Does wind power cause visual pollution in your opinion?
I remember reading somewhere (probably my high school textbook) that one of the reasons people don't like wind power being built is they cause visual pollution.
In my opinion, I think it would be pretty cool to just look out my window and see a giant windmill there, the opposite of visual pollution.
And in all honesty they remind me of like a leisurely creek or small waterfall in that they kinda just keep going on in a pleasant consistent kind of way ya know?
Basically what I'm saying is that they're pretty IMO
I think they're pretty tbh. There's a huge stretch of them in a field I drive through sometimes, and at night I like to just stop for a second and watch 95% of them all flash their light on top in sync across an impressive distance.
And sometimes there's one or two flashing out of sync in a weird rhythm and I assume it's like an error code which I think is pretty interesting
I find them comforting in a reassuring, kinda awe inspiring way. Like, they're a visual sign of at least trying to address climate change, and there's something about having a giant, obviously artificial moving structure towering over the landscape that just gives me a sense of thrill and wonder that we are capable of building that. Those things are pretty massive if you get anywhere close to one, after all.
No, I like the rhythmic visual quality. And on a conscious level they make me feel happy about clean electricity. I see windmills every single day and they do not get old for me.
Like with anything, too much of it will look/taste/smell/sound bad.
Is that a reason in and of itself to not build wind power plants? No.
Personally I find wind power plants to look cool, a bit sci-fi and futuristic.
The argument that they are ugly is dumb, using a term like "visual pollution" is just a way to try and make a subjective oppinion sound like objective fact.
This complaint about wind power has always come across as the kind of thing people say because they heard somebody else say it. imo, it's just stupid people who desperately want to have an opinion on the topic weighing in with the only piece of criticism they've overhead some Sky News host parrot at some point in the past, and because that host had authority on the matter in their minds, it gives them some kind of false confidence to then go forward and proclaim the visual pollution argument, as if it has any real basis in anything.
I live in the middle of a sprawling wind farm. Every direction I turn, I can see wind turbines looking ominously over my neighbor's houses. It's awesome, and way more interesting than the hundreds of square miles of corn fields they otherwise occupy.
The strobe effect is a thing but it really doesn't impact a lot of people since you know windmills are usually not by apartment buildings. Being very kind to that point of view seeing things that are new can put you out of sorts.
Personally I think they look cool, that doesn't mean I can't see other POVs. Still, people will adapt when they get more common and frankly I am not into NIMBY anyway.
People didn't seem to mind fugly coal plants but now that weve got a clean energy source usually built in the middle of nowhere they suddenly have a problem with "visual pollution."
To me it sounds a lot like those dudes that spew smoke out the back of their truck for no other reason than to "trigger" anyone they think might not approve.
A little bit, in the same way that any man made structure does. But they're quite peaceful to look at and compared to a nuclear or coal plant they're way better to look at.
I wouldn't like to see them in an area of outstanding beauty, but I'm cool with them anywhere else.
Slight nitpick: they're wind turbines, not windmills. Windmills are used to grind things down, like wheat into flour.
I would anytime put up a wind turbine in my yard and enjoy the free energy then complain about how it looks like.
In fact I am planning to power my side building/garage, utility rooms, freezer box and yard lights (basically everything except my house) by wind power. Domestic wind turbines are super cool and you can even make one yourself or just get a smaller one with super easy installation.
Windmills are awesome. While traveling in Europe, I saw a massive wind farm off the coast of Sweden, cool as hell. Then I took a hike, and ended up at the base of one of these giant behemoths! Still cool.
The only visual pollution that irritates me is advertisements and billboards. I hate them passionately.
You get used to them, and in a way look very cool because of their use and what they represent. Although I wouldn't like to see them in a natural reserve.
I have another neat use for them. Since I can see some out of my window and use this sight to check wind direction and plan my bike route to have tail wind on the end of the route!
Whenever someone brings up that argument (windmills are ugly), which is quite a controversial topic in the country I live in, I take them to the open pit coal mines of the area. Those are really ugly.
I do understand the argument that the intermittent shadows the rotating blades may cast on residential areas are annoying.
Im not sure I even agree that visual pollution should be a real thing. People like to pretend that there is a divide between man-made structures and "nature" but humans are animals and we construct our environment out of natural materials. Humans ARE natural and the things we make are not separate from nature. Obviously that doesn't remove our responsibility to avoid causing overall harm with toxic chemicals that pollute or structures that destabilize equilibriums, but that being said I dont think we should have this mentality about our structures being an inherent detriment to the area we make them in, and wind farms seem like a good example of good structures in a good environment to me. End rant.
Ehhhh I can see it. It's usually out in nature where people might want to just see nature... but I also usually see it in places where people aren't going sight seeing as much. It's fields. Which are nice. Those are nice to see. But it's not the thing people are seeing in the towns as much. But if they were, I don't see how it could really ruin the view of a neighborhood.
