Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
farm based solely on aesthetic objections. Courts in the United States have
generally held that the mere fact that a “thing is unsightly or offends the
aesthetic sense of a neighbor does not ordinarily make it a nuisance or
afford ground for injunctive relief.” 20 Still, at least one court in the United
States has suggested that neighbors to a commercial wind farm could
recover for nuisance based on the “turbines' unsightliness.” 21 Wind energy
developers in the United States thus cannot have total certainty that they
are protected from aesthetics-based nuisance claims.
Well aware of the potential for aesthetic concerns to slow the pace of
onshore and offshore wind energy development, the International Energy
Agency (IEA) has begun searching for ways to change popular perceptions
about the appearance of wind farms. In May of 2012, the IEA distributed a
report summarizing a three-year study on how to encourage greater social
acceptance of wind farms . 22 The working group that prepared the report
consisted of representatives from 10 countries throughout the world who
met semiannually to discuss this issue. 23
Among other things, the IEA report concluded that some local opposition
to wind farms is useful in that it can be a source of localized knowledge
that can ultimately make a project more socially beneficial.24 24 Still, the report
described the need for greater “monitoring” of social acceptance of wind
farms across cultures and projects. 25 As wind energy continues to spread
across the world, more and more information will become available for
formulating best practices to promote social acceptance of these projects
in the coming years. In the meantime, the wind energy industry and other
wind energy supporters must continue searching for ways to change popular
perceptions about aesthetic impacts of wind turbines, characterizing them
as “elegant and graceful … symbols of a better, less polluted future.” 26
The Cape Wind project and aesthetics-based opposition to offshore wind
energy
Historically, most commercial wind energy development has occurred
onshore so aesthetic objections to such projects have typically related to
terrestrial viewsheds. However, as activities surrounding the infamous
“Cape Wind” project in the United States have shown, aesthetics-based
opposition can hamper or halt wind energy development offshore as well.
Cape Wind is a proposed offshore wind energy project that would involve
roughly 130 turbines spread out among 25 square miles near the center of
the Nantucket Sound of the coast of Massachusetts in the United States. 27
This “Horseshoe Shoals” area of the Sound is characterized by shallow
water depths, exceptional wind resources and a central location in the
Sound relatively distant from sensitive habitat or fishing areas. Convinced
that these factors made the area a seemingly ideal place for an offshore wind
farm, developer Jim Gordon filed a permit application for a project there
in 2001. 28 At the time, it seemed almost inevitable that Cape Wind would
 
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