Melissa, Texas – An orange flag marks where Gary Lisle planned to put up a 33-foot windmill behind his house. But that’s about as far as his green idea got in this Dallas suburb.
Denied a building permit in March, Lisle joined the growing ranks of frustrated homeowners across the U.S. whose hopes of harvesting wind energy in their backyards have been dashed.
Some communities have outlawed residential turbines. Others entangle applicants in so much red tape that they simply give up.
“The fact is, we’re dealing with ignorance,” said Lisle, whose turbine would resemble a big pinwheel with three small blades spinning atop a flagpole.
Standoffs between cities and green-minded homeowners are becoming more common as interest grows in residential turbines.
Backyard windmills are already an $18 million-a-year industry in the U.S., and manufacturers think that could triple if wind got the same local acceptance and federal incentives as solar energy systems, which typically involve nothing more intrusive than panels on the roof.
Zoning boards and neighborhood associations have heard complaints that the windmills would be unsightly, that the blades could break loose and fly into someone’s yard, that a twister could knock a pole down or send it flying like a missile, or that the spinning blades would make too much noise. (Unlike big industrial wind turbines, the backyard varieties are barely audible.)
“Planning and zoning are the single biggest obstacle to wind energy in the United States,” said Roy Butler, owner of Four Winds Renewable Energy in western New York, who often consults with local governments faced with turbine permit requests.
Local officials insist they are not environmentally close-minded; they are just following the rules and taking into account their constituents’ concerns.
Residential windmills start at about $12,000, and industry officials say one can cut household bills by 10 percent to 50 percent, depending on the wind and the height of the tower.
