I am a WIMBY
The fight for renewable energy begins here!
Whilst polls reveal overwhelming support for wind energy - 74% are in favour of increasing it - a staggering 75% of onshore applications are being turned down by planning committees.
WIMBY stands for Wind in My Back Yard. It was influenced by Facebook groups who are already campaigning for wind energy in the UK. For example, more than 37,000 people are already members of groups such as Put a Windfarm in My Backyard if You Like.
The WIMBY campaign will seek to empower people to make the case locally for windfarms in their areas, and to let politicians know that people who support renewable energy are tired of being pushed out of the debate by anti-wind groups.
From this page, you can sign a petition to show your support or email your local representatives to urge them to support the expansion of renewable energy. You can also join the MyPlanet WIMBY group, as well as the Action for Renewables Facebook group.
To sign the petition you'll need to put in some personal information to help verify you're a real person. If you're concerned about this, please read our Privacy Policy.
I want to see wind in my back yard
It’s clear that we can no longer rely on fossil fuels to power Britain.
We need to combat climate change. We need a more secure energy supply. We need to create new green jobs.
We can’t do these things while still relying on oil. Only renewable energy can achieve all this.
I urge you to push for the expansion of renewable energy in the UK. I’m willing to do my part – I want to see wind in my back yard!
The expansion of renewable energy
It’s clear that we can no longer rely on fossil fuels to power Britain.
We need to combat climate change. We need a more secure energy supply. We need to create new green jobs.
We can’t do these things while still relying on oil. Only renewable energy can achieve all this.
I urge you to push for the expansion of renewable energy in [Local_Authority]. I’m willing to do my part – I want to see wind in my back yard!
Where do you stand on climate change?
Over the coming parliament, our next MP will help decide whether our lights will stay on. As a resident of your constituency, I’m interested in your views on our future energy supply.
Many of our older power stations will begin shutting down in 2015, and we need to decide now how we’re going to replace them. We need to decide whether we’ll rely on imported fossil fuel for our electricity. We need to decide whether Britain will do its part in the battle to stop dangerous climate change.
Beating these challenges means getting more of our energy from renewable sources – the wind, the waves, and the sun. That’s why I’m asking you now – as someone who has a chance to shape Britain’s future - to commit to doing your part to make sure we can reach this goal.
I’m a supporter of Action for Renewables, which is a movement of ordinary people working to build a renewable future for Britain. Achieving this may involve something as simple as supporting a local wind farm, which is why we’ve launched a petition called ‘I am a WIMBY’, for people who’d be happy to have a wind farm in their back yard. I’m asking you to show your support for our goal by signing the petition, which you can do so at
http://www.actionforrenewables.com/campaigns/i-am-wimby
click on the green ‘Support’ button. In signing it, you’ll demonstrate that not only are you committed to stopping global warming, but that you’re also committed to bringing new green jobs and a secure energy supply to Britain.
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Comments
Hi. I was wondering whether there would be any mileage in linking the WIMBY campaign to a map system so people could suggest places near them they would feel appropriate as wind farm locations. They could also suggest certain features they would like to see (such as the scale of wind farm they would like or if their support would be stronger given a degree of community ownership, perhaps along Fintry lines). I imagine this could be a valuable resource to wind farm developers, particularly those see as important the relationship between their development and the local community.
That sounds like a great idea. We'll see what might be possible with this
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Location od proposed Davidstow windfarm shown miles out on map. Site is actually north of Bodmin Moor about 6 miles south of Delabile windfarm owned by Good Energy.
I suggest this be relocated on your site for accuracy. Your marker near Looe on the south coast of Cornwall is misleading.
Thanks for this - will pass it on to our IT guys.
davehawkey's idea is a great one - if there's a map showing strong clusters of WIMBY support surely it would help developers locate WIMBY friendly areas and get more built. Look forward to seeing it.
Theres a proposed 6 turbine Wind Farm at Rushey Mead, Wokingham. It is opposed by Householders Against Rushy Mead (HARM), who think it will disturb their sleep if its within 2 km of their homes. http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=206044571623
The Local Green Party http://www.readinggreenparty.org.uk/node/475 support this. The Labour Reading Eas candidate does too, but we haven't heard from their Wokingham PPC yet.
