Wind Turbines

I pass by these every time I go Up North to visit my folks. Towering pillars foreboding along side the freeway. Kissing the sky and reaching the heavens-churning slowly almost in a calculated fashion. My mouth is agape with the sheer sight of their size. These are wind turbines of Forward Wind Farm near Byron, Wisconsin on the Fond du Lac and Dodge County borders.

Tall and majestic they are, scaling over 40 stories into air. The blades are 134 ft across. The weight of the rotors are 47 tons. They'll operate in winds starting at 9 mph and they'll cut off at 54 mph. They are designed to withstand winds up to 134 mph. These babies can generate up to 145 megawatts of electricity, that's enough to power up 36,000 residential homes! That's a structure for you! To top it all, there are over 80 turbines in the area! There are over 300 turbines in Wisconsin.

Amazingly it may seem, there is controversy over these giants. residents living in the shadows of the turbines have complained of noise, shadow flicker and maintenance issues. Not to mention an increase in their electric bill. After seeing some videos about their arguments, I'm not so sure I'd want to be living nearby them...

Here's some information, I've researched upon-

http://www.we-energies.com/environmental/bluesky_greenfield.htm
http://www.we-energies.com/home/ByronWind.pdf
http://www.ecw.org/byronwindtour/turbines.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyOImGHyJtQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7b4fGoK4Xo