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Cherry Springs
Here's a newspaper article about Cherry Springs State Park in PA, a
dark sky preserve and site of two annual star parties: http://tinyurl.com/ybcj4h -- Joe Bergeron www.joebergeron.com |
#2
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Cherry Springs
Joe Bergeron wrote:
Here's a newspaper article about Cherry Springs State Park in PA, a dark sky preserve and site of two annual star parties: http://tinyurl.com/ybcj4h -- Joe Bergeron www.joebergeron.com Joe, It's rather surprising how often this AP story, which first appeared after the Cherry Springs Star Party back in June, has been resurfacing of late. Unfortunately, the real news concerning CSSP is the proposed "wind farm" that may put the dark skies of "the Pennsylvania Wilds" in jeopardy. http://www.bradfordera.com/site/news...56 9780&rfi=6 Dave Mitsky |
#3
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Cherry Springs
"Dave Mitsky" wrote
... ........... Unfortunately, the real news concerning CSSP is the proposed "wind farm" that may put the dark skies of "the Pennsylvania Wilds" in jeopardy. http://www.bradfordera.com/site/news...56 9780&rfi=6 Dave, Gee I've never seen the wind farm we have in central NY at night, but the windmills are rather innocuous looking during the day. The only "bad" things I've heard about them is "noise", "they're ugly", "they might chop up birds", and "only those 'city folks' are making any money on this, so I don't want them". That's all balanced by the reduction in air pollution, which brings haze and the resultant degradation in astronomical observations (and astronomer's breathing), and the reduction in power bills. A tall structure will certainly need aviation hazard lights, but that would have little or no impact on light pollution. What am I missing? Give the fact that the population is growing and we're going to generate more electricity, which is worse: windmills or coal plants? BTW, there is also a wind farm proposal for Gore Mt. in the central Adirondacks, but that already has light problems from the ski center, so the local opposition is mostly on "ugly" and "where's my $$ in this" grounds. George N |
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Cherry Springs
On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 15:20:34 GMT, "George Normandin"
wrote: A tall structure will certainly need aviation hazard lights, but that would have little or no impact on light pollution. What am I missing? Aviation hazard lights can be a disaster for nearby observing. White strobes are particularly bad, but both strobes and red blinkers can make imaging difficult and visual observing unpleasant. There's no reason that hazard lights couldn't be shielded in a way that would significantly reduce their impact from the ground, but since these are federally mandated, I think there's very little opportunity for negotiation. Cherry Springs might be an exception to this, given that it is a state park with a mandate to preserve dark skies. But most folks are just out of luck if a tall tower of any kind goes in near an observing site (let alone an entire wind farm!) _________________________________________________ Chris L Peterson Cloudbait Observatory http://www.cloudbait.com |
#5
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Cherry Springs
George Normandin wrote: Edit Dave, Gee I've never seen the wind farm we have in central NY at night, but the windmills are rather innocuous looking during the day. The only "bad" things I've heard about them is "noise", "they're ugly", "they might chop up birds", and "only those 'city folks' are making any money on this, so I don't want them". That's all balanced by the reduction in air pollution, which brings haze and the resultant degradation in astronomical observations (and astronomer's breathing), and the reduction in power bills. A tall structure will certainly need aviation hazard lights, but that would have little or no impact on light pollution. What am I missing? Give the fact that the population is growing and we're going to generate more electricity, which is worse: windmills or coal plants? BTW, there is also a wind farm proposal for Gore Mt. in the central Adirondacks, but that already has light problems from the ski center, so the local opposition is mostly on "ugly" and "where's my $$ in this" grounds. George N George, I really didn't know very much about wind farms until a short time ago. I had always assumed they were a good thing environentally speaking but I've found out that that was an unwarranted assumption. http://www.protectpendleton.com/nbw_index.htm http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...0/ai_n14591193 http://www.globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=71 Dave Mitsky |
#6
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Cherry Springs
George Normandin wrote:
Edit Dave, Gee I've never seen the wind farm we have in central NY at night, but the windmills are rather innocuous looking during the day. The only "bad" things I've heard about them is "noise", "they're ugly", "they might chop up birds", and "only those 'city folks' are making any money on this, so I don't want them". That's all balanced by the reduction in air pollution, which brings haze and the resultant degradation in astronomical observations (and astronomer's breathing), and the reduction in power bills. A tall structure will certainly need aviation hazard lights, but that would have little or no impact on light pollution. What am I missing? Give the fact that the population is growing and we're going to generate more electricity, which is worse: windmills or coal plants? BTW, there is also a wind farm proposal for Gore Mt. in the central Adirondacks, but that already has light problems from the ski center, so the local opposition is mostly on "ugly" and "where's my $$ in this" grounds. George N George, I had always assumed that wind farms were a good thing environmentally speaking but I've found out that may be an unwarranted assumption. http://www.protectpendleton.com/nbw_index.htm http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...0/ai_n14591193 http://www.globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=71 Dave Mitsky |
