Wind Turbine

Community Wind Turbine

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

We received the Achiltibuie_Wind_turbine_planning_letter via a colleague and friend. The letter is asking people to write in support of a planning application for a community owned wind turbine.

The small community on Coigach North of Ullapool is located in a ‘world class environment.’ It’s faced with a number of challenges which are described, but has also been organising itself, also described, with a view being more sustainable. The letter is about the economic sustainability that will be generated by installing one community owned wind turbine – a project involving a capital outlay of £2 million being undertaken by a community of about 100 people. But interestingly reading the letter that sustainability is evident in the community organising that has been going on over a reasonable period.

What’s also interesting is that most communities organising around wind turbines are not trying to make them happen. Rather they are trying to resist their imposition by large corporates, land owners seeking to maximise incomes, and centralised national priority planning processes. In other parts of Scotland communities of a similar scale are faced with proposals for 100 turbines surrounding villages. These will be located on private land generating significant incomes for the land owners. These are being pushed through planning by large teams of consultants. The community might be in receipt of some charity in terms of hand outs from the power companies (perhaps mediated by local committees). One model is sustainable, the other is pretty remote from anything that might be called sustainable.

We recommend you read Achiltibuie_Wind_turbine_planning_letter – it is inspiring. 

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
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Donald Trump links wind farms and the Lockerbie disaster

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

We received this email and thought it was worth highlighting,

Has Donald Trump sunk to a new low? On Friday, he splashed two full-page adverts in Scottish newspapers linking new wind farms to the Lockerbie disaster – and called for people to email Alex Salmond with their opposition. [1]

It’s hard to imagine what was going through his mind when he agreed ads which said:

“Tourism will suffer and the beauty of your country is in jeopardy! This is the same mind that backed the release of terrorist al-Megrahi, ‘for humane reasons’ – after he ruthlessly killed 270 people on Pan-Am flight 103 over Lockerbie.”

Trump thinks that he can buy opposition to wind farms by flashing his cash to push misleading information. But what if we could turn the tables on Trump and show him that for all his money, he’s no match for people power?

Together we can flood Alex Salmond with messages of support for renewable energy and make sure that Trump’s plan backfires. It takes two minutes to write to Alex Salmond – click here to get started:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c053e8/2d527884/5ea13b2c/4678e28f/236853858/VEsE/

And do you know why Trump is kicking up such a fuss? Because he thinks a new wind turbine test centre will ruin the feel of hisluxury golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast. He’s throwing everything he’s got at trying to stop the planning application from going through.

But there’s huge potential for Scotland to become a world leader in green energy, bringing new jobs for Scots and more investment for the economy. [2]

Click here to tell Alex Salmond to make sure the Scottish Government take up every opportunity to unlock our green potential:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c053e8/2d527884/5ea13b2c/4678e28f/236853858/VEsF/

38 Degrees members have a strong history of standing up to big money. Big companies sponsoring the 2012 Olympics were hoping for a windfall from tax dodging during the Games – until we got them to promise to pay taxes on their Olympic profits.

And we’ve stood up to Trump before. Along with the campaign group Tripping up Trump, we stood shoulder to shoulder with brave local residents when Donald Trump wanted to evict families from their homes in Menie. [3]

Click here to take two minutes to email Alex Salmond now:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c053e8/2d527884/5ea13b2c/4678e28f/236853858/VEsC/

Thanks for being involved,

Marie, Becky, Hannah and the 38 Degrees team

NOTES

[1] Scotsman: Donald Trump ‘sick’ for using Lockerbie in a rant against wind farms http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/donald-trump-sick-for-using-lockerbie-in-a-rant-against-wind-farms-1-2693006

[2] The Paisley Daily Express: Trump links wind farms with megrahi http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/scottish-news/2012/12/14/trump-links-wind-farms-with-megrahi-87085-32430473/

[3] Read more here: http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2011/02/22/weve-tripped-up-trump/

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
Go to EcoArtScotland

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Glyndebourne Opera Turbine

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Glyndebourne is an internationally renowned opera house in Southern England, famed for its annual Summer Festival as well as an accessible Touring company that visits six venues around the UK each Autumn. Established by John Christie and his wife Audrey Mildmay in 1934.

