An op-ed column discusses benefits and costs of wind energy -- the newly developing industry behind it, the tax breaks it receives, and the logic or NIMBYism of opponents.
Are windmills eyesores, or signs of modernity? Do they affect property values? Should government mandate siting standards for wind generators?
Although recently rising energy costs have created a buzz in the market for alternative and renewable energy sources, some players are not yet convinced. Opponents of windpower call it "...an aesthetic blight, a source of noise pollution, a murderer of birds and bats. As for the still-young wind industry, it is an environmental plunderer, with its hirelings and parasites using a few truths and the politics of wishful thinking to frame a house of lies."
Op-ed columnist Anne Applebaum argues that such oppositions "...reflect a deeper American malady. The problem plaguing new energy developments is no longer NIMBYism, the 'Not-In-My-Back-Yard' movement. The problem now, as one wind-power executive puts it, is BANANAism: 'Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.'"
Will other greener alternatives face the same opposition?
FULL STORY: Tilting at Windmills
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research