Wind farm 'needs 700 times more land' than fracking site to produce same energy

[Locutus]

A wind farm requires 700 times more land to produce the same amount of energy as a fracking site, according to analysis by the energy department’s recently-departed chief scientific advisor.

Prof David MacKay, who stood down from the Government role at the end of July, published analysis putting shale gas extraction “in perspective”, showing it was far less intrusive on the landscape than wind or solar energy.

His intervention was welcomed by fracking groups, who are battling to win public support amid claims from green groups and other critics that shale gas extraction will require the “industrialisation” of the countryside.

Hundreds of anti-fracking protesters on Thursday occupied a field near Blackpool neighbouring a proposed fracking site for energy firm Cuadrilla.

Prof MacKay said that a shale gas site uses less land and “creates the least visual intrusion”, compared with a wind farm or solar farm capable of producing the equivalent amount of energy over 25 years.



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Wind farm 'needs 700 times more land than fracking site' - Telegraph

 

[damngrumpy]

I love it, its like going back to horses instead of tractors to not use fossil fuel.
Half the farms land mass is needed to grow food for the horse. The tractor
need a few gallons of fuel. green is the new cash cow and those spouting
its virtue are the pawns in a much bigger game I have no intention of playing

 

[JLM]

I love it, its like going back to horses instead of tractors to not use fossil fuel.
Half the farms land mass is needed to grow food for the horse. The tractor
need a few gallons of fuel. green is the new cash cow and those spouting
its virtue are the pawns in a much bigger game I have no intention of playing

While I am very aware of my sparse knowledge on the subject two things do occur to me not to denigrate fracking- one: wind turbines can be installed on land (mountain tops) that have no other use and two: the installation of wind turbines doesn't preclude the same land from other use.

 

[MHz]

That being cheaper all goes out the window as servicing them is insanely expensive

 

[taxslave]

WIndmills are not exactly free of environmental impact either. Just count the dead birds. That was even one of the reasons the good people of Quadra Island used in their protest of a wind farm that would be in their viewscape and possibly lower their property values. And the noise. Apparently windmills will keep people awake all day long.

 

[shadowshiv]

I love it, its like going back to horses instead of tractors to not use fossil fuel.
Half the farms land mass is needed to grow food for the horse. The tractor
need a few gallons of fuel. green is the new cash cow and those spouting
its virtue are the pawns in a much bigger game I have no intention of playing

Until you take a ride down the highway and see the freaking windmills everywhere. It's an eyesore, and it's not like we're reaping the profits from them (good ol' Ontario government can be thanked for that). Plus, like mentioned elsewhere it does affect wildlife, and a great number of birds are killed because of them. There have also been suggestions that the rotational "humming" causes a person's circulatory system to slow down (potentially causing health problems).


I really hate the wind farms around here. They don't do anything. And, they would have gone into Erieu (and wrecked the habitat there) had they been allowed, which they thankfully were not.

 

[JLM]

WIndmills are not exactly free of environmental impact either. Just count the dead birds. That was even one of the reasons the good people of Quadra Island used in their protest of a wind farm that would be in their viewscape and possibly lower their property values. And the noise. Apparently windmills will keep people awake all day long.

You generally get immune to noise after awhile, when I was a kid the train passed 50' from our house and we often never noticed it. When I was a young feller I worked in camps where they had generators, after a couple of days you never noticed the noise.

 

[taxslave]

You generally get immune to noise after awhile, when I was a kid the train passed 50' from our house and we often never noticed it. When I was a young feller I worked in camps where they had generators, after a couple of days you never noticed the noise.

The idle rich are not like us.

 

[JLM]

The idle rich are not like us.

Well then, they have a lot of time on their hands to lie awake at night!

 

[MHz]

WIndmills are not exactly free of environmental impact either. Just count the dead birds. That was even one of the reasons the good people of Quadra Island used in their protest of a wind farm that would be in their viewscape and possibly lower their property values. And the noise. Apparently windmills will keep people awake all day long.

From what I've heard it is the tips of the blades that get them as they are moving fast enough to become invisible. If they trailed some ribbon near the outer edges or painted striped on the blade that would make the tips visible again would it not. The ones at sea probably get a lot more birds than the ones on land.
Would this not also work with wind, rather than a huge mast holding up the genset and the prop a taller mast could be used and set a sail out to catch the wind and that wind could be directed at a much smaller prop that is close to the ground which would aid in servicing the generator itself. Sail-cloth today is good for 20 years on the open ocean.

Look at the 'view' and then look at you check from the utility company and tell me which one is the 'better view' (in that you can walk to the other side of the mast and the 'view' is still there. A house that is 'remote' sells better with power and no view than view but no power.
Not to point out the obvious but 'island' means water, moving water and that is a lot more consistent than than wind. If you need to light up Vegas there are ships around that do just that and when they fall apart they are taken away and a new one brought in.

 

[relic]

have any of you anti windfarm goomers ever been to one ? There's one up the road, I used to be watchperson, no dead birds. You arseholes need to stop believing everything big bro tells you.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

have any of you anti windfarm goomers ever been to one ? There's one up the road, I used to be watchperson, no dead birds. You arseholes need to stop believing everything big bro tells you.

Thanx for providing that thoroughly scientific observation. So you went to one once and did not see any dead birds. Obviously dead birds are a complete fabrication.

 

[coldstream]

I don't think it should be a surprise that so called 'clean' energy sources.. solar, wind.. are amongst the most inefficient and environmentally disruptive sources of power. The visual blight of wind farms.. with their grating noise pollution.. or solar farms, supplied by graphite strip mined in open pits.. are both hugely more expensive.. incurring massive maintenance and transmission costs.. and more ecologically destructive than that of concentrated thermal enegy or hydro-electricity.

More lies from the AGW Cult.