Are wind turbines ugly or beautiful?

Some of you may have driven to San Francisco from Sacramento.. there is a massive turbine project up there which i've always viewed as having magnificent aesthetics even before the crises we find ourselves in now.

Yup.. T. Boone Pickens is right.. we need to fill up the skyline with these beauties!

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Wind energy projects encounter stiff opposition

By JOHN MILLER - The Associated Press Edition Date: 07/19/08

BLACKFOOT, Idaho — A fight over a proposed 450-megawatt wind energy project in eastern Idaho's Wolverine Canyon pits a longtime ranching family against millionaire healthcare products mogul Frank VanderSloot.

Peggy Stolworthy, who is working with Seattle-based Ridgeline Energy on the 150-turbine project, says royalties from the wind turbines will help keep her ranch in business, amid spiraling hay and grain prices.

Meanwhile, VanderSloot, who owns property in the canyon, says he doesn't want to see 490-foot turbines atop the ridgeline here.

About 5,000 megawatts of wind power were installed in the United States in 2007, so conflicts between proponents of the green energy and critics who say the wind turbines are ugly and won't be effective replacements for fossil fuel are taking place across the nation.

Susan Williams Sloan, the outreach manager at the American Wind Energy Association in Washington D.C., says more people will welcome wind turbines to their backyards - provided they have good information.

We have plenty in OK.....and they look just fine. Nothing ugly about them.

(Unlike the Kennedy Clan, who just CAN NOT have such ugly eyesores obscure the view from their Island Sanctuary...that's for the 'little people' to contend with...)

Still, I think they are pretty neat looking, and a wonderful source of energy on MANY levels:

--Basically endless supply, although variable power generation, depending on the area and season...

--Probably as close to 100% 'Green' as you can get.

--Aesthetically pleasing (to me, at least.) There are far uglier pieces of infrastructure throughout our nation, that go unnoticed....

--And wonderful as a redundant, localized power source for farmers and rural folk, it something bad were to happen to the main power grid....

than beautiful...imo.

Mariah Power and the Windspire are changing that...

http://www.mariahpower.com/

Not sure if you've seen that installation up in the foothills east of San Fran, but there's something magnificent and poetic about it.

I think they fit in great with nature, and if my homeowners association allowed it, i'd throw one in my back yard. ;)

some even set as community identifiers and landmarks. It's renewable energy and as far as this state is concerned, if you allow them to put them on your land, you receive free electrical service.

I for one cannot seem to find a downside....may even create enough wind to stop the "global warming"...huh?

possibly get, they'd look great beside the cell tower here on the farm........................es­p, if they pay as well as the cell tower.........................­.

building a 'new' spring house' to keep me beer cold, for Free..........as we speak...........eh, everything in the fridge actually......................­............

I always thought that those Wind Turbines would look cool if they had some sort of surfacing of the material that would make them glow in the dark at night. Not sure though on the dynamics if glow in the dark material can draw from sunlight and glow at night or if only from lightbulb sources.

...

Look at coal mining country in WV and tell me any type of wind turbine is uglier than that.

Cell Towers are flat butt-ugly, BUT...recently, there have been efforts to make them more aesthetically pleasing with all sorts of ideas.

Wind Turbines and Windmill Farms look pretty neat to me. And you should see what the Germans do with Solar Panels.

We should have such things all over the place. They could actually be used to BEAUTIFY some barren/stark areas....

Interesting how those on the right are in agreement with me on this one.

Seriously.. you think this is aesthetically more pleasing than a silent propeller?

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wind power, it's almost 100* and not a breeze to be found............solar panels are doing fine today, so, the lack of breeze, could be a problem.............here today......for wind power.........

So you let a cell company throw a tower on your property for what.. a one time royalty, or ongoing cash flow?

pleasing to my eye in the multiple arrays demonstrated. I see them as modern hi-tech functional sculpture. The massive propellers look awkward and unbalanced to me.

I can also agree that the large sites, like the one near Livermore and pretty impressive as a whole. However, I prefer less intrusion into the landscape; the windspire is a personal solution...and can be customized in various colors to fit in even better aesthetically.