we are being forced fed the importance of clean energy in the UK all the time. Ive got nothing against clean energy but wind farms are spoiling our most scenic places in the UK. Ive heard they are planning a wind farm in the parish of Dundaga which is a shame as the forests towards the Baltic coast are stunning. Has any one else heard rhese rumours.  thanks

Karl Dambers

Yes, it is true. 4 wind energy generators. 3.5 kilometers from the seaside in the Dundaga parish.

I do not know about Dundaga, but Grobiņa, next to Liepāja, has had a sizable wind farm for about a decade. So it is nothing new.

i do understand the need for new energy but it is an eye sore on the landscape. Aleksejs, is there any way of finding out the proposed location of the wind farm??

Karl

It’s a place called Ezeru Spīdolas. Ring any bells?

Apparently, there was a public hearing on the issue more than a year ago.

dambers - 26 September 2012 12:46 PM

i do understand the need for new energy but it is an eye sore on the landscape. Aleksejs, is there any way of finding out the proposed location of the wind farm??

Karl

Karl,
these things do have a significant visual impact when installed but there already is a gigantic radio telescope in that area. The telescope was a going away present from the soviets. Allegedly it was initially used for defence and space program purposes but now is mainly for scientific research.

In addition, if building these wind turbines helps LV in any way to get off of Gazprom’s teat, I am all for it.

Well here’s a curve-ball for you. My wife and I actually l-i-k-e wind farms. My wife especially likes them. So much so, that we have a couple of framed, professionally photgraphed pics in our house to remind us of the wind farms we enjoyed visting when we lived in California. We lived within easy driving distance to the wind farms in Northern California’s Alameda county.http:  //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_Wind_Farm

They’re not eyesores to either one of us. I have lain eyes on the Grobiņi wind farm (near Liepāja ) on a past visit to Latvija and have seen the one Aleks cites too, though they are both quite small compared to CA’s vast wind turbine spreads which reach hill crest after hill crest in places. Others might call them eyesores. We call them clean energy generators and pretty to look at in action to boot.

Every energy source seems to have its own unique detractors who feel that way passionately for their own individual reasons.

Weed smokers especially seem to cringe at nuclear power options. Apparently they prefer to glow in the dark due the bioluminescence of their lava lamps rather than the energized nuclear particles that emanate from those pretty and mysterious domed reactors. Environmentalists and coal miners’ health advocates get huffy about the downside of the coal option. Still others worry about legitimate concerns with absolutely all of the rest of the energy source alternatives. There are no free pusdienas in any of these options.

On top of it all, some like Mr. Vecrumba here on LOL - I belatedly salute your activism on this, Peter - correctly point out the conundrum of Latvia’s energy dependence on those pesky Russian energy peddlers. Politically, more so than anything, this should concern the Letts in Latvia, but as Andrejs article in a different thread highlights, the proclivity towards indecision on which option to chose….seems to be a national badge of honor for Latvians. Indecision. Actually, having said that, I don’t think that this need be true at all. But, anything said and repeated and repeated again often enough does have a strange way of infiltrating your collective brain’s living room just like a clever advertising jingle or deft song lyric does.

But as a long ago professor of mine was fond of saying, “The blackboard doesn’t object to what you write on it.”....keep on writing. This has the potential for being a good discussion.

Al

P.S. Those 5 Hour Energy Drinks are way over-priced. Multiple cups of potent coffee will save you lotsa Lats.

Let’s try that link again. Obviously, I screwed it up the first go-round.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_Wind_Farm

If you read the verbiage in the link, you will see that the oppositionists to wind farms in CA expressed concerns about the harm they represent to birds. Recently, on the U.S. East Coast proposed off-shore wind farms several miles off the coast of Delaware were deep-sixed for the same rationale during heated legislative hearings last year.

Every option has its pro and cons.

