January 6, 2003
Like rendering their residents the giant finger, lefties at Toronto City Hall bequeathed them a permanent skyline reminder of their recent success with Kyoto. During the holidays, the gift sprouted up almost overnight like the proverbial giant beanstalk with a $2 million wind turbine at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds.
The 30-storey, 750-kilowatt wind turbine is Toronto's first electricity-generating windmill and the first in Canada to be built in an urban area. Lakeshore breezes pushing its three 24-metre-long blades at 27 revolutions per minute will generate enough power to supply 250 average homes-providing these homes are not air-conditioned or heated with electricity. But its promoters claim that it's a significant step toward a pollution-free energy future, a method to provide clean power and a contribution to the battle against global warming.
And you thought you might have overdone it on this year's shopping list.
Unsolicited gift number one was to be joined by Present Number Two-an identical structure at Ashbridge's Bay, a few kilometres away along the Lakeshore. Promoters say that project is on hold until the Province of Ontario gets its energy act together.
The duo Toronto wind turbines are jointly owned by Toronto Hydro Energy Services, the retail-marketing arm of Toronto Hydro of CEO Eleanor Clitheroe spend-happy fame and a group called the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative.
The CNE gift comes to you even though it coincided with the stall by Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, who recently froze electricity rates for four years.
A symbolic Toronto skyline tribute to the Kyoto protocol on global warming, the windmill will also serve as a physical rebuttal to Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. The CNE structure was purchased from a Dutch company, Lagerwey Windturbine International B.V. But major parts were built in southern Ontario, says Joyce McLean, Director of Environmental Affairs at Toronto Hydro Energy Services. "This is the rebuttal to (Alberta Premier) Ralph Klein," who insists that implementing the Kyoto protocol will devastate Canada's economy.
Ontarians were not asked whether they wanted an icon in the sky, one-seventh the size of the CN Tower, just to stick it to the western premier.
Those energy types are peculiar. Kyoto chief architect, UN special advisor, former partner to Prime Minister-in-waiting Paul Martin and Canadian businessman Maurice Strong wanted taxpayers to invest in a Costa Rican rain forest when he was head of Ontario Hydro.
Construction of the modern, tubular-shaped wind turbine dominating the skyline at the CNE got the green light from Toronto City Council's works committee last July.
"This turbine will capture the imaginations of Torontonians," Coun. Jack Layton said. "It's a great addition to our waterfront."
Bryan Young, the Co-op's general manager, called it "a beacon of hope and a very visible icon in the city."
For all of their hype, the turbine will only operate at 22 percent of its 750-kilowatt maximum capacity. A creator of noise-a steadfast low-pitched whir-- its life expectancy is 20 years.
So far, members of the Ashbridge's Bay Yacht Club, concerned about safety and noise, have been the most vocal force against implementation of the turbine.
Karey Shinn, chairperson of the Safe Sewage Committee has indicated her opposition to its Ashbridge's Bay counterpart. Given Toronto's projected population growth, the site at Ashbridge's Bay should be reserved for sewage treatment not for a windmill, is the theme of her opposition.
"Doesn't sewage filling up in people's basements cause more harm than losing some marginal carbon dioxide reduction?"
Neither safety nor operating instructions came with Toronto's skyline gift.
"Blades weigh up to 1.5 tonnes and their tips are travelling at more than 180 mph," according to Turbine Blade Safety, Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. "When they have broken off, they have planed up to 400 metres.
"On Dec. 9, 1993 parts of a blade were thrown 400m at Cemmaes in Wales. At Tarifa, Spain, blades broke off on two occasions in Nov. 1995-the first in gusty, high winds, the second in only light wind (Windpower Monthly, Dec. 1995).
"In an article written in January 1996, Professor Otfried Wolfrum, professor of applied geodesy at Darmstadt University, wrote of a significant number of blade failures in Germany, where presently all of European countries the greatest number of turbines is installed. It appears that this technology is by no means safe...particularly with large new models, with rated capacities of 500 kW and more, problems arise since the rotor blades are heavier and have to be manufactured manually.
"The civic authorities in Palm Springs, as early as the 1980s, made developers move turbines to a distance of half a mile from the highway for safety reasons. Apart from the danger of blades becoming detached or disintegrating, there is as risk that clumps of ice can form on them and be thrown significant distances.
"Professor Wolfrum wrote on this subject: `Some ice layers 150mm thick have been detected and their mass has been as high as 20-23kg/m (proceedings BORKAS 11 Helsinki 1994, p219). He demonstrated that these fragments could travel up to 550m and land with impact speeds of 170 mph."
You never know from which direction danger lurks while driving along the Lakeshore. But then motorists were never a priority for windmill-loving Toronto city coumcillors.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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