Blowing in the Wind

One of the greatest benefits to going to a school like Penn State are the opportunities both offered to students and the opportunities students are able to leverage not only because of the university’s name but because at a university as big as Penn State, you can always find a small army of people with the same interest. One such example is a tour of the North Allegheny Wind Farm arranged by the Engineers for a Sustainable World student organization at Penn State. That said, on what felt like the coldest, most miserable morning of February, a small army of students gathered to convoy to the top of Cresson Mountain.

The North Allegheny Wind Farm is comprised of 75 wind turbines atop Cresson Mountain. Indeed, traveling U.S. Route 22 between Pittsburgh and Altoona will take you along the northern boundary of this wind farm. From the road it is difficult to fully appreciate the size of a wind turbine. But the noise you hear from the turbines while traveling the road is indicative of the noise generated by these behemoths.

Looking up to the blades of the turbine from the base you realize how massive these turbines are. From this vantage you also realize that they sound exactly like the wind. The only difference from the wind itself is that the sound does not cease unless the turbine is not operating. But I will be the first to admit, I would not want to live next to or among them, but a mile or more away would likely not differ from living a mile or so away from an industrial facility. In fact, here are two YouTube clips (one and two) of noise generated from wind turbines and you'll hear a significant difference between the two.

Looking up from the base of a turbine

Aside from the turbines, it was also incredible to see how healthy the land was. The streams between the turbines and along the service roads were crystal clear. The vegetation was abundant and the wildlife was described as being abundant, although that was not demonstrated on such a chilly day.

This wind farm could power much of Blair, Bedford, and Cambria counties and occupies land unable to be used for virtually anything else. In this case, the land is a former strip mine and is not close to homes. The fact the noise never ceases, even though it sounds just like the wind, could be a problem for people. I can also imagine that the buffeting may be unsettling if people lived terribly close to these turbines. But if kept a few miles from where people live and considerations are taken for wildlife, wind turbines are a fossil-fuel alternative to power generation.

At the base of a turbine at the North Allegheny Wind Farm