Americans don’t hate living near solar and wind farms as much as you might think

As renewable energy becomes more widespread in the United States, large and bipartisan majorities of Americans say they wouldn’t mind fields of solar panels and wind turbines being built in their communities, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

23 评论

I never thought anyone had an objection to solar or wind farms except colossal idiots.
- People don't object to them unless they are near them. There's a phrase for it. Nimbyism. Not in my backyard
  I think windmills are beautiful, solar panels in fields a bit harder on the eyes, but there's plenty of places to put solar without ruining outstanding areas of natural beauty
  
  I'd love it if my backyard (or just beyond it) was a wind farm.
  Open space
  No traffic
  No yappy dogs
  No Karens/Kevins/Krotchgoblins pretending their backyard is a combination kitchen and living room, filling the air with wood smoke and sportsball shouting on an otherwise beautiful day/evening where I'd prefer to have my windows open and would if there wasn't a perpetual party just outside of said windows (yes this is a very specific complaint and no I would not have thought this was something to be annoyed about until it became chronic and annoying)
  
  Yep, go north of Detroit and you end up seeing these yokels. Which is really sad since we'd all really benefit from it.
- I don't mind windmills but I'd hate having them directly in my backyard. Between the noise and the constant moving shadows, I'd probably go mad.
  
  truly a most unbearable ruckus, how will you live
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHFjLQuJhnc
  seriously people freak out about the nonexistent noise of wind turbines, meanwhile they merrily live next to high-traffic roads that not only have studies to show how much the noise harms you, there's also the lovely air pollution to breathe in!
- Americans
Every time I've driven past a wind farm I think it looks amazing. I would love to just stare at them from my backyard if they weren't all in the middle of nowhere.
- As someone who used to drive up and back from LA to the SF Bay Area in college all the time, I always enjoyed going through the Altamont Pass and all the windmills they stick up there.
Lol yeah maybe because that entire narrative was spun out of whole cloth, and nobody actually cares about having a wind or solar farm somewhat near to them…?
Solar farms I haven't thought much about; they seem innocuous. Wind farms look cool and I'd be happy to live near one.
- Wind turbines are noisy. You probably wouldn't mind them in view, but you don't want to live too close. The owners don't want you to live too close either: while it almost never happens, if a blade falls off and it only kills some corn or a cow people don't care too much, but if it destroys their house or kills a person they get mad.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_DxIyU5zaU
  seriously i'm starting to think anyone who parrots this made up talking point is actually just a paid shill, THEY DON'T MAKE NOISE.
People largely don't object to climate measures in general.
“Oh god! Our house is living right next to a source of renewable energy! The horrors! People will gawk at the unsightly solar panels!”
Nah man I’m just happy renewable energy is growing. Coat my house in windmills and panels, baby. Turn that shit into a functional aesthetic.
The hell is that thumbnail?
- smh cant believe the Washington Post mistook solar and wind farms for UFOs. At least UFO's are real /s
  (idk ive noticed sometimes the wrong thumbnail gets loaded in. Mine looks like that too)
  
  I think it's kbin related but I still don't get how it happens, because I doubt this thumbnail came even from another WaPo article, as it's too fringe conspiracy bs & clickbaity. Honestly looks more like a YT video, especially with the black bars.
How did they define "near" and "in their community"?
There's a decent sized wind farm a few miles outside the town I live in and no one minds at all. If you tried to build that same wind farm right on the edge of town, or even inside it, I suspect the reaction would have been very different. A wind / solar farm 5 miles away is really NBD but one that's literally on the other side of your back fence may hit different.
- Given how quiet solar farms are and how more appealing a windmill is vs smokestacks I'd say that even basically in your backyard isn't bad.
  But I'd also like to know how they defined it here, or if they left it as asking people about it and leaving it up to each individual to use their idea of "near."