Proposed wind turbines on Tomduff Hill

Just heard reports of a planning application to erect wind turbines on Tomduff Hill (thats the smaller hill on the opposite side of the road from Mt Leinster entrance gates at "Nine Stones"). Surely this cant be allowed to go ahead? The closing date for objections is tomorrow Feb 1st at 4.30 at Carlow Co Council. This is the hill which is used for walking by dozens of families on Sunday afternoons. Its also an area of archaeological importance as the "Nine Stones" mark an ancient burial site. Seems the locals only became aware of the plans over the past few days and are asking people to put in their objections today or tomorrow before its too late.

Nothingbetter2d

if it means cleaner cheaper electricity then im fine with it.

Honey-ec

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

if it means cleaner cheaper electricity then im fine with it.

Me too.

OP, did you actually bother to check whether there's an application in place or were you too busy rushing on here to whip up some outrage???

Rabidlamb

inthehat wrote: »

Surely this cant be allowed to go ahead?

Don't call me Shirley.
Someone think of the children.
Mothers United against anything out of the ordinary.

It's 2011, it's progress, there should be 1000's of these in place already.

Bloody Nimby.

lucylu

here is the application
http://193.178.1.229/ePlan41/FileRefDetails.aspx?file_number=10391&LASiteID=0

testicle

Not only should they build these on Tomduff, the country should be covered with them.

lucylu

yip I agree I think they are beautiful

Git101

testicle wrote: »

Not only should they build these on Tomduff, the country should be covered with them.

They have been built in large numbers in parts of the UK & Europe and they are a terrible eyesore.
I'm all for renewable energy sources but blighting the landscape with wind turbines may not be the best option.

amacachi

Git101 wrote: »

They have been built in large numbers in parts of the UK & Europe and they are a terrible eyesore.
I'm all for renewable energy sources but blighting the landscape with wind turbines may not be the best option.

I love them and if there was less rubbish in our planning process then they would be concentrated more than they are now whereas here there's probably less allowed per unit area of land making the "problem" worse for those who hate the look of them. I love the look of them and it really annoys me that we're still literally burning land to produce electricity.

Git101

amacachi wrote: »

I love them and if there was less rubbish in our planning process then they would be concentrated more than they are now whereas here there's probably less allowed per unit area of land making the "problem" worse for those who hate the look of them. I love the look of them and it really annoys me that we're still literally burning land to produce electricity.

I actually quite like the ones near Mt Leinster and when there was only 2 or 3 near Kilquiggan I thought they were ok too.
One of the problems is with people screaming "green", "carbon credits", "Kyoto", anybody who objects to every hill in the country being covered with turbines gets branded as someone who is anti-progress.

Commercial interests are driving the building of wind turbines, that may not be in the best interests of Ireland or the Irish people.

amacachi

Git101 wrote: »

I actually quite like the ones near Mt Leinster and when there was only 2 or 3 near Kilquiggan I thought they were ok too.
One of the problems is with people screaming "green", "carbon credits", "Kyoto", anybody who objects to every hill in the country being covered with turbines gets branded as someone who is anti-progress.

Commercial interests are driving the building of wind turbines, that may not be in the best interests of Ireland or the Irish people.

Not importing a massive, massive proportion of our energy can only be positive. I'm no hippy and not into any kind of nationalism but paying for imports is generally not a good thing and if we can get an alternative we should be going for it.

Git101

amacachi wrote: »

Not importing a massive, massive proportion of our energy can only be positive. I'm no hippy and not into any kind of nationalism but paying for imports is generally not a good thing and if we can get an alternative we should be going for it.

Absolutely agree 100%, however, destroying one natural resource for the sake of another could be a poor trade off.

Wind turbines can be located off the coast, more expensive to set up and run but doesn't destroy the natural beauty of our countryside.
Better option ?

Nothingbetter2d

Git101 wrote: »

Absolutely agree 100%, however, destroying one natural resource for the sake of another could be a poor trade off.

Wind turbines can be located off the coast, more expensive to set up and run but doesn't destroy the natural beauty of our countryside.
Better option ?

increasing costs would then negate the benefits of having a cheaper source of electricity. and Lord knows electricity is already way too expensive at the moment. Also if electric cars start to become the norm we will need even more of these turbines.

a mountain view is something a few people will probably spend a few minutes of their lives taking notice of. A cheaper & cleaner source of electricity is something the mass can take advantage of.

progress sometimes requires sacrifice.. a loss of a scenic mountain view you probably spend no more than 5 minutes appreciating for a healthier environment overall is a good trade off in my book.

