Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Biggest Blender Ever


On our way South from Napier we stumbled across the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere. It was really amazing to see. From what I understand one of the biggest resistances to wind farms is that some people think they are ugly to look at. I guess there's no accounting for taste but I thought the sight of these enormous windmills turning on the hills above us was beautiful. There is something eerily futuristic about them. I don't know if they make modern wind mills in any color other than white but I've never seen them if they do and the white just looks so clean and striking.

This wind farm has a place where we could view them and we were allowed to walk right up to one and stand beneath it. When you are really close the sound is impressive and if you stand directly underneath the blades it is actually very scary to look up.

From what the sign said EACH of the windmills in the farm generates enough electricity to power 900 average NZ homes. I thought that was pretty impressive. Anyway, I found the experience of seeing these huge futuristic devices really powerful. And somehow seeing these clean machines really fills me with some sort of hope.

Matt

2 comments:

AdamB said...

I had a dream once in which Mark Andreas and I started a wind farm company. It's the wave of the future!

A Family Abroad said...

I have always loved the ones in Denmark. As you fly into Copenhagen, the plane flies over them. So incredible. Have you ever seen the ones in Pennsylvannia between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg? Also incredible. One issue with them has to do with their impact on birds. Ste always says we should remember that there is no perfect fix. Everything has some costs. I agree, however, that the looks of these incredible structures are not among their costs.

xxx

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