely populated cities. Target
stores already have a 30-foot version available online.

Although windmills are required to be quieter than a vacuum cleaner,
protests about noise and unsightliness have already begun trickling in.

``This will become a hot political issue on the edge of nearly every region
in California,'' said Peter Detwiler, a staff consultant to the state
Senate Local Government Committee, whose analysis of the law includes a
section called ``Blame Sacramento.''

The law expires July 1, 2005. It bans windmills along scenic highways, the
Pacific coast and San Francisco Bay, as well as in parks, the Lake Tahoe
area and farmland that will be preserved as future open space. 


`Urbanized' defined

Windmills also won't turn up in downtown San Jose, Oakland or most large
suburbs. The state used the U.S. Census Bureau's definition of
``urbanized,'' which essentially means areas with 500 to 1,000 people per
square mile. The bureau will publish detailed maps in the spring showing
which parts of the state it considers urban.

But that leaves plenty of unincorporated areas on the edge of suburbs
throughout the Bay Area and in small towns across the state.

The 10-kilowatt windmills are a third as tall as and don't resemble those
on the Altamont Pass off Interstate 580 east of Livermore. Instead of
sitting atop straight poles, a turbine with three blades is attached to a
lattice tower that some claim looks like the Eiffel Tower. The law sets a
minimum height of 65 feet because the strongest winds blow up high.

The windmill works by feeding power into the grid through a two-way meter.
Utility companies would track how much power is generated and bill
households only for the amount they draw from the grid. At the end of the
year, remaining power belongs to the utility companies.


Proponents, opponents

Promoted by Oklahoma windmill manufacturer Bergey Windpower, the bill was
sponsored by Assemblyman John Longville, D-San Bernardino, and backed by
the California Energy Commission. Audubon California supported the bill,
because it says smaller windmills don't chew up birds, unlike the huge
turbines on wind farms. The League of California Cities and Solano County
opposed it.

Longville said he supported the bill because he'd heard homeowners and
businesses had been having a hard time getting permits.

``We really need to take advantage of the free power God gives us every
day,'' Longville said. ``Personally, I don't see a problem even if they
were in city. There are tons of things in cities that are less attractive,
like litter.''

On the flat floor of the Central Valley near Tracy, Steve Nelson's windmill
is visible long before you reach the bedroom community of ranchettes.

``My wife's joke is, when it's not windy, it's abstract art,'' Nelson said.

But it's no laughing matter to his neighbor, Warmerdam, who had his lawyer
send Nelson a letter demanding the windmill be removed. Nelson, a genial
captain for the area fire department, said he's distressed by Warmerdam's
reaction but has no intention of taking the money-saving windmill down. 

Nelson's electric bill was only $48 last month, down from a high of $248
the year before. He air-conditions his 3,100-square-foot house in September
and filters his pool. The windmill cost him only $22,000 because he erected
it himself, and with the state rebate, he expects it to pay for itself in
seven to 10 years. 

``My theory is PG&E won't get any better,'' Nelson said, ``and I want to
retire in five years.''

Mike Bergey, whose company manufactures the windmills, said many
innovations have been greeted with resistance. When cars were introduced,
some cities even required a flagman to walk ahead of the car to warn that
it was coming, he said. 

``People think they're going to kill every bird in the county, sound like
an airplane and look as ugly as a telecommunications tower,'' Bergey said.
``But go back and talk to people a year or year and a half from now, they
just get used to them; that's our experience.''

Bergey is counting on California's pro-environment bent. In the
traditionally liberal Santa Cruz Mountains area, when engineer Larry
Gilliam put up an 80-foot windmill on his six-acre property, only one
distant neighbor called to protest. He thought it was an oil derrick but
was somewhat appeased after learning it was a windmill.

``I completely understand when people look at it and say it's not part of
nature out here,'' Gilliam said. ``When I look at it, I see the beauty of
something that is reducing pollution and reliance on foreign oil and makes
America more independent.''

The League of California Cities objected to the bill because it will put
windmills in spots that are isolated now but could be near housing tracts
later. 

``The problem is, with California's growth, today something may be a barn,
but tomorrow it may be a subdivision,'' said Dan Carrigg, the league's
analyst on the issue. 


Conflict in Sonoma

On the edge of Sonoma, residents who live in a housing tract across the
street from five-acre lots have appealed a county zoning board's decision
to allow an 80-foot tower. 

``What happens if you have multitudes of these all over the edge of town?''
asked Charlie Purdom, a marketing manager who lives nearby. ``What is this
now going to become, Altamont Pass?''

Not likely, if only because of the initial cost. But 173 are being built in
the state, the California Energy Commission said. 

Said Bergey salesman John Stalcup: ``We've got them over a turbine.''

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Tracey Kaplan at tkaplan@sjmercury.com or (408) 278-3482.

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sent-on by David.
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://davd.tripod.com/GrRR-011109_titles.html#top
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
***********************************************

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