Wind farms vs. neighbors - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 23

tall enough to be seen from several miles away. 10 Even in rural areas where
population densities are relatively low, turbines can impose significant costs
by disrupting territorial views for local residents who may have grown
attached to an area's existing natural backdrop. The presence of turbines
continues into the night, when turbine safety lighting often required under
federal aviation laws flashes across an otherwise pristine evening sky. 11
Unfortunately, only so much can be done to disguise commercial wind
turbines from view. Because the colors naturally occurring in the sky and on
land tend to change with the seasons and time of day, it is often impossible
to successfully camouflage turbines with paint such that they blend in with
their surroundings. 12 Painting designs on turbines or painting them multiple
colors tends to only make them more distracting, and painting them gray
can make them seem “dirty” or “associated with an industrial, urban or
military character.” 13 Consequently, most commercial wind turbines are
painted white—a color choice based partly on a belief that bright white
turbines “convey a positive image” and are “associated with cleanliness.” 14
Installing smaller, shorter turbines to make them less conspicuous to
neighbors is also rarely a viable option. The energy productivity of natural
wind tends to increase significantly with altitude, so turbines are purposely
designed to stand high above the ground to capture those more productive
wind currents. 15 By towering well above the earth's surface, modern
commercial wind turbines also avoid turbulence from nearby buildings and
trees that might otherwise diminish their productivity. 16 And the sheer size
of a commercial wind turbine's rotor, which directly affects its generating
capacity, requires that the turbine be mounted upon a tall tower.
Unable to camouflage or shrink the size of utility-scale wind turbines,
wind energy developers must often find ways to assuage locals' concerns
about the potential visual impacts of these enormous devices. Developers'
ability to do so depends in part on local residents' subjective views about
the attractiveness of the turbines themselves. Indeed, wind turbines are no
different from any other structure in that their beauty or ugliness ultimately
rests in the eye of their beholder. Some scholars have suggested that wind
farms could and should be more commonly viewed as works of art. 17 Citing
the widespread depiction of windmills in notable seventeenth-century Dutch
paintings and the large-scale environmental art projects of famous artists
such as Christo Javacheff, they argue that commercial wind energy projects
should be perceived as artistic creations rather than industrial blight. 18
Of course, not all landowners near wind farms show such appreciation
for wind turbines in their communities. In some instances, neighbors who
fear the visual impacts of wind energy projects have sought to stop them by
filing aesthetics-based nuisance claims. Nuisance claims generally require a
showing that the defendant's unreasonable conduct has interfered with the
plaintiff's own reasonable use of land. 19
Fortunately for wind energy developers, courts in many countries are
reluctant to find a nuisance against a productive land use like a wind