Git101

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

increasing costs would then negate the benefits of having a cheaper source of electricity. and Lord knows electricity is already way too expensive at the moment. Also if electric cars start to become the norm we will need even more of these turbines.

I'm not sure where you get the idea that wind generated electricity is cheaper...it's actually more expensive to produce..

Producing electricity to charge electric cars is way more inefficient that running cars on diesel/petrol..

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

progress sometimes requires sacrifice.. a loss of a scenic mountain view you probably spend no more than 5 minutes appreciating for a healthier environment overall is a good trade off in my book.

At last it's starting to dawn on people that the Irish mountains and countryside are a valuable natural resource. There is a slow but steady move towards realising the amenity and commercial value of this resource.
Selling our landscape now for, what is in effect, a more expensive form of electricity is pure folly (that's putting it politely). Not only are we selling out this generation but we will have destroyed the landscape for all following generations.

I have no doubt that if you asked the loggers, both legal and illegal, that are raping the rainforests, they would tell you that they are doing it in the name of progress...

Progress doesn't have to equal sacrifice

testicle

Can we have Nuclear Power stations please also?

kwalshe

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

a mountain view is something a few people will probably spend a few minutes of their lives taking notice of.
a loss of a scenic mountain view you probably spend no more than 5 minutes appreciating for a healthier environment overall is a good trade off in my book.

I believe this would be a matter of opinion. I can sit and relax with the view at up there for well over an hour and it's so beautifully peaceful.
While I agree the masts are aesthetically pleasing, I don't fancy them popping up absolutely everywhere, especially so close to an important local amenity, with all the paragliders, mtb'ers and many many walkers up there.

tombull82

testicle wrote: »

Can we have Nuclear Power stations please also?

This is not too far from a possibility.

It was brought up a few years ago but got "put to the side" i.e not scrapped


So while I DO personally quite like the Look of turbines, I also believe that maybe a bit more though could go into their placement,

But people will have to live with the fact that we are going to be seen a LOT more of these popping, either that or Nuclear will be back on the Plan.

Albeit I reckon it will be Nuclear Fuzion rather than Fission by the time that happens so it wont be too concerning. :-)

Holybejaysus

tombull82 wrote: »

This is not too far from a possibility.

It was brought up a few years ago but got "put to the side" i.e not scrapped


So while I DO personally quite like the Look of turbines, I also believe that maybe a bit more though could go into their placement,

But people will have to live with the fact that we are going to be seen a LOT more of these popping, either that or Nuclear will be back on the Plan.

Albeit I reckon it will be Nuclear Fuzion rather than Fission by the time that happens so it wont be too concerning. :-)

I wonder would it be feasible to part fund a new power station with Britain? They get to build and run it, we get cheap power via the inter-connector. I'm not an engineer, but is this theoretically possible? Or do you lose energy the further it has to be transported along a power cable?

testicle

tombull82 wrote: »

This is not too far from a possibility.

It was brought up a few years ago but got "put to the side" i.e not scrapped


So while I DO personally quite like the Look of turbines, I also believe that maybe a bit more though could go into their placement,

But people will have to live with the fact that we are going to be seen a LOT more of these popping, either that or Nuclear will be back on the Plan.

Albeit I reckon it will be Nuclear Fuzion rather than Fission by the time that happens so it wont be too concerning. :-)

Nuclear is currently illegal in this country, it was made so after the hippies had a love-in over Carnsore Point, so the law would have to be changed to allow it.

tombull82

Holybejaysus wrote: »

I wonder would it be feasible to part fund a new power station with Britain? They get to build and run it, we get cheap power via the inter-connector. I'm not an engineer, but is this theoretically possible? Or do you lose energy the further it has to be transported along a power cable?

This would be possible but i would imagine there would be a lot of issue's around regulating prices etc as it would have to be governed by more than 1 state. Plus it would be a shame to miss out on the work it would bring to our country during building, then longer term for setup and maintenance. If nuclear does not go ahead then maybe a new type of "green fuel" power plant could be built in the carlow area. Piggy back that with the bio fuel beat plant John Cassin is fronting for carlow at the moment and we could have a huge potential for a new direction for carlow. (carlow energy hub) sounds good. :-)

tombull82

testicle wrote: »

Nuclear is currently illegal in this country, it was made so after the hippies had a love-in over Carnsore Point, so the law would have to be changed to allow it.

Correct but whats law nowadays? FF wrote them in pencil so they could amend then as the wished. IMO :-)