The aesthetics of wind power

The visual logic of this phenomenon

By Lefteris Pavlides, Ph.D., AIA, Professor of architecture at Roger Williams University
Providence Journal Monday, March 7, 2005

"WIND TURBINES are not pretty," said Massachusetts Governor Romney late last year, to the applause of about half of the emotional crowd at an Army Corps of Engineers public hearing on Cape Wind Park.

Forms made to move in wind such as sailboats and Porsches are inherently beautiful

Yet the Corps's 3,800-page report was an overwhelmingly positive evaluation of the 130 modern windmills proposed for Horeshoe Shoal, in Nantucket Sound. And despite the governor's attempt to speak for the public's aesthetic, the truth is that most people love the elegance of slow-moving giants that quietly turn wind into electricity.

Whose visual judgment matters on this issue? And how do we know that most people see modern windmills as visual assets?

Blind impartial market indicators provide indirect evidence that modern windmills are seen as beautiful. Surveys on real-estate prices and on tourism cited in the Army Corps's draft Environmental Impact Study (section 5) clearly show the strong visual appeal of modern windmills in many places around the world.

A boon to real estate values and tourism

And a study of 29,000 real-estate transactions in America found that the property values of homes with views of wind turbines rose faster than those of nearby homes with no such views.

The Corps's report also examined surveys of visitors to sites around the globe where wind energy is well established -- modern windmills in such places as Scotland, Australia and California, and off Denmark and Sweden. Installation of wind turbines increases tourism, it was found, providing evidence that most people see them as attractive additions to land- and seascapes. From Scotland to New Zealand, and from California to the Greek Isles, people pay to visit wind turbines and be photographed with them.

As a professor of architecture, I understand the visual logic of this phenomenon. I teach that forms made to move in wind -- such as sailboats and Porsches -- are inherently beautiful. Experts discuss the artistic qualities of aerodynamic lines and the kinetic grace of modern windmills, using such terms as proportion, contrast, rhythm and movement to express what we all experience.

The aesthetics of wind power

From an abstract view, the graceful modern windmills are even more beautiful than their ancient counterparts. A Cape Cod sculptor recently wrote to me, "[T]he beauty of modern windmills is a joyous scene to behold. As sail boats provide visual delight while transforming air into propulsion, so will windmills that catch ambient breezes for essential power."

Non-experts in aesthetics also discuss the delight of watching windmills. An engineer with no artistic training sent me his unsolicited opinion that the Danish Horns Rev offshore wind park was "one of the most inspiring and thrilling sights seen from the Blavaand lighthouse observatory deck."

To adapt an adage, beauty is in the eye and also the mind of the beholder. Our judgment of what is beautiful is based not just on abstract qualities of form. Modern windmills, for instance, have acquired a broad range of connotations.

For some, they are worse than ugly, evoking deep fear in their enormous scale. For others, they are beyond magnificent, evoking deep religious feelings. More common associations with modern windmills include economic benefits or threats to market share (for fossil-fuel interests); reduction of disease in the reduction of polluting emissions; and real or bogus environmental threats.

Visual delight accompanies connotations of:

• Economic benefits, such as fixed energy prices for years to come. The Army Corps reported that Cape Wind would have a significant positive impact on the local economy.
• Health benefits from reduced pollution, including fewer people with asthma and bronchitis, and fewer premature deaths. The Corps reported a probable $53 million in health savings.

Visual blight is an impression that accompanies connotations of:

• Loss of market share. Modern windmills are a constant reminder of eroding market share for executives of coal and oil companies, such as Douglas Yearly, a former chairman of Phelps Dodge who is on the board of Marathon Oil. Mr. Yearly, who has a summer place in Cape Cod's Osterville, has spearheaded opposition to Cape Wind.

The Army Corps's report indicates that Cape Wind would produce three-quarters of the electricity needed by Cape Cod and the Islands.

Regarding wildlife, when people are told that modern windmills offer protections to animals, they see them as beautiful, while those who believe widespread misinformation about dangers to birds have reservations.

The Corps's exhaustive avian studies conclude that there is no basis for concern. Further scientific studies show that wind energy is hugely beneficial to birds and other wildlife, in that it reduces:

• acid rain, which causes regional bird extinctions by killing the snails that are critical to bird diets;
• mercury contamination, which has caused extinction of loons on the Great Lakes;
• oil spills, which kill all manner of wildlife;
• and global warming, the biggest threat of all

Most people will come to see Cape Wind's turbines as breath-givingly beautiful

A century ago the Statue of Liberty was resisted because it "was neither an object of art nor beauty."

There is every indication that the opposition to Cape Wind will evolve much the way public attitudes toward the Statue of Liberty evolved over a century ago. The statue's installation was resisted and delayed because, as newspapers declared, it "was neither an object of art [n]or beauty." Now an adored icon, the statue significantly raises the value of properties with views of it. It is seen as beautiful because of its sculptural qualities and also because of the freedom and human rights that it represents.

As an architect who has been studying public perception of wind turbines, I predict that most people would similarly come to see Cape Wind's turbines as breath-givingly beautiful.

The vast majority of people around Nantucket Sound would see Cape Wind as a magnificent addition to the sound -- making visible the reduction of invisible toxic gases that despoil the region's environment.

And the windmills would visually communicate, now and to future generations, our commitment to energy freedom and a disease-free environment.

New Englanders have a responsibility to express their support for this project.

Lefteris Pavlides, Ph.D., AIA, is a professor of architecture at Roger Williams University. The original version of this Op Ed piece can be found here.  His email address is epavlides@rwu.edu.