The Trouble With Wind Power

For many people the idea of a future where energy is generated from the wind through the use of wind turbines is a promising hope and maybe a saving grace for the environment and mankind. It would be great if it could work but consider some of the drawbacks: Some residents in the Midwest who currently live near wind farms that have been established to generate power have been complaining about the loud noise that emanates from the motors on the wind turbines. In order for a turbine to maximize it's potential for generating electrical power it has to have its propellers facing the wind. They have motors built into them to turn the entire head of the turbine into the wind to do this every time there is a change in the wind direction. When the motors kick in to turn the propellers they generate a piercing noise that can be heard from long distances and nearby residents often complain. Another complaint is the so called "Flashing" effect that occurs when a turbines propellers are turning and they are in the sunlight. They tend to block out the sun for a brief moment with their blades as they rotate and this repeated effect causes the sunset to flash in the windows of homeowners living nearby. It's kind of a flickering effect instead of a steady sunlight hitting your window in the late afternoon and evening hours. Many people simply do not like the aesthetics of having dozens of wind turbines spinning in a wind farm. Home owners close by feel that it can be a blight and reduce the values of their properties and are therefore opposed to them. Wind turbines only begin to generate electrical power when the wind is spinning the propellers of the turbines in excess of 10 m.p.h. Any less wind speed and no power is generated. Obviously they do not even spin when the wind is not blowing at all which poses a problem in terms of having a consistent, reliable source of power. When a wind turbine is installed in the ground it has to be supported by a base of cement in order to hold it's entire weight securely. You can't just stick it into the dirt because it would likely tip over due to the fact that the ground underneath it would shift. These slabs of concrete that must be built as a base for a wind turbine require earth movers in order to establish a hole in the ground deep enough before the concrete is poured in and allowed to dry. The large amounts of cement that have to be mixed and manufactured to put in wind turbines is also damaging to the environment due to the many steps involved in the process and the amount of energy required to produce concrete. It is a heavy industrial process which requires a lot of energy and generates a lot of heat and adds to the general global warming problem worldwide.