Oh, and they have a wind turbine….

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/31034016?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=c0c000 500 281]

 

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/32969308?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=c0c000 500 281]

Glyndebourne’s executive chairman, Gus Christie, talks about the new wind turbine at Glyndebourne and the processes involved.

American Bird Conservancy Receives Grant From Leon Levy Foundation

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The American Bird Conservancy has announced a three-year, $743,130 grant from the Leon Levy Foundation for a campaign to encourage the use of techniques designed to eliminate bird collisions with wind turbines and promote the selection of safe sites for wind farms.

The campaign will include a wide variety of advocacy and communications efforts, including the development of a grassroots support network based on collaborative approaches that ABC has successfully undertaken in the past; the fostering of new techniques for bird avoidance at wind farms; and the advancement of critical research in collaboration with universities. ABC also will recommend that wind projects temporarily cease their power generation during times when bird mortality risk is anticipated to be greatest; that no-development buffer zones be established around sensitive bird habitats; and that compensatory mitigation practices be adopted for any unavoidable bird or habitat losses due to turbines.

The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that some 19,000 square miles of land in the U.S. will be occupied by wind turbines by 2030 and that as many as one million birds a year could be killed if collision mortality rates stay at current levels. Some species will suffer additional impacts from habitat fragmentation, while other species could be killed outright.

“ABC supports the development of wind power as a valuable, non-polluting, renewable power source that can reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and reduce our carbon footprint in the U.S.,” said ABC president George Fenwick, “but it has to be done right, and it can be done right so large numbers of birds aren't needlessly sacrificed in the process.”

“American Bird Conservancy to Launch Campaign to Reduce Wind Turbine Risks to Birds — Supported by Three Quarters of a Million Dollar Grant From the Leon Levy Foundation.” American Bird Conservancy Press Release 5/10/10.

PND – News – American Bird Conservancy Receives Grant From Leon Levy Foundation.

Philly Fringe: Off the Grid

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Excerpt from centraljersey.com: “Off the Grid, on the Fringe” by Ilene Dube, August 26, 2009

Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, the creators of The MeLTING Bridge, Flamingo/Winnebago,¡El Conquistador!, and Red-Eye To Havre De Grace & Lost Soles, present a new theater festival to be powered entirely by renewable energy. Titled Off The Grid, the festival will take place concurrent with the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe and will feature three world premiere theater works and a hybrid performance concert. Off The Grid will be powered by solar panels, a wind turbine and bicycles and will take place in the heart of Old City, Philadelphia, at the Painted Bride’s new studios at 230 Vine St. The festival was conceived by Thaddeus Phillips and Tatiana Mallarino, co-artistic directors of Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental.

The program includes new work from Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, New York based Magician Steve Cuiffo, Miro Dance Theater and a concert by the Mural & the Mint. Each work will be powered by a different renewable source — the only thing these artists promise to be plugging into is creativity.

Mr. Phillips, co-organizer of the festival within a festival, says “After creating two works that dealt with current environmental problems — Flamingo/Winnebago and The Melting Bridge — we wanted to create a work that explores solutions to those problems. We thought we would try something that has never been done before: create a visual theater work without plugging into the power grid. Realizing that it could be virtually impossible, we took it to the next level and decided to make a whole festival of it, and challenge other artists to create work “Off the Grid,” to make and perform multimedia pieces using only sustainable energy.”

Performances will rotate on a nightly basis. Mr. Phillips will perform in Microworld(s) Part 1, a world premiere and solo theater work set in Tokyo and played within a 3-foot-by-3-foot-by-8-feet white box. The play is about a man named Milo who is fascinated by Nikola Tesla, the comedian Bill Hicks and Fumio, his rubber duckie. Milo does not see the need to leave the self-contained world he lives in until he loses everything. This live action piece claims to be the first theater work constructed only out of recycled materials and special low-energy LED lighting.

Digital Effects will be powered by solar panels, Generate. Degenerate. will be powered by bicycle and the Mural & the Mint will be powered by solar, bike and “weza.”

Tickets cost $15

For more information, visit offthegridfest.org

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