As far as I know, the main problems holding back wind farms is that they are eye sores and the locals feel it will diminish their property value. This will no longer be the case if the wind turbines could blend into their surroundings. For starters, it maybe enough to match the color of the sky, which has a rather limited palette, is fairly monotonic and changes slowly.
-- imho, Jul 02 2003

(?) I think they're rather attractive actually. http://www.res-ltd....t/proj-4burrows.htm
[angel, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

How many birds can you kill with a windmill? http://www.re-focus.net/news/290103_7/
I'd bet it also tenderizes the meat. [Amos Kito, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

Skyscraper Windmills http://www.newscien...s.jsp?id=ns99991292
a link posted on a halfbakery idea of the same name. [my face your, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

CFDU http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/CFDU
Maybe implement a large one of these and "generate" some advertising revenue. [half, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

So even more birds will fly into them and get killed?
-- DrCurry, Jul 02 2003


Why don't you do the opposite and make them pretty by affixing neon and flashing lights and maybe some tinsel. In the more remote windy places this may be a welcome relief from the boring relief.
-- Trodden, Jul 03 2003


Wind farms are extremely noisy as well as being "eyesores."
-- my face your, Jul 03 2003


But less eyesore-ish than the columns of smoke from the coal fired plants and a lot less eyesorific than nuclear cooling towers. If they were highly reflective they might take on enough of the environment to render them less visible except, of course, for the halated gleams of sunlight. Also, the fact that the windmills are silhouetted against a bright sky might make them hard to hide.
-- bristolz, Jul 03 2003


// the sky, which has a rather limited palette //

Which sky are you looking at?
-- saker, Jul 03 2003


DrCurry:

The latest windfarms, from what I've heard, use mills with larger arms that spin slower. This allows birds to pretty effectively avoid them.
-- Zipwow, Jul 03 2003


I'm with [angel] on this one, I think they look quite nice.
-- kaz, Jul 03 2003


I think the obvious answer here is clear acrylic or glass. I think a crystal windmill would look quite nice for those of us who like the look, yet less noticeable.
-- Worldgineer, Jul 03 2003


I think the problem is not that hawks fly into them, but that they want to perch on top of them. I have never figured out why manufacturers dont install a bar above the blades to let hawks perch up there.
-- bungston, Jul 03 2003


Perhaps hawks and bats can swap a few notes/genes...
-- silverstormer, Jul 03 2003


I don't understand this at all. Chameleons just don't generate that much output, at least on their normal diet. Cows are a much better methane source.
-- hob, Jul 03 2003


How about just making them out of some strong transparent plastic?
-- imho, Jul 03 2003


Even clear plastic chameleons don't generate that much methane.
-- Cedar Park, Jul 04 2003


If we're going to give them a chrome finish, then we should drop them down a few inches, plug in some hydraulics, and get some babes in bikinis to model on them.
-- rapid transit, Jul 04 2003


I may be confused here but, I don't understand how chameleons wearing bikinis strapped to windmill blades are particularly energy-efficient.

If wind turbines are such an eyesore, why not put them underground? Simply dig huge trenches and cover them with big grates to let the air flow in but keep the bats and hawks and chameleons out. Paint the grates green to reduce their visual impact.
-- Canuck, Jul 04 2003


Rods, if you look closely at those *sheep* you will notice they are not sheep at all, but wolves in sheeps' clothing. Or, more accurately, hyenas in sheeps' clothing, as the little buggers are scavenging on the carcasses of the birds and bats and hawks and chameleons that have run into the rapidly spinning blades. They are blithely uninterested in such issues as fossil fuels and the reason they do not pass is simple - there is no carrion on the other side.
-- Canuck, Jul 04 2003


I think all this windfarm business is a cunning plan. The government makes you *think* their collecting valuable electric energy, but oh no!, its a different story. The windmills are in fact giant electric fans part of a plot to blow the UK further South to increase the tourist trade and create the biggest aircraft carrier in the world...
We can attack France and then go and hide in the Gulf of Mexico...
-- silverstormer, Jul 04 2003


I enjoy the look of the windfarms that I've seen. I have never been able to put my finger on it, but there's some sort of harmony or poetry about them. Could be that the different sizes and styles spin at various speeds and directions and even have different axis orientations, and yet they spin synchronously within their own groups, the non-spinning groups creating visual pauses as one scans the scene.

I don't like that they're not visible at night. Maybe some of that generated power could be put to use Las Vegas style. Blades edge-lit with neon, sequenced lights to make the blades look like they're changing direction... well, maybe not. Then again, maybe a giant CFDU style device would be cool (link/shameless plug).
-- half, Jul 04 2003


You could get your finger cut right off what with all those spinny things.
-- bristolz, Jul 04 2003


Windmills scare me. I don't know why.
-- Tabbyclaw, Mar 17 2004


Yea, birds aren't usually a big problem except at one windfarm somewher in CA I think. There's another in Virginia that was killing bats but these are pretty isolated incedents. Great idea, I agree I think those big windmills are attractives but I'm also an Environmentalist guy. The main objection is usually an aesthetic one. People also fear that they will be noisy, but in reality it's usuallly not a problem, mostly a fear of the misinformed.
-- tedhaubrich, May 26 2004



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