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There's been research done showing that people's view on how windmills look is most strongly influenced by how they feel about wind energy in general. I wonder

There's been research done showing that people's view on how windmills look is most strongly influenced by how they feel about wind energy in general. I wonder if people in the Netherlands have disproportionately negative views of wind energy. As for noise, it probably varies a lot depending on how close you are, and the type of turbines in use so maybe it does bother some people (although not everyone feels that way https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/26/minimal-sound-and-almost-no-fury-life-in-the-shadow-of-australias-windfarm-hell https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/26/minimal-...) but I know there's also a lot of fear around "wind farm syndrome" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine_syndrome) which I'd place in the same category as people worried about wifi and 5G signals (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivi...) making them sick and hopefully that can be overcome with education.

Fnoord 3y ago
Give the people who have to live near these machines a benefit from it, such as a monthly discount on electricity? Has this been tried?
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  Sort of like the people who are willing to have a cell phone tower put on their property. Ugly, but the rent more than makes up for that.
  - pyuser583 3y ago
    Or like oil - “black gold.”
- mattlondon 3y ago
  It is not just where people live. People like to walk and hike and camp and holiday places, and sometimes they don't like it if their view is "ruined".
- Propelloni 3y ago
  So called Bürgerbeteiligungsgesellschaften (citizen participation companies) are quite common in rural Germany. Basically a citizen of a concerned community can opt to become a shareholder of such a company and gets a yearly kickback from the proceeds. It's not quite that simple but that's the basic idea. The other form you find even more often is the so called Energiegenossenschaft (energy cooperative) which is organized like any other cooperative. The federal system of the FRoG promotes these local cooperatives over capital companies in certain areas, such as utilities. AFAIK, there is no model where you reap benefits without doing something first, ie. join a cooperative or buy shares.
Wohlf 3y ago
I wonder if it's more proximity that's the issue. In larger countries a wind farm would most likely just be an eyesore on the horizon or nearby hills, but in the Netherlands it could effectively be in someone's backyard, blocking the visible sky and casting large shadows.
- ben_w 3y ago
  I went to university in Aberystwyth 20 years ago, and there were wind farms visible in the distance. As people were still complaining about them being eyesores back then, on one occasion I just scanned over the horizon, seeing what I could see — Those turbines were only noticed because they were unusual, they were greatly outnumbered by the unsightly clutter of pylons, the roads[0], and even particularly ugly farm buildings. [0] despite this being rural Wales where even the major road from there to anywhere else, the A44, was slightly narrower than an American residential street: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YitFrEFRt576Yz7K9?g_st=ic https://maps.app.goo.gl/YitFrEFRt576Yz7K9?g_st=ic

Fnoord 3y ago

Give the people who have to live near these machines a benefit from it, such as a monthly discount on electricity? Has this been tried?

rootusrootus 3y ago
Sort of like the people who are willing to have a cell phone tower put on their property. Ugly, but the rent more than makes up for that.
- pyuser583 3y ago
  Or like oil - “black gold.”
mattlondon 3y ago
It is not just where people live. People like to walk and hike and camp and holiday places, and sometimes they don't like it if their view is "ruined".
Propelloni 3y ago
So called Bürgerbeteiligungsgesellschaften (citizen participation companies) are quite common in rural Germany. Basically a citizen of a concerned community can opt to become a shareholder of such a company and gets a yearly kickback from the proceeds. It's not quite that simple but that's the basic idea. The other form you find even more often is the so called Energiegenossenschaft (energy cooperative) which is organized like any other cooperative. The federal system of the FRoG promotes these local cooperatives over capital companies in certain areas, such as utilities. AFAIK, there is no model where you reap benefits without doing something first, ie. join a cooperative or buy shares.

Wohlf 3y ago

I wonder if it's more proximity that's the issue. In larger countries a wind farm would most likely just be an eyesore on the horizon or nearby hills, but in the Netherlands it could effectively be in someone's backyard, blocking the visible sky and casting large shadows.

ben_w 3y ago
I went to university in Aberystwyth 20 years ago, and there were wind farms visible in the distance. As people were still complaining about them being eyesores back then, on one occasion I just scanned over the horizon, seeing what I could see — Those turbines were only noticed because they were unusual, they were greatly outnumbered by the unsightly clutter of pylons, the roads[0], and even particularly ugly farm buildings. [0] despite this being rural Wales where even the major road from there to anywhere else, the A44, was slightly narrower than an American residential street: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YitFrEFRt576Yz7K9?g_st=ic https://maps.app.goo.gl/YitFrEFRt576Yz7K9?g_st=ic