The risk of oil prices rising in 2012 is increasing amid the
threat of supply disruptions and shrinking spare capacity in
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according
to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.“We continue to see a strong case
for crude oil fundamentals tightening further in 2012,” the
bank said in a research note today. Current oil use is so wide
that it has become the major fuel worldwide.
Current Oil Prices
I am a member of the facebook group windfarm supporters which is based in the u.k.'s most northerly island group the shetlands.
We are supporting a proposed windfarm development by viking energy based in central shetland which has been opposed https://www.blogger.com/comment.q?blogID=8704984&postID=6088899775372214953
Links to Tom Morton's blog (scroll down to relevant section) to read overview or join our FB site. windfarm supporters.
we want to be mapped as WIMBY'S!
p.s. Hello Adrian!! met you in Spain!
I am definitely in support of wid turbines and happy to have one nearby. I was in Lowestoft yesterday and found the wind turbine near Orbis House really inspiring. The sound from it was indeed musical just as the waves. I would suggest that those who oppose wind turbines should try living near a coal mine or polluted river from oil drilling for some time. I think they would change their mind.
I have just started blogging about similar issues
http://cejugbo.blogspot.com/
I cannot believe who ill informed you are,
It's not musical at 2 am when you are trying to sleep..onshore wind farms are a health risk as the noise guidlines take averages for background noise and not minimums as required by all other noise standards. I visited a couple two weeks ago who have had to leave their home because of the sleep disturbance - which is actually higher than the WHO guidelines on community noise and sleep disturbance criteria.
They are unable to sell their home whihc is now dilapidated as they had no choice but to move out over five years ago. The council have reduced their coincil tax and the RICS say it is almost certainly evidence that wind farms affect health and house prices.
putting 400 ft struvtres less than a half a mile from dwellings is unacceptable when there are other ways of generating renewable energy without affecting and disenfranchising whole communities.
Hi Chas,
It's true that there is some ongoing discussion about noise guidelines at night - research has recently been commissioned to see whether these guidelines are appropriate.
However, it's also important to emphasise that RICS is far more equivocal than you make out - the evidence they cite in favour of wind turbines having an impact on property prices tends to lack verification beyond the immediate testimony of the house owners. In several cases they cite people who've claimed that wind turbine noise is excessive, only for council officers checking up on this not being able to hear anything at all.
Current guidelines refer to the background noise level in the area before the development, rather than absolute noise levels. For instance, the main road I live next to is louder than any wind farm in the UK. I'd gladly swap!
Also Chas, please don't denigrate other site users with comments like 'I cannot believe who ill informed you are', there's no need to be rude.
My dad once told me, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king".
My son told me, (at the age of nine, when I was just getting to grips with our first computer), "Don't worry dad, you're only learning".
I always keep these two moments in mind when discussing renewables. You can quote me as saying, "You don't know, until you know"! We are all learning all the time, (even when we are teaching).
I've been a WIMBY all my life & didn't know it til today, as I've just found this great site. I have shares in Westmill Windfarm Co-op near my home & a Solar-Thermal system on my roof. I also attended a windpower course some years ago at CAT, Macanlleth. And I will be installing PV asaic.
YES there are issues about wind/blade & generator noise. (Westmill have the generators in the base of the towers, which reduces this noise). I wouldn't want to live TOO close either to a large wind turbine or a coal/oil/gas/nuclear power station. So the argument is skewed against wind when thousands of people don't have a choice about the alternative nasties.
Thanks, Chas, for this discussion. Now we are all more aware. Westmill doesn't have a noise problem, as far as I know! But if I invest in any more windfarm projects I will be alert to the potential of noise being a future problem. It's true that noise travels further at night. Something to do with air temp/density I believe. So another test should be done at night.
Everyone should remember this: Democracy is not just about the right to vote (or not to vote), it's about the discussion, the right to discuss without prejudice, to question and the way we achieve ultimate wisdom. x
Noise from other types of power stations has to be quieter as the ETSUR97 is skewed in favour of developers - you need to read it.