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Cherry Springs
George Normandin wrote:
Edit Dave, Gee I've never seen the wind farm we have in central NY at night, but the windmills are rather innocuous looking during the day. The only "bad" things I've heard about them is "noise", "they're ugly", "they might chop up birds", and "only those 'city folks' are making any money on this, so I don't want them". That's all balanced by the reduction in air pollution, which brings haze and the resultant degradation in astronomical observations (and astronomer's breathing), and the reduction in power bills. A tall structure will certainly need aviation hazard lights, but that would have little or no impact on light pollution. What am I missing? Give the fact that the population is growing and we're going to generate more electricity, which is worse: windmills or coal plants? BTW, there is also a wind farm proposal for Gore Mt. in the central Adirondacks, but that already has light problems from the ski center, so the local opposition is mostly on "ugly" and "where's my $$ in this" grounds. George N George, I had always assumed that wind farms were a good thing environmentally speaking but I've found out that may be an unwarranted assumption. http://www.protectpendleton.com/nbw_index.htm http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...0/ai_n14591193 http://www.globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=71 Dave Mitsky |
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Cherry Springs
Dave Mitsky wrote: Edit George, I had always assumed that wind farms were a good thing environmentally speaking but I've found out that may be an unwarranted assumption. http://www.protectpendleton.com/nbw_index.htm http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...0/ai_n14591193 http://www.globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=71 Dave Mitsky Here are a few more links on the con side of the issue. http://www.fairwind.org.uk/ http://www.protectruralscotland.com/ http://www.countryguardian.net/ Dave Mitsky |
#9
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Cherry Springs
"Dave Mitsky" wrote
I had always assumed that wind farms were a good thing environmentally speaking but I've found out that may be an unwarranted assumption............. Dave, Well I'm certainly not a "proponent" of wind farms, but all of the websites you mention seem primarily motivated by the "there're ugly and I don't want them messing up my beautiful views" argument. I would be concerned by the possible 'bird chopping' if there is evendence to prove it, but so far I've not seen any real evendence, just supposition. Next time I drive by the wind farm that is south of Utica NY I'll have to take a look on the ground for chopped up birds. As far as the hidden economic costs: I'm not sure how power economics works in PA, but here in New York, consumers buy their power from the supplier of choice, and each supplier must disclose the source of their power. Only one supplier in my area lists wind power, it's only 2% of their total, and I don't use them because they charge too much. From the point of view of astronomy and particularly Cherry Springs, the question is more light pollution and how much. I would bet that the State's dark sky designation for the park could keep the windmills at least a few miles away. Here in south central New York the location of Kopernik Observatory (light pollution) was the deciding factor for NYS refusing permission for gas well drilling in a state forest two miles away. George N |
#10
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Cherry Springs
George Normandin wrote: "Dave Mitsky" wrote I had always assumed that wind farms were a good thing environmentally speaking but I've found out that may be an unwarranted assumption............. Dave, Well I'm certainly not a "proponent" of wind farms, but all of the websites you mention seem primarily motivated by the "there're ugly and I don't want them messing up my beautiful views" argument. I would be concerned by the possible 'bird chopping' if there is evendence to prove it, but so far I've not seen any real evendence, just supposition. Next time I drive by the wind farm that is south of Utica NY I'll have to take a look on the ground for chopped up birds. As far as the hidden economic costs: I'm not sure how power economics works in PA, but here in New York, consumers buy their power from the supplier of choice, and each supplier must disclose the source of their power. Only one supplier in my area lists wind power, it's only 2% of their total, and I don't use them because they charge too much. From the point of view of astronomy and particularly Cherry Springs, the question is more light pollution and how much. I would bet that the State's dark sky designation for the park could keep the windmills at least a few miles away. Here in south central New York the location of Kopernik Observatory (light pollution) was the deciding factor for NYS refusing permission for gas well drilling in a state forest two miles away. George N George, If you read more deeply on the economics and the realities of power generation from wind farms, the picture is not a very rosy one. Wind turbine power does not seem to make economic sense, except for a very select few. Please have a look at what a Republican Congressman, no less, has to say about wind energy - http://www.stopillwind.org/lowerleve...ent=GoodAndBad The current governor of Pennsylvania is pushing wind power so I am not very sanguine about the possible outcome of this situation. Dave Mitsky |
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