The film, which was an official selection at the Toronto Film Festival, shows both the pros and cons of living with turbines - from the noise to the positive environmental impact. However, what it highlights most is how the technology bitterly divides a community.
January 12, 2012 by Timon Singh in Inhabitat
We all know the impact of documentary films: Super Size Me changed how many people looked at McDonald's, The End of the Line warned of the threat of overfishing, and Grizzly Man taught us that wild grizzly bears are not to be messed with. Now a new film from Laura Israel is set to shine some light on what happens to a community when they bring wind turbines into their town.
To quote Windfall‘s official synopsis: "Wind power... it's sustainable ... it burns no fossil fuels...it produces no air pollution. What's more, it cuts down dependency on foreign oil. That's what the people of Meredith, in upstate New York first thought when a wind developer looked to supplement the rural farm town’s failing economy with a farm of their own — that of 40 industrial wind turbines.”
“Windfall documents how this proposal divides Meredith’s residents as they fight over the future of their community.
Read more: Could Laura Israel's New Film 'Windfall' Damage Wind Energy's Reputation? Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
5 comments:
Those of us who have followed Pandora's information and education stream for years know that commercial wind is a booddoggle. It's the corporate equivalent of a welfare mama with a dozen kids. For that reason alone it is enough to squash it like a pesky cockroach. But, what if one of these pinwheels was not a financial drag on the system? What if they actually could be a stand alone money maker and compete in the world's energy markets?
I like working backwards; I even read magazines and newspapers from back to front, too. This penchant for reverse gear is probably because I was a breech-birth. Regarding wind, I'd like to see an analysis by one of the WSJ energy guru types that works backwards on commercial wind. Start with our current energy markets and figure what it would take to compete. What are the competitive production costs? Using a current pinwheel standard 1.5 MW wind generator, consider the capacity factor, current installation costs, a 15-year payoff and reasonable profit.
When you are done tell us what we would have to pay for this 1.5MW non-boondoggle pinwheel. Then compare this cost with the current cost. How far off are the two costs, the boondoggle cost vs. the competitive cost? Then I'd like to see what would be the cheapest 1.5 MW pinwheel we could produce today - yeah, using child labor, prison labor, 50-cent/hr Asian workers coughing up a storm with their tobacco addiction.
In the end, if we are way off inspite of invoking off-the-table labor practices then we should give up. We should say for this day and this time wind energy is a practical joke and that its principle advantage is to provide corporate welfare. Perhaps in a future time when fossil fuel resources become strained and limited this analysis may change, but in the meantime we may have to abandon a dumb, non-competitive idea and find another way to produce jobs.
For those who are more concerned about climate change and CO2 production, buy compact fluorescent lighting. I once figured we could match NY's renewable energy goals for 2013 by replacing half the lighting in NY households with CFLs. Now that's a good idea!
Oops! I forgot to mention the CFL tradeoff was for commercial winds part of the 2013 renewable energy goal, not the entire renewable goal. BTW, most of the NY goal is produced by long-established hydro generation.
The story depicted in this movie is real not make believe it highlights a vast problem in this country. We are under siege by foreign developers and do not have a voice or a choice.
This injustice being committed is an assault on small town America destroying its rural character and tearing the fabric of communities’ apart family-by-family pitting neighbor against neighbor. Our story has been ignored by mainstream media and will go down in history as one of the most egregious assaults on the backbone of this once great nation.
Our Federal and State Representatives have been and are being derelict in their duties if not worse. We should all work together to replace them and get representation that has the good of the State, Country, and the people they represent at heart and their first priority.
7:24 AND 9:59 WELL SAID FOLKS !!! IT'S VERY CLEAR TO ME THAT THESE FOREIGN WIND COMPANIES ARE BUYING OFF OUR POLITICIANS!!! THESE POLITICIANS ARE EVEN MORE DANGEROUS THAN OUR OWN HOME GROWN BOOT JACK WIND THUG CARTEL MEMBERS, RIGHT HERE IN CAPE VINCENT !!!!!! BECAUSE OF OUR TWO BLOGS, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO I.D. THE WIND THUG FRIENDLY SUCK HOLE POLITICIANS, AND VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE ONCE AND FOR ALL !!!!!
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