What do you think?
Rate this book
Paradise Destroyed: The Destruction of Rural Living by the Wind Energy Scam
Wind energy. It's free. It's green. It's healthy. It's sustainable. And it's lucrative for property-owners. If only this popular narrative were true. In Paradise Destroyed, Gregg Hubner fully exposes wind energy development for what it really a taxpayer scam. And not only is it a scam, but wind farms are a destructive force of 21st-century crony-capitalism that renders local communities divided and land permanently devalued. Hubner recounts his personal experience of wind energy colonization and shares his knowledge of just how much damage wind farms can cause property and property-owners. Complete with up-to-date research on the adverse health effects of wind energy, other chapters address the bane of PURPA legislation, legal risks in signing wind-rights contracts, and a host of other related issues. Whether you are a midwestern farmer considering a wind lease, or an environmental activist trying to save the planet, Paradise Destroyed is an absolute must-read. “. . . a remarkable service in chronicling the devastation wrought by wind farms . . . For those of us who share their love of the Great Plains, let us hope that their struggle has attained more than a stay of execution.” —JEFFREY HERBENER, Ph.D Chair of Economics, Grove City College “This is an extremely informative book and likely to become a must-read for anyone that lives around or is considering allowing a wind farm on their property. As a physician . . . I found this book very helpful.” —THOMAS RIES, M.D. ”At present, wind energy is a losing proposition for all but those developers that benefit from government subsidization of their industry. Hubner gives an accessible overview of how and why this is truly the case.” —NORMAN HORN, Ph.D Engineering Post-Doc, MIT
134 pages, Paperback
Published July 4, 2017
8 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 15, 2017
I wanted to be a part of the wind energy movement. I am an avid windsurfer; I love capturing the wind and scooting across the water using its quiet, clean energy. Why not capture the wind?
Is there a place for wind energy in our future? I believe so. Do wind turbines as we know them now "harvest" wind in a sustainable way? Absolutely not!
Paradise DESTROYED explains the many ugly facets of wind energy as we know it now. Hideous monstrosities that ruin our environment by the very process of extruding the materials, transporting them, and the earth-compacting-denegrating-vista-destruction-bird/bat/microorganism-destroying results of slamming them into a pristine rural environment.
Hubner discusses how the local government officials have prostrated themselves before the wind energy developers, drugged with the free-money claims and mesmerized with “economic development.” Landowners have succumbed to the carpet-bagger's promises of an eternal flow of money, only to realize they have made a huge mistake and there is no turning back. Why do the developers require that landowners sign a lease that canNOT be reviewed by legal counsel? If that is not enough to dry the ink in your pen, the gag order contained in the lease should be.
Is there a place for wind energy in our future? I believe so. Do wind turbines as we know them now "harvest" wind in a sustainable way? Absolutely not!
Paradise DESTROYED explains the many ugly facets of wind energy as we know it now. Hideous monstrosities that ruin our environment by the very process of extruding the materials, transporting them, and the earth-compacting-denegrating-vista-destruction-bird/bat/microorganism-destroying results of slamming them into a pristine rural environment.
Hubner discusses how the local government officials have prostrated themselves before the wind energy developers, drugged with the free-money claims and mesmerized with “economic development.” Landowners have succumbed to the carpet-bagger's promises of an eternal flow of money, only to realize they have made a huge mistake and there is no turning back. Why do the developers require that landowners sign a lease that canNOT be reviewed by legal counsel? If that is not enough to dry the ink in your pen, the gag order contained in the lease should be.
August 3, 2022
As a mechanical engineer and someone interested in energy, I’m trying to learn as much as I can and hear from different perspectives.
I could sympathize with Gregg Hubner and his neighbors, whom were disturbed by the appearance, sound, and repair of turbines close to their retirement homes, bringing down their property values, but apart from that and from and engineering perspective, I was surprised by how much of the book was blatantly wrong. For example saying turbines “have endured virtually no technological or design upgrades in nearly a century” is a far cry from modern turbines that that use precision sensors to always face the direction of the wind, velocity sensors to instantly adjust blades to an optimum angle, and an extremely accurate next day wind predictions which greatly decrease grid waste.
I can how turbines would be an annoyance to neighbors, so I am more of a proponent of off-shore wind, but do your own research on this one, don’t throw the whole wind energy baby out with the bath water!
I could sympathize with Gregg Hubner and his neighbors, whom were disturbed by the appearance, sound, and repair of turbines close to their retirement homes, bringing down their property values, but apart from that and from and engineering perspective, I was surprised by how much of the book was blatantly wrong. For example saying turbines “have endured virtually no technological or design upgrades in nearly a century” is a far cry from modern turbines that that use precision sensors to always face the direction of the wind, velocity sensors to instantly adjust blades to an optimum angle, and an extremely accurate next day wind predictions which greatly decrease grid waste.
I can how turbines would be an annoyance to neighbors, so I am more of a proponent of off-shore wind, but do your own research on this one, don’t throw the whole wind energy baby out with the bath water!
December 24, 2017
We have a lot of wind turbines in our area. I never knew why some people were against them. Now I know.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews