Stretching the truth to the absolute extreme

It is -9, with the windchill it feels like -16. Ontario has 413mw of wind capacity. At 1pm the four wind-farms in Ontario are generating at 4.6%  of their rated capacity. Not too impressive.

When the Ontario govt. or the wind industry tell you that a wind farm has the capacity to power x number of homes they are stretching the truth to the absolute extreme. A wind farm has the capacity to power x number of homes only when it is running at maximum output. I have yet to see this happen.

As you can see 4.6% output is a very long way from 100% output.

The govt. plans to back up wind by building natural gas plants.

What is the most price sensitive fuel right now and into the future?

Natural gas.

This McGinty, Duncan policy is not only going to drive up electricity prices it will also cost thousands of manufacturing jobs.

It is time for every voter in Ontario to start asking some hard questions and demanding answers to the McGinty, Duncan energy policy.

This is without a doubt, the most flawed energy policy ever presented to the Ontario consumer.

Who will pay for this disaster.

YOU and your CHILDREN.

EPCOR is not responding to the public's concerns.

The wind industry and the govt. say that the windmills aren’t noisy and there is no stray voltage problem.  The wind industry and the govt. continue to ignore the problems caused by their poorly sited wind farms. The recommendations for setbacks in most of the world are now 2km. In Ashfield they are a mere 400 meters.

The people near the Epcor Kingsbridge 1 wind farm have been suffering from stray voltage, noise and flicker since the wind farm went into sevice last March. To date there has been no resoulution of any of the problems.

Another problem that has been brought to light by the people living in the wind farm is that the wildlife, deer, geese,ducks and other birds seem to have moved away from the area.

The wind industry and the govt. must think that if they keep saying that there are no problems, you the taxpayer will continue to believe them. To say that people are complaining for the sake of complaining or that they are complaining because that didn’t receive any money is, like the wind industry itself, ludicrous.

Epcor had the gall to ask for permission to go ahead with Kingsbridge 11 and then has the audacity to complain that they are being held up because of council.Below is an excerpt from the Lucknow Sentinel

Township asks EPCOR to address public’s concerns
By Sara Bender
Wednesday January 24, 2007

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Twp. council is not pleased that

EPCOR is not responding to the public’s concerns.
“EPCOR is not coming through with the information we have asked for,” said Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek, following council’s Jan. 16 meeting.

Van Diepenbeek said the public continues to address concerns to council of noise and of EPCOR not responding to their concerns. He said township resident Ross Brindley has also expressed concerns of stray voltage in his barn which he says were not there until after the wind turbines were built.
See this week’s Lucknow Sentinel for the full story…

Wind-power project goes quiet for now

From the editor – one pissed off liberal

Is the tide finally turning. The truth is starting to come out about the wind industry. It’s all about the money.

Enbridge has been found guilty of “criminal misconduct” by the Supreme Court for charging its Canadian customers late-payment penalties that exceeded permissible legal interest rate levels.

The Kincardine wind farm will be built and run by Enbridge.

Convicted criminals will control the wind farm, the pipelines bringing the gas and the back-up gas plants. No chance for abuse there.

The McGinty govt. is convinced you, the taxpayers of this province, are stupid.

Prove them wrong this October. Stand up and be counted.

Carol Mitchell MPP and Paul Steckle MP of Huron Bruce will pay for this at the next election. They have failed their constituents miserably and continue to do so by pushing, the soon to fail, Dwight Duncan energy policy.

Epcor should be forced to shut down the Kingsbridge I wind project immediately. Since it’s start-up in March of last year it has caused a multitude of problems for the people living near it. To date Epcor has not addressed any of those concerns.

None
not
One

To all those who are fighting so hard to bring reason and truth into this debate, don’t get discouraged.

In the end the truth will prevail.

Below is the story from the Star

Epcor Utilities Inc. has put on hold its planned Kingsbridge II wind-power project near Goderich and is taking a $20 million charge because of uncertainties in local and provincial approvals.

The energy company, owned by the City of Edmonton, said it is rethinking the 160-megawatt project planned for the south shore of Lake Huron and is ending arrangements with some suppliers.

The company plans to take up to $20 million in charges before tax on its books from its moves.

Epcor said it will continue to operate its Kingsbridge I wind project, which was commissioned last year.

thestar.com

Kincardine-Coldest day of the year

7pm temp in Kincardine Ontario is -15, windchill is -22 and we have 413 mw of wind capacity.

The wind farms, which are causing many problems for families living near them, are producing at 7pm, a grand total of 43 mw or 10.5% of their rated capacity.

