Donald Trump has a long term dislike for windmills. In Scotland in 2015, he sued the Scottish government to halt a project of eleven offshore windmills as he attested they ruined the view from his golf course. He lost the case. Here is a subtitle from an article in 2019 in Politico.
“Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf resort must pay the Scottish government’s legal costs following a court battle over a major North Sea wind power development.”
He later said the onshore windmills hurt cattle, yet in Texas, the largest wind electricity producer in the US, ranchers make $5,000 annual rent per windmill. One rancher said he made $55,000 per annum on his eleven windmills, which offers a nice supplement to his income. Note, I said “Texas,” “rancher” and “windmill” in the same paragraph.
I actually think windmills are elegant beasts. There is a site in the rolling hills near Corning, New York where a staggered row of windmills add to the vista. In Ireland, even fifteen years ago, there were fields of windmills.
Let me close with a comment from now deceased oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens made on “60 Minutes” about a dozen years ago. He said, natural gas will buy us time, but the future of electricity in the US is wind energy. He said the wind blows on the plains states. Since then, in addition to Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma all have significant wind energy successes. And, solar energy has also grown significantly here, with California leading the way. So, progress is being made.
musingsofanoldfart 
yes! Especially the newer models. In Northern California there are some areas known for these metal machines. Only negatives are some bird kills, which can be mitigated
Basenjibrian2, many thanks. I thought the taller ones mitigated a lot of the bird kills. Plus, I saw some planners worked with bird scientists to better avoid migratory areas. So, maybe they have a better handle on it. Keith
And of course, Wyoming has taken advantage of their most prevalent resource. I think they’re kinda cool, too. They sound like large, friendly giants breathing in and out. But I’ve not had to live near one. Perhaps I’d think differently if I had one on my city block.
Linda, that is great. I think they sound cool, but agree I don’t know how they would sound up close. Keith
I don’t care if windmills were the ugliest things on earth (they’re not), I would still love them for what they do! ANYTHING that gets us away from the killing fossil fuel industry has my vote! If I owned my home, I would have solar panels. Time we wake up and smell the coffee before it’s too late, before we have to apologize to our grandchildren for destroying their future! (I was thrilled when Trump lost his suit in Scotland! Score one for sanity!)
Agreed on all counts. He has a lot of trivial lawsuits he tends to lose because he just does not like something, as opposed to those where he is screwing someone over or broke the law. Keith
Note to Readers: I have written about this before, but a key reason Texas leads the US in wind energy is the legislature supported the building of transmission lines from the rural windmills to the power stations. It should be noted while Texas gets 20% of its electricity from wind, they transmit some of it to other utilities who have bought rights in that state. Duke Energy in North Carolina has several wind investments in Texas. Keith
All that orange numbskull is, is wind. He could power a whole state by himself. 🙄
Larry, that is very funny. Well done. Keith
Why, thank you.
Note to Readers II: A general statement is of importance. We are in a global economy whether folks like it or not, one in which innovation is portable. If we want to compete, we need to try to promote innovation. Giving away advantages is unwise.
A few examples might help. The US television industry ceded its black and white manufacturing to Japan in the early 1970s. Japan leveraged that to drive US TV manufacturers out of business.
Later that decade, US automakers started cutting corners and made cheap and crappy cars. FORD used to stand for Fix or Repair Daily. Japan and Germany auto makers seized huge market share.
China in the 1990s seized the rare earth metals market before the US knew what it was missing. Right now, China owns over 80% of the market.
So, we must move forward even faster on new and successful renewable energy solutions. It will help our environment and our economy.
There are four wind farms that are visible from our home. In total there are over two hundred turbines but we can only see around 100 directly out of our kitchen windows. While I’d like there to be more, I don’t want them near where I live. They make an audible low frequency whoosh that some people find rather unpleasant. I’m one of those. I guess it’s a bit like fluorescent lighting. Most people don’t mind it, but some (including me) are sensitive to the 50 Hz or 60 Hz flicker. Like many autistic people I have sensory processing sensitivities, and I don’t think I could live within about 5 Km of wind turbines. I don’t so much hear the sound as feel it.
Barry, thanks for sharing your story. So, distance makes the heart grow founder. I understand that. I presume these ranchers place them away from their houses.
Of course, in many states, the mineral rights beneath your house are not yours, so there are stories of mining for natural gas beneath someone’s house without their permission. It makes the house worthless.
Solar seems to be the quietest energy source. Keith
Ranchers? Now there’s a term that doesn’t apply here. Here a wind farm refers to a collection of turbines owned by a particular electricity generation company. Three of the four farms are on a mountain range to the east of us, some of which is used for sheep farming, the rest in native forest. The fourth is on the mountain range foothills to the southeast and mostly on land used for dairy farming. This was the most controversial and disputed installation as dairy farmland is much more densely populated than sheep farmland and is only a few kilometres from a small township. The generation company had sought permission for a 130 turbine farm but due to all the objections was granted permission to install only 66 – those furthest away from homes.
As for solar, we have 23 panels on our roof, generating a little over 7.3 kilowatt-hours on a sunny day. During summer we are a net exporter of electricity while in winter we produce about 40% of our total electricity needs. And yes, it’s totally silent 😊
Domestic solar power is still the exception rather than the rule. There’d be only a handful of homes in our town with a population of 17,000. NZ produces 90% of its electricity from renewable resources (hydro, geothermal, wind) and if every household had a few solar panels then the remaining old gas and coal power stations could be switched off for good.
Our previous left of centre Labour/Greens coalition government had passed legislation prohibiting new gas and oil exploration, but the new right of centre National/ACT/NZ First coalition has repealed it and is working on removing many of the environmental protections currently in place which will likely see new gas/oil/coal power stations being built. Even here the short term interests of the wealthy are taking precedence over the long term interests of the environment and the public.
Barry, many thanks for the elaboration and kudos to you for the solar panels. Quick sidebar – my reference to ranchers is in Texas, the wind energy investors pay ranchers $5,000 per annum per windmill in rent. So, if ranchers has eleven windmills, that is s nice supplemental income of $55,000 per annum.
As for the conservative push for more fossil fuels, it is all about money for the management and shareholders of fossil fuel companies. The margins are higher. So, this push comes with heavy marketing. A 7th grade science teacher had her class count there are 30,000 websites sponsored by fossil fuel companies who have varying degrees of climate change denial, while there are only 700 peer reviewed science sites who support climate change concerns.
Keith