If it was something like in campgrounds, going out to the lake and it's just right there in front of the view of the mountains, right off to the side of hiking trails, I would hate it. But over all I don't see it as that huge of a deal. They tend to find the best places for it with causing the least amount of trouble for others.
Id say that they arent exactly picturesque but they provide clean energy. So like sure... maybe dont put them everywhere, lets leave out the Unesco world heritage sites and National parks but theres an awful lot of otherwise unremarkable land that Id rather see a bunch of windmills on than the currently existing "fuckall"
Yeah they do. I live somewhere where they are adding a lot to the bluffs in the area it is not as pretty as it was before. But so does the giant ass strip mine nearby. It is just that the mine has been here longer than most of the people so they think of it as part of the landscape. Instead of the giant ass hole in the ground full of toxic water that it is.
BS. I wanted to build one on my property, but here in Germany you need a permit if you wanna build a birds house (I'm not kidding, in some areas you do), I didn't get one, neighbors and shit, so I sold the house, we're moving to Denmark this year. No neighbors, no problems. Especially not German neighbors! As long as you have a Danebrog (Danish flag) on your property, you can build a lot. It's your property at last.
It's difficult to consider them pollution even if we were to accept the subjective opinion on displeasing aesthetics.
The pollution we're all concerned about tends to be:
Physically harmful
Difficult to confine/localize/avoid/reverse
An externality the economy doesn't sufficiently account for
A burden that's unevenly/unfairly distributed across society
Even light pollution, which is arguably barely physically harmful, has all of the remaining qualities (or nearly) for sure.
If these qualities even apply wind generators at all, they do so very weakly. They can be moved/unbuilt, the "free market" is pricing them cheaper by the day, and if you really don't like looking at them, it's not impractical to avoid them.
Yea they massively change the views in the local area. How ugly they are is probably the top complaint in the UK about them
As unlike a lot of the American commenters here saying we don’t have huge sprawling areas of nothing (Except Scottish highlands) just waiting to be filled with something. So for rural voters that live in the countryside for the views damaging/changing the views is unsurprisingly not that popular.
In 2015 because of lots of local opposition the government made it easier to object to wind farms in your areas but people have since said that those rules make it too easy to get planning permission rejected.
Recent polls seem to suggest people care less now though lack of increase in planning permissions for onshore wind seem to show that people like it more in theory than when the wind turbines will be built in their view.
There are windmills all over the place here and I love seeing them. To me this is what the future should look like. Poeple have used windmills for centuries, why stop now?
There is a beautiful lake close to where I live and if you are there in late evening you can see lights from the nearest wind farm blinking on the horizon. You can also see them on top of historical castle mounds my region is famous for which cheapens the experience of visiting them. I am all for renewable energy, but I understand the argument.
Well they look farrr better than coal mines and plants and smoke plumes. Even beyond that I think they just look plain nice though, like when I rarely get to see some it makes me happy.
Yes, but not much more than any other man-made construction. I can see windmills from my appartement and they have never even bothered me a little. However if my view was a beautiful tolkienesque landscape they probably would stand out like a sore thumb.
Please define "visible pollution". I think you mean something like "ugly". So there's not really much of a discussion to have, because it is opinion. Of course some people feel that way.
But anyway, since you asked, I'd rather look at wind turbines than the smog around, let's say, Chicago or Los Angeles. But still that's opinion.
I don't mind them and lived in the midst of two wind "farms". They aren't usually clumped tightly together so you don't see many until you're out on the road.
Personally found them kind of calming to look at as part of the backdrop when it was nice outside and I could go out and listen to music or radio and just unplug. Personal opinions vary wildly and some people will hate them just for existing just as some people will find a mural or new building an eyesore, they don't have a tangible reason and usually they just don't want change, ontop of there being no shortage of easily disproveable conspiracy theories about turbines they cling to because someone said they were bad once and they can't be bothered to fact check anything that doesn't already support their opinion.
So ultimately I don't mind them anymore than a water tower or grain bin/silo, they are just part of my skyline now and it didn't take long to get used to them.
the visible deterioration and negative aesthetic quality of the natural and human-made landscapes around people
All human activity creates "visual pollution" of all kinds. It is completely unavoidable. By the textbook definition, farmland, barns, barbed wire fences for livestock, all could qualify as visual pollution.
Wind turbines are no different. They could technically be defined as visual pollution, but they are quite benign in the grand scheme of things. They are typically designed with smooth edges and sweeping curves, and don't give off a cluttered look, and as such do not really "interrupt" one's environment. They do move, which can be a bit distracting, I guess.
They're certainly much nicer to look at compared to the average nuclear/coal/nat.gas power plant