Let us bow our heads and pray we never have to depend on the wind to keep us warm.

Is Enbridge a good Corporate Citizen

 Here in Canada, Enbridge has been found guilty of “criminal misconduct” by the Supreme Court for charging its Canadian customers late-payment penalties that exceeded permissible legal interest rate levels.

Enbridge first became the target of shareholder action in 2003 because of their potential involvement in death squads in Colombia. Colombia is in the midst of a brutal civil war, and security providers for Enbridge may have been associated with the Colombian paramilitaries. The allegation include the purchase of military equipment and passing “intelligence” on to death squads about “subversives” in communities through which the their OCENSA pipeline passes. (Enbridge is a major stakeholder in the pipeline.) 200 peasant families from one of these communities (Zaragosa) sued despite death threats and abject poverty, claiming that the pipeline had destroyed their lands.

Read more at

http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org

Wind Turbine Setbacks-UPDATE Sept.11 2007-

From the editor

Manitoba gets the first realistic setback in Canada. The people in Manitoba fought back and instead of a 500 meter setback they now have a more realistic 2000 meter from their property lines. In Ontario the setbacks are from the residence, not the property line, which makes the 450 meter setback in the Municipality of Kincardine and most other places even more ludicrous and unacceptable. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone everywhere to fight for their and their neighbors rights.

You don’t have to put up with this crap.

Rural Municipality of Cartier Manitoba
Some residents voiced their displeasure with the project at the public hearing. Rasmussen said most residents were concerned about the distance turbines would be located from property lines according to the zoning bylaw.

The bylaw passed first reading by a 5-1 council vote in June. Since then, set back guidelines for erecting the turbines changed from 500 metres from neighbouring property lines to 2,000 metres.

Read the rest of the story and get inspired

Riverside County-CALIFORNIA-Restrict the placement of wind turbines within 2 miles of residential development unless the applicant supplies documentation that the machine(s) will not produce low frequency impulsive noise.

Turbines too close to homes-Ms. Lucas, speaking for the Guardians, told the hearing commissioners that the 70 wind turbines proposed for the hills southwest of Makara, each 125 meters tall, were too large to put within two kilometers of any residence. International research showed it was “general protocol” to allow a 2km buffer, even with smaller turbines.

In NZ there were no consented wind energy developments with more than a handful of houses closer than 2km. (Source-Walkato Times)

Australia-To avoid adverse noise impacts on the amenity of the surrounding community, wind farm developments should include sufficient buffers or setbacks to noise sensitive premises. As a guide, the distance between the nearest turbine and a noise sensitive building not associated with the wind farm is to be 1km. These guidelines provide that wind farm developments should be constructed and designed to ensure that noise generated will not exceed 5dB(A) above the background sound level or 35dB(A) using a 10-minute L_{A eq}, whichever is greater, at surrounding noise-sensitive premises. (Source-Guidelines for Wind Farm Development, Planning Bulletin, Western Australia)

Australia-Wind Farm Under Scrutiny. The Myponga/Sellicks Hill wind farm will be scrutinized after claims that developer TrustPower plans to move seven of the turbines within one kilometer of dwellings. (Source-The Times)

(1600 metres in Germany, 1800 metres in Holland).

It was Alves-Pereira’s initial research, published in numerous scientific journals, which prompted the French National Academy of Medicine, earlier this month (March 2006), to call on the French government to stop all wind turbine construction within 1.5 km of people’s homes. You should understand that VAD is well established in the clinical literature; it is not conjectured. It has been amply documented and is readily detected by a variety of diagnostic tests.

What’s wrong with Ontario Canada!

First, the relatively small size of private land parcels in Ontario will present a challenge for developers due to the number of stakeholders that may perceive impacts. Windpark development may become uneconomical if municipal setbacks created to address these “perceived” concerns reduce the usable land area, thus eliminating the economics of scale necessary to develop a project.*
*14c) The Industry does not recommend that a set of standard bylaws be adopted with respect to setbacks or other municipal zoning issues.*

*”The above can be understood to mean, that if “safe setbacks” are mandated, it will make it uneconomical to site wind farms in Southern Ontario”

Setbacks in Ashfield township 400 meters

Setbacks in Municipality of Kincardine 350 meters

“Ontario’s strict sound guidelines ensure that turbines are located far enough away from residences .” What Ontario guidelines? Every municipality is left to figure it out for themselves. Chatham Kent: 300 m, Amherstburg 600 m.

Meanwhile worldwide, in countries that have learned from their mistakes, these distances are increasing due to health, quality of life and safety issues (1600 metres in Germany, 1800 metres in Holland).

