Todd and I left San Francisco with one thing on our minds: "Vegas, baby!" But as we drove the long, hot, dry (did I mention long?) roads to Nevada, we got distracted by something shiny! wind turbines on a hill in the distance. So we tore off onto a service road and headed up the hill.
Turns out we were looking at the Altamont wind turbine farm, one of the oldest in the country. Located in the Diablo Range of San Joaquin Valley, Altamont has about 4,800 small turbines and a total capacity of 576 megawatts. Just to put that in perspective, one megawatt will serve 750-1,000 homes. Pretty impressive!
We took a shot of us (and our Prius), just to prove we were there:
Then, about five hours later, we passed another wind farm -- this one much more densely populated with turbines of varying sizes, including some giants! Below, a few images we took roadside:
The Wind Kids: How high school students helped bring a wind farm to Milford, Utah
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Biodiversivist Posted 3:16 pm
25 Sep 2008
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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kaibosworth Posted 12:52 am
26 Sep 2008
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Bob Wallace Posted 3:10 am
26 Sep 2008
http://eteam.ncpa.org/commentaries/altamont-pass-settleme ...
Killing birds is not a good thing. But we need to put this 'wind mills kill birds' thing into perspective.
Millions of birds are killed each year by cars and trucks.
Millions of birds are killed each year by flying into windows. At least three have died at my house this year.
That's how many actually bodies that I've found. I'm not counting the odd piles of feathers that I suspect came from window-kills which were eaten by foxes, etc. overnight.
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human power Posted 3:26 pm
26 Sep 2008
Come on, think outside of the steel wheelchair.
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amazingdrx Posted 3:37 pm
26 Sep 2008
How about some video interviews with neighbors who like wind. It might overcome some of the codger NIMBYism.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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amazingdrx Posted 3:40 pm
26 Sep 2008
Defeating the dumbass "bird kill" talking point.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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