Coos Bay officials taking closer look at wind turbines in town
COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - The city of Coos Bay will consider allowing wind turbines in town.
The World of Coos Bay reports that turbines have been under a moratorium and the city hasn't made much progress on the issue in the past two years.
But the City Council plans to take public comment in February or March, and it has an online survey on its website.
The draft ordinance would allow turbines no taller than 70 feet - much shorter than industrial wind turbines that are more than 250 feet.
'What we would need is an ordinance to limit any negative impacts to neighbors," said Laura Barron, the city's planning administrator.
For large turbines, residents would have to show that noise would be minimal, viewsheds would not be disturbed and the device would meet tough safety standards. Restrictions would be reduced for smaller devices.
Some new technology doesn't require huge towers. Micro wind turbines being tested and used around the country can be mounted on rooftops and the edges of buildings.
"The thing people are most concerned about is the visual impact," said Ted Brekken, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Oregon State University. 'If your neighbor puts up a 70-foot wind turbine, that is as high as a seven story building."
Wind is slowed dramatically by hills, trees and buildings, all of which abound in Coos Bay, and wind is more powerful at higher elevations.
"The short answer is, (wind power) doesn't work well in an urban setting," Brekken said. 'If the city allowed it, you could build it. But it will produce a tiny fraction of the amount of power its industrial brothers will produce."
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Information from: The World, http://www.theworldlink.com
Don Quixote would LOVE Coos Bay.
But he would need a longer lance to tilt at those wind turbines.
Well, I think it is a great Idea. Let them build the turbines.
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Coos Bay Bridge? It is the McCullough Bridge but we always called it the North Bend bridge as it connects directly into North Bend. That picute makes me homesick.
I wanted to put up a wind turbine at my home in PDX but it isn't allowed in "green" Portland.
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The government, both the feds and the state, along with the rate payers would have paid me to put one up so it was a win win situation for me.
@RalphCramden That actually surprises me, but then Portland seems to be more about limiting than empowering these days.
 @JTesla  @RalphCramden I doubt that there are too many places in Portland, excepting close to Troutdale, where a wind turbine makes much economic sense.  The Willamette valley is a pretty poor wind resource:
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http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/windmaps/residential_scale.asp
 @RalphCramden  @Festivus  @JTesla Actaully if you have a solar unit up now and it is producing The Utility company should be paying you already. if not then they truly are scum of the hearth and needs to be wiped out. Maybe you can donate it to the family have Issues with there home..erg, the family that has been or are being scammed out of there house..if you really want to stick it to some one, do that and I promise you the bank would despise that lol... as the family would have there own power source. The longer the family stays there the longer that the family can uncover the fraud of there housing issue , if there is one..and just think..if there was fraud you could make good as well, if you set it up with ere the family wins they might be willing to pay you. or if you do have a kind heart and donate it you could get a tax write off. Me personally the satisfaction of seeing a bank squirm its way out of Fraudulent foreclosure gives me great pleasure...
 @RalphCramden  @Festivus  @JTesla true this is how business works, I don't see anything wrong with it nor is it immoral, because I would classify it as...Maintenance issue, and state, I need to do some "Upgrading"
 @Liberty4_WA  @Festivus  @JTeslaÂ
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Mine average a little less than 3 hours per day based on 3 years of data. The cost without any subsidies is about $0.96 per KWH. With subsidies that gets the price down to about $0.18 per KWH.
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This summer did pretty good and increased the hours of production. But for the last few weeks I have produce almost nothing.
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In central Oregon I can get 3 times that production. The problem there is that they get too hot and after they get above 150ºF they lose about 50% of their rated output. So no matter where they are they will not produce enough electricity to make them efficient enough to compete with hydro, gas, coal or nuclear.
 @RalphCramden  @Festivus  @JTesla I wonder how much power a solar panel can actually do here in Portland area being how its gloomey 90 percent of the year. I see big companies like IKEA load there roofs with it... and of course get tax credits but.. realisticly.. if you got some from your home.. would it even be enough to power half the stuff you use?
 @Festivus    @JTeslaÂ
I love the sound of my wind turbine. It is the sound of....money. I know that when it's spinning it is less money that I would have to pay for my energy. To me it's no different that hearing waves crashing on the beach day and night.
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In another year the panels will go the desert where they will be subjected to 300 sun days per year. Since I will not be able to use all of that and will not benefit from the excess electricity I produce I am thinking of becoming my own utility. Then I can by the excess energy from myself here in Portland and cut my utility costs here. When I pay my utility bill here, part of that check will come right back to me.
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Pretty cool huh.
 @RalphCramden  @JTesla That's not immoral, as long as the system is being used.  Immoral would be to put the thing up, claim a tax credit, and then disconnect it.  Moving it to where it's even more efficient is a no-brainer.
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But zoning has a purpose too. Â I live in an AR5 area. Â Part of the reason I live there is because I can count on what kind of growth and development will happen in my neighborhood. Â No one can build a three story multi-family housing unit with the associated noise, traffic, and other issues. Â No reasonable person could argue that solar panels affect quality of life for neighbors, but the same is not automatically true of wind turbines. Â
 @Festivus  @JTeslaÂ
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Probably not. But I now how to use the government for my own purposes and anytime I can get a good deal with their subsidies I will go for it.
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I got a 2kw solar electric system and only paid about $2500 for a $20,000 system. I have to keep in on my roof for 5 years. Once that 5 years is up I will remove it and take it to eastern Oregon where it works much better.
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You will call that immoral, I call it a good business decision. it's all perspective.
 @RalphCramden  @JTesla So?  You'd have a kidney removed if there was a tax incentive.  Probably two. Â
 @Festivus  @JTeslaÂ
I didn't care. The government would pay me for it and I wanted to put one up.
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They paid for my wind tower in central Oregon thanks to the taxpayers.
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I was pretty surprised myself. They said that I wasn't zoned for a wind tower. When I asked where zoning for a wind tower they told me there was nowhere in PDX that could have a wind tower.
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To me the site of a wind tower says "green".
 @RalphCramden  @JTesla hmm art that creates power :) that would be a "Powerful" statement
 @RalphCramden  @JTesla looks like the laws have not caught up with the times. you might be able to get away with it as a Functioning Piece of art though have you though of that?