You should make people aware, Mr. Hornung that CanWEA is lobbying to remove setbacks altogether in southwestern Ontario due to the small land parcels.

 

Is the Ont. govt. ignoring health issues and the right of property enjoyment for economies of scale. That’s what it sounds like to me. The wind industry is always using the term “perceived” concerns. The concerns that people have are real not “perceived”.

Dalton and Duncan need a reality check. The rights of the people of Ont. are far more important than a bunch of useless windmills.

Germany has more windmills than anyone else. They are building 8 new coal plants because wind isn’t working for them. The Danes don’t want them either, their govt. is forcing them on their people. Why? They have 30.000 people working in the industry.

“We simply cannot continue to lead the world in the field of wind-power technology if we don’t even make room for wind parks in our own country,” Connie Hedegaard, the environment minister for Denmark said“.

Dalton and Dwight or Dumb and Dumber you be the judge

 

Wind farm videos from the UK and Australia

If you don’t want your countryside littered with wind turbines I suggest you get active and start writing and calling your respective Representatives.

Don’t call Carol Mitchell MPP for Huron Bruce.
She thinks wind turbines are majestic.

Enjoy the videos

WindTurbinesareComing-UK.wmv

LivingNextDoortoaWindFarm,Australia.wmv

Reliability of wind power

Today is one of the coldest days of the year.

Ontario has 413mw of installed wind energy.

At 1pm today the four working wind farms in Ontario are producing a grand total of 14mw.

That is a whooping 3.39% of their rated capacity.

Now, if we needed that 413mw we would be screwed.

413mw of base power gives you 413mw that can be called upon when needed. That is real power

Wind gives you 0 to a possible 413mw but not when you want or need it.

That is a major flaw.

You still have to build and pay for the base power.

Can wind even be considered power?

If it can’t be relied upon when needed what good is it?

I think it’s just bad politics.

What do you think?

Electricity planning must be given back to the engineers

The framework of subsidies constructed and empowered in order to encourage development of supplementary electricity generation (it is no more than that) by wind power has become the target for every entrepreneur in the field. Wind power is now so wildly oversubsidised that the overall driver has become excessive private profits, not the real needs of the electricity demand pattern.

 

 

September  4, 2006 by Alan Shaw, Aylsham, Norwich. in The Herald

Thomas McLaughlin (August 31) has summarised perfectly the total loss of plot by both the government and the UK environmental movement generally. The framework of subsidies constructed and empowered in order to encourage development of supplementary electricity generation (it is no more than that) by wind power has become the target for every entrepreneur in the field. Wind power is now so wildly oversubsidised that the overall driver has become excessive private profits, not the real needs of the electricity demand pattern.

In introducing the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Inquiry into Energy Issues for Scotland two years ago Professor Maxwell Irvine commented: “Energy is an emotive subject and too important to become a party political issue.” It was a perceptive warning.

But it has long since been made a party political issue by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and their fellow travellers. Politicians of every hue have adopted energy as a vote-catching issue without a trace of the complex engineering understanding necessary to formulate sound judgments.
Thomas McLaughlin is absolutely correct in equating the present-day environmental movement with the Cambridge spy ring. To the UK electricity supply industry, it is the present-day equivalent of the Spanish Civil War’s Third Column. British politicians must wake up, shake themselves free and pass such matters back to the objective professional engineers who alone understand the economic and technical issues.

Dion touts clean coal for power

Dion touts clean coal for power TheStar.com – News – Dion touts clean coal for power

Provincial Liberals favour nuclear power, but federal leader fears waste disposal a problem

January 17, 2007

Rob Ferguson
Queen’s Park Bureau
Nuclear power is an iffy proposition for Canada because the issue of how to handle waste that remains radioactive for thousands of years has not been properly dealt with, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said yesterday.

“As long as I’m not able to look Canadians in the eyes and to say, `I’m comfortable with the waste,’ I will not recommend it,” Dion, elected leader last month on an environmental platform, said after a breakfast speech to a Bay Street crowd.

It’s also time to look at clean coal as a solution to meeting electricity needs while reducing harmful emissions blamed for global warming, Dion told a business audience in what was billed as his first major speech as head of the federal party.

“I think there are cleaner coal possibilities, we need to go there to invest in it and to be a champion in the world,” said Dion, noting university researchers in Saskatchewan and Alberta are looking into the potential.

The remarks appeared to put him at odds with his Liberal cousins in the Ontario government, who are preparing to build more nuclear power plants and hoping to phase out coal-fired power plants to meet the twin challenges of fast-growing electricity needs and increasing smog.

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