The answer, my friend . . .
August 21, 2007 at 2:19 pm by Andisheh Nouraee in NewsLast Friday, Atlanta’s Board of Zoning Adjustment approved Curt and Christine Mann’s plan to erect a 45-foot power-generating wind turbine in the yard of their Grant Park home. Many of the Manns’ neighbors oppose the city’s decision.
The way the AJC presents the turbine controversy, you’d think that the neighborhood dispute is a battle between an ecology-minded family and a group of grumpy, hypocritical NIMBYs.
Tit:
The Manns say they’re simply committed to relying less on fossil fuels in order to help curb global warming.
Tat:
In 2000, three-quarters of the voters in the precincts that include Grant Park voted for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore over George Bush. Gore went on to star in “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary about global warming that won an Academy Award this year.
But the Manns’ tower would be ineffective, nothing more than a giant garden ornament, according to opponents.
Absent from the story is an attempt to find out if either side has a better argument.
Fact #1: Southwest Windpower, the company that manufactured the Manns’ turbine, says their residential wind turbine requires “at least 10 MPH average wind speed (best results at 12 MPH or more)”.
Fact #2: According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s wind-power maps and charts (here, here and here), Atlanta’s average wind speed is below 10 mph.
Simply put, there’s not enough wind in Atlanta to power a residential wind turbine.
The Manns may be within their legal rights to erect one, but their wind turbine makes as much eco-sense as building a hydroelectric dam across Peachtree Creek.
August 21st, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I think that they mentioned it in the article, but it bears repeating – how in the hell was this not under review by the Urban Design Commission seeing as how Grant Park is a locally designated historic district?!
I can’t believe that this will stand up. I have no problem with developing alternate energy sources, but a 45 foot wind turbine seems more appropriate in areas of the city zoned either industrial or heavy commercial – not residential. If this goes through, expect others to apply for billboards and cell phone towers in their neighborhoods. Then again, nobody ever really accused the City of Atlanta government as being too bright.