@prefix vivo: . @prefix edm: . @prefix ns0: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix skos: . vivo:departmentOrSchool "Applied Science, Faculty of"@en, "Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of"@en ; edm:dataProvider "DSpace"@en ; ns0:degreeCampus "UBCV"@en ; dcterms:creator "Flanders, David"@en ; dcterms:issued "2011-03-16T17:17:00Z"@en, "2006"@en ; vivo:relatedDegree "Master of Landscape Architecture - MLA"@en ; ns0:degreeGrantor "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:description """Windfarming can provide a reliable, renewable source of energy; its visible presence in the landscape can generate heightened awareness of energy use and sources. Sensitive integration of the technology with the environment is important for promoting sustainability in the region; it must also address public concern for visual quality. This study addresses the siting and design issues raised by proposed windfarms. Three windfarm design scenarios are thus developed and visualized in 3D within the region of Howe Sound, including the town of Squamish, British Columbia. A number of North American and European precedents are examined in terms of public education and acceptance, visual impacts, arrangement and public involvement. Initially, eleven sites within the region are considered in total, based on stakeholder, community and expert analysis. Site analysis is composed of a wind resource and visual inventory, and viewshed analysis. This highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the potential sites. A series of principles identify cultural, aesthetic and pragmatic rationale to guide the site selection process, and evaluating certain sites and designs as being better or worse than others. Design criteria which are explicit and measurable are developed for these principles, providing targets for site selection, informing design process and serving as a baseline for design analysis. Three favourable sites that will best cater to these motivations are selected for windfarm design and visualization. These designs are quantitatively and qualitatively assessed based on their adherence to the design criteria, and are ranked according to how well they satisfy the aesthetic, cultural and pragmatic principles for windfarming. A set of final recommendations for Squamish are offered that will facilitate planning and help to build citizen awareness building process for development of a wind resource industry in the region."""@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/32497?expand=metadata"@en ; skos:note "L i n e s in the S o u n d : A R e g i o n a l A p p r o a c h t o W ind fa rm D e s i g n a n d V i s u a l i z a t i o n in H o w e S o u n d by David F l a n d e r s B S c (Eco logy ) , U n i v e r s i t y of Ca lgary , 2002 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Landscape Architecture) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA November, 2006 © David Flanders, 2006 A b s t r a c t Windfarming can provide a reliable, renewable source of energy; its visible presence in the landscape can generate heightened awareness of energy use and sources. Sensitive integration of the technology with the environment is impor-tant for promoting sustainability in the region; it must also address public concern for visual quality. This study addresses the siting and design issues raised by proposed windfarms. Three windfarm design scenarios are thus developed and visualized in 3D within the region of Howe Sound, including the town of Squamish, British Columbia. A number of North American and European precedents are examined in terms of public education and acceptance, visual impacts, arrange-ment and public involvement. Initially, eleven sites within the region are considered in total, based on stakeholder, com-munity and expert analysis. Site analysis is composed of a wind resource and visual inventory, and viewshed analysis. This highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the potential sites. A series of principles identify cultural, aesthetic and pragmatic rationale to guide the site selection process, and evaluating certain sites and designs as being better or worse than others. Design criteria which are explicit and measurable are developed for these principles, providing targets for site selection, informing design process and serving as a baseline for design analysis. Three favourable sites that will best cater to these motivations are selected for windfarm design and visualization. These designs are quantitatively and qualitatively assessed based on their adherence to the design criteria, and are ranked according to how well they satisfy the aesthetic, cultural and pragmatic principles for windfarming. A set of final recommendations for Squamish are offered that will facilitate planning and help to build citizen awareness building process for development of a wind resource indus-try in the region. ii T a b l e of C o n t e n t s Page Abstract - ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables.! vi List of Figures '. vii Acknowledgements ix Part I. Project Orientation 1 Context ....1 Windfarms in the landscape 3 Purpose of project 5 Arguments explored 6 Methodology overview 7 Part II. Context & Theoretical Framework 10 2.1 Energy Fundamentals 10 Energy sources. 