For some decision makers, indecision is the best option because of that. Maybe Letts will accordingly someday become the envy of the rest of the world instead of being known for being envious themselves. (grin)

A short note on the energy question: Point number one: is the price of gas. Latvia—and other Baltic states—pay way more for the Russian gas compared to Germany, for example. With a common market that is supposed to be the EU, it seems ridiculous and is part of a row between the European Commission and Gazprom. Not a small role in this played Lithuania. Point number two on electricity: the three Baltic states can’t seem to come to an agreement over the nuclear plant in Lithuania as Russia builds nuclear plants in the Kaliningrad region, 14 km away from the border with Lithuania, and in Belarus. Point three: shale energy has been mentioned as an alternative, but the process tends to pollute the environment and requires technological know-how. Point four: in spite of complaints about Gazprom, it has never ever in the last two decades turned off gas for the Baltics, the way it did for Ukraine.

Aleksejs et al.,
“Point four: in spite of complaints about Gazprom, it has never ever in the last two decades turned off gas for the Baltics, the way it did for Ukraine’

There are at least two reasons why gas has not been turned off to Latvia.  Inčukalna reservats,  where gas purchased in summer when prices are supposedly low and supply is abundant. is stored.  In winter part of the gas is sent to Petersburg.

Visu labu,

The Inchukalns natural gas storage is an interesting entity. No one really knows who owns the facility and its gas. Latvijas Gaze? The state? Gazprom? I really think you are flattering Gazprom by saying they need this storage facility. After all, it did not turn off the gas to Lithuania, in spite of the fact that it made the most noise on EU’s unbundling.

At the Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage Facility, natural gas is injected only during the summer months, when Latvia receives natural gas from Russia, in the amounts specified in contracts. Natural gas is mostly used for heating, therefore the largest consumption of natural gas takes place is in the autumn and winter. The main pipelines through which Latvia receives natural gas have a high workload during the heating season; for this reason, Latvia receives natural gas from Russia only in the summer, as it has since the opening of the storage facility. The gas is then stored in the storage facility, so that Latvia is not dependant on the Siberia-Europe transmission pipeline system during the winter. As similar problems affect Pskov and other Russian borderland districts, a portion of the natural gas is sent back to Russia during the winter.

source

I know St. Pete - Pskov, all or some—who cares, right?

Aleksejs et al.,
“After all, it did not turn off the gas to Lithuania, in spite of the fact that it made the most noise on EU’s unbundling”
Are you sure that Russia did not turn of the gas to Lithuania ?  Did not Latvia ssupply gas to Lithuania because of an emergency ?

Visu labu,

There is gas and there is oil…

Al, you’re the first person I’ve heard that has a positive response to windmill turbines, not being averse to having one sitting close to your property line, near enough to be visible from your home.  There’s been an ongoing controversy now for decades about the proposal of a wind farm off the shores of Nantucket in Cape Cod, MA.  Residents led by Sen. Edward Kennedy whose family has a compound in Hyannis have fiercely opposed the project claiming it to be a blight, detrimental to birds, wildlife and property values.  Despite all this opposition, at this time it looks like the plan has been approved and will be going forward.

Just recently a few wind turbines were put up in the little town of Kingston, not too far away from where I live.  There were ample discussions, town meetings beforehand ending with the final approval, blessings of the majority of the community.  Now many of these same residents who gave the go-ahead are having more than just a few regrets.  There have been complaints,  mostly coming from people in the near by development of Mcmansions about the constant drone, noise, not being able to sleep at night , the unpleasant, jarring vibrations felt throughout their homes.  The town isn’t about to just chuck the whole project – time, money investment, so now they’re attempting to address the issues, make some improvements, whatever that may mean.

The bottom line, as I see it, seems to be— yeah, we need to do something about alternative energy and maybe wind turbines aren’t such a bad idea, as long as they’re not in MY backyard.  I have to concede that I am one of the selfish ones and would not like my own private space, sanctuary, as such violated.  And of course, you are right, Al, there is no free ‘pusdienas’ out there! 

Irena