It uses averages fior the background and not minimums and allows higher night time levels than daytime the ONLY guideline (and don't forget it is not a standard but a guideline that has been forced into planning law)
As a qualified engineer in acoustics I know about this. I have also worked on all types of power stations.
Your readers are ill informed if they don't know this already! Also I have members of your group calling me an idiot - how rude is that?
"In several cases they cite people who've claimed that wind turbine noise is excessive, only for council officers checking up on this not being able to hear anything at all." tell that to Jane Davis and her ill husband.
The main road near where you live comes under different guidance and is not comparable to wind turbine noise - frequency, levels etc. so it's just not possible to compare these two different soources - that is why more work needs to be done.
Also comparing broadband noise with pure tones is unacceptable so the studies salford have done are meaningless.
How close were the children in the picture on this website to the turbine. According to Vesta, no-one should be within 1300 ft of a turbine, and should certainly not stand under the rotating blades.
Chas
I live 850m from the closest turbine of a 15 turbine wind farm in Cornwall. From our boundary fence, when walking our dogs, we are 600m from the closest turbine. We have lived here for 10 years and my wife and I and our three children have never heard a single sound from the turbines. The turbines are "old" designs, having been installed in 1992. The main road is 1km away and the noise from that is plainly audible all over our property.
I am in the process of applying for consent for a 500kw turbine on our property as my children love them. We sometimes go up to the nearby wind farm and stand close to the turbines, at about 30m, and that is the only time we can hear them. I have measured the audibility distance at three wind farms and found that a group of about a dozen adults and children cannot hear 250-350kw turbines, downwind, at more than 150m.
We live opposite the largest windfarm in Europe,(Whitelee) and it is huge. Since its opening, there is a visitor centre and woodland walks etc, we often take our dogs out for walks there, and in all that time have not been concious of any level of noise and there doesn't appear to be any restrictions as to how close you get. There is however a warning on entering the site that in the event of thunderstorms to evacuate immediately, I think this is obvious though, as being high up on a hillside and with "lightening conductors" all around, would anyone want to stay?
We live approx. 1 mile from windfarm, but believe me we wouldn't want to be within 10 mile of a nuclear facility.
as yes Whitelee - safe one that
http://www.stoplenchwickwindfarm.org.uk/impact/scottishpower-renewables-wind-farm-shut-over-safety-fears-after-150ft-turbine-blade-falls-off/
you wouldn't be able to build a nuclear power station there because it would be too noisy - the law on noise from other establishments is more strict than the simple giudelines of etsu.
if the cornwall windfarm is delabole that's the first one i worked on in the early 90s when there were loads of noise complaints from the gearbox noise.
they sorted that out but as the blades are bigger on modern turbines the issue is now blade or aerodynamic noise.
in order to establish the noise from windfarms it needs to be done at low background noise such as early hours of the morning. simply standing near them duting the day is not scientific and only goes to show how the bwea like to call noise a myth when in fact it is the subject of many high court cases, farms being shutdown as they are too noisy etc.
I love windfarms. I know many of the Mid Wales ones very well, having flown over loads of them on my hang glider. They are beautiful structures, and walking through a windfarm when they are all going well is quite awe inspiring vision of where mankind needs to be to survive.
Since the entire country is one giant man-made landscape anyway, I see no difference in the concept of visual windfarms versus a visual treeless sheep-grazing monoculture (mankind's work), drystone walls (mankinds work), rows of power pylons (mankinds work), towns, villages, power stations-- we did it all.
Derjenige schwer pro rean intensional werden Schmetterlinge im Bauch haben sechste abzubaden stecken I, Geld verdienen denjenigen tun Wirkungsbereich ergoetzen das.
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The risk of oil prices rising in 2012 is increasing amid the
threat of supply disruptions and shrinking spare capacity in
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according
to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.“We continue to see a strong case
for crude oil fundamentals tightening further in 2012,” the
bank said in a research note today. Current oil use is so wide
that it has become the major fuel worldwide.
Current Oil Prices