10 Wind energy.... 11 2.2 Case Studies 13 Public education and acceptance 13 Visual Impacts 14 Arrangement of turbines within a windfarm 15 Arrangement of turbines within the landscape 16 Public involvement in windfarm developments 17 2.3 Squamish Wind Energy Initiative 18 Squamish wind power project report phase I 18 Questionnaire 19 2.4 Theories, Principles, and Methods: Developing a focus for windfarm analysis and design 20 Experience of landscape - the importance of visible technology 20 Public perception - what people prefer 22 Landscape meaning - merging technology into landscapes we prefer 25 Regional landscape design - how design can facilitate the merging of technology and landscape 29 Sense of the region 29 iii Page Environmental image 30 Wind turbines in the landscape 31 Design considerations - formal requirements 32 Design considerations - functional requirements 34 Visual resource theory - the environment of windfarm design 35 Visual absorption capacity ,. : 35 Visual contrast 35 Viewer sensitivity 36 2.5 Criticisms of This Approach 36 Part III. Site Analysis 39 3.1 Analysis Methodology Overview... 39 3.2 The Howe Sound Windshed 40 Wind resource assessment 41 3.3 Visual Inventory 42 Potential windfarm sites 44 Windfarm and infrastructure characteristics, 46 3.4 Viewshed Analysis 47 Viewpoints and view corridors 48 Overview of viewshed results ...52 Selected viewpoints and sites 57 3.5 Motivations and Design Criteria 59 Environmental impacts 62 3.6 Site Assessment 64 Part IV. Design Scenarios 66 4.1 Design / Analysis Methodology 66 Landscape visualization methods 67 Design consultation 68 4.2 Final Design Scenarios '. 70 Design 1). Alice Ridge: \"Crowning\". 70 Design 2). Goat Ridge: \"Cascading\".. 74. Design 3). The Waterfront: \"Embedding\" 77 iv Page 4.3 Analysis of Final Design Scenarios 80 Alice Ridge: \"Crowning\" 81 Goat Ridge: \"Cascading\" 81 The Waterfront: \"Embedding\".... 82 Analysis summary 85 4.4 Conclusions 86 Implications for Squamish. 86 Recommendations for siting / design of windfarms in Squamish 87 Evaluations of visualization methodology 88 Next steps in process 89 Bibliography 91 Appendix I: Alternative energy sources 99 Appendix II: Case studies 105 Appendix III: Squamish wind power project report phase I 130 Appendix IV: Site analysis matrix A 135 Appendix V: Site analysis matrix B 136 Appendix VI: Site analysis matrix C 137 v L i s t o f T a b l e s Page Table 1: Summary table of design scores 85 Table 2: San Gorgonio Wind Resource Study - Reasons for potential conflict with wind developent Appendix II, 121 vi L i s t o f F i g u r e s Page Figure 1: Map of study area 2 Figure 2: Tower construction in Kao Sok National Park, Thailand 5 Figure 3: Methodological flow chart 8 Figure 4: Kyndby windfarm, Denmark 16 Figure 5: Kappel windfarm, Denmark..... 17 Figure 6: The perception of perceptual, symbolic, and functional landscape meaning 29 Figure 7: Analysis methodology 39 Figure 8: Wind rose diagrams 40 Figure 9: Tree \"flagging\" 42 Figure 10: Looking north up the Squamish valley from the Waterfront 43 Figure 11: Three major landscape types 45 Figure 12: Access to powerlines and roads 47 Figure 13: Eye-range districts Viewshed maps of Alice Ridge, Goat Ridge, and the Waterfront 50 Figure 14: Turbine sites for viewshed analysis, and viewpoints under consideration.. 53 Figure 15: Viewshed maps of Alice Ridge, Goat Rigdge, and the Waterfront 54 Figure 16: Site photos from the Stawamus Chief 56 Figure 17: Site photos from Sea-To-Sky highway ...59 Figure 18: Scenario visualization and design methodology 66 Figure 19: Reference map showing view cones for visualizations 71 Figure 20: Alice Ridge windfarm aerial perspective 72 Figure 21: Alice Ridge windfarm from lower Elfin Lakes Trail 72 Figure 22: Alice Ridge windfarm from upper Elfin Lakes Trail 73 Figure 23: Alice Ridge windfarm from Squamish town centre 73 Figure 24: Alice Ridge windfarm from the Stawamus Cheif 74 Figure 25: Goat Ridge windfarm aerial perspective 75 Figure 26: Goat Ridge windfarm from Sea-To-Sky highway 75 Figure 27: Goat Ridge windfarm from Sea-to-Sky highway 76 Figure 28: Goat Ridge windfarm from Squamish the Waterfront 76 Figure 29: Goat Ridge windfarm from Elfin Lakes Trail 77 Figure 30: Goat Ridge windfarm from the Stawamus Cheif 77 Figure 31: Waterfront windfarm from Cleveland Avenue 79 Figure 32: Waterfront windfarm aerial perspective 79 Figure 33: Waterfront windfarm from Squamish River Estuary 80 vii Page Figure 34: Elfin Lakes Trail within Alice Ridge viewshed 82 Figure 35: Viewsheds for Goat Ridge turbines 83 Figure 36: Waterfront windfarm shadow analysis 84 Figure 37: Analysis of windfarm design scores 85 Figure 38: Kyndby windfarm, Denmark Appendix II , 107 Figure 39: Kappel windfarm, Denmark Appendix II , 108 Figure 40: Horns Rev offshore windfarm, Denmark Appendix II , 108 Figure 41: Klinkby windfarm, Denmark Appendix II , 109 Figure 42: Middelgrunden windfarm, Denmark Appendix I , 111 Figure 43: Middelgrunden windfarm visualizations, Denmark Appendix I , 112 Figure 44: San Gorgonio windfarm, California, USA ..Appendix I , 119 Figure 45: Methodological flow chart for San Gorgonio Wind Resource Study Appendix I , 126 Figure