Martin J. Pasqualetti

Opposing Wind Energy Landscapes: A Search for Common Cause

Although wind power is local, sustainable, affordable, and carbon free, mounting public opposition to the landscape changes it produces threatens its expansion. In an era when many countries are looking to renewable energy as an answer to questions about national security and the risks of climate change, it is important to explain the sources of this reaction. This article looks for similarities in public resistance to wind developments in four diverse settings: Palm Springs, California; Cape Cod, Massachusetts; the Isle of Lewis, Scotland; and Oaxaca State, Mexico. Despite the natural and cultural diversity among these places, there are five common threads in the opposition that has been experienced: immobility, the site specificity of the resource; immutability, an expectation of landscape permanence; solidarity, the close relationship between people and the land; imposition, a sense of marginalization; and place identity, a loss of security. Considering more deeply the relationship between land and life, in advance of the development of renewable energy resources, will help smooth the otherwise bumpy road toward a more sustainable future.

MORALITY, SPACE, AND THE POWER OF WIND-ENERGY LANDSCAPES

Most of us have not known—or cared—where our electricity comes from. Our attitude is changing, however, as we turn toward wind energy, now the fastest‐growing renewable energy resource in the world. Because we cannot extract and transport the raw energy of the wind, reaping its many environmental benefits requires that we cope with the landscape presence of its development wherever it occurs. Sometimes this interferes with the value of open space, and sometimes it may be close to subdivisions. It is the immobility and very visibility of wind power that makes its presence unavoidable. In that regard it cannot be hidden underground, stored in tanks, or moved by trains. It is an energy resource that reminds us that our electricity comes from somewhere. The more we wish to tap the power of the wind, the less we will be able to avoid the responsibilities that our demand for energy brings. This necessary bargain, first evident near Palm Springs, California, is now being experienced wherever wind power is being developed.

Wind Energy Landscapes: Society and Technology in the California Desert

There may be no more conspicuous example of a conflict between society and technology thana wind energy landscape. The fastest growing renewable energy resource in the world, wind energy has evoked a cool public response. Through the use of interviews, the published literature, governing legislation, and personal experience, this article examines this conflict near Palm Springs, California. Its purpose is to summarize and explain the opposition that developed there from the earliest days, what has been done to mitigate it, and how the local experience is reflected in similar developments elsewhere. This particular conflict between society and technology has the potential, with proper guidance, controls, and sensitivity, to diminish with time.

WIND POWER: Obstacles and Opportunities

Abstract Harnessed for centuries to pump water or mill grain, wind power now has tremendous potential as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, a means to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also to keep our daily lives running along. The trick is to find the right places to build the big, wind-catching turbines while continuing to garner public support.

Living with Wind Power in a Hostile Landscape

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses living with wind power in a hostile landscape. The environmental price of energy demand can be reduced by promoting improvements in energy efficiency. Public should be educated to a greater extent regarding the various connections between energy and environment. With world population growing at 80 million souls each year and energy demand rising at an even faster pace, humans have the power to overwhelm every natural buffer that is built into the biosphere. Although wind has been used for many centuries to propel ships, grind grain, and pump water, its use to generate electricity is more recent, beginning in earnest in the mid-1980s in three areas of California, including the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs, 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The success of wind power depends on how well the wind industry learns to incorporate the public into decisions, both for the opportunities this allows for broader dissemination of information about wind power, and for the suggestions the public can bring to the discussion about their concerns and how to accommodate them. The wind industry must minimize intrusion. They must also continue to refine turbine efficiency and design, improve spacing strategies and noise suppression, protect wildlife, and practice clean site maintenance and restoration when turbines are decommissioned.

A Landscape of Power

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of wind energy on landscape. Although it is emerging into the fastest-growing energy resource in the world, wind has also been labeled a competitor. Despite its several attributes, it has been dogged by the criticism that it interferes with aesthetic values, changes the surroundings for comfort, and transforms natural landscapes into landscapes of power. Although wind power has provided the motive force for centuries, its large-scale application to generate electricity has occurred only in the past two decades. During that period this use has spread most quickly in Europe and the United States. The World Watch Institute has identified wind power as the worlds most attractive renewable energy resource, and Greenpeace has launched a glitzy campaign to address global warming by encouraging the installation of thousands of wind turbines at sea off the coast of northern Europe. Denmarks energy minister Svend Auken announced at a global warming summit in Washington, D.C., that his small Scandinavian country would provide 50% of its electricity by 2030 with renewable energy, most of it from wind.

Geothermal energy and the environment: The global experience

The conflict between energy supply and the environment is one of the critical issues of our time, and geothermal energy, often touted as plentiful and environmentally benign, has received a measure of attention as one possible answer to the problem. Some environmental issues, however, have been encountered during the development of the worlds geothermal resources and these have had an impact on the speed of development. The environmental problems at each of the worlds geothermal generating stations are discussed in this paper.

Public reaction to wind development in California

SYNOPSIS Substantial controversy has been produced from the location of over 4000 wind turbines in San Gorgonio Pass, California. The principal point of controversy is the conflicting land use which results from developing wind power in a populated area. A public opinion survey was conducted which demonstrated that the vocal opposition to the wind turbines so commonly expressed is not borne out in fact. While there is indeed some opposition to the development of wind power at this site, particularly in terms of aesthetic degradation, the majority of respondents favoured the development. This level of approval will be of interest to those developing large wind projects elsewhere.

The Geography of Energy and the Wealth of the World

Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta. Michael Watts, ed. New York: Power House Books, 2010. 224 pp.

The Alberta oil sands from both sides of the border

39.95 (ISBN-13 978–1576875476). Encyclopedia of Energy. Cutler Cleveland, ed. New York: Elsevier Science, 2007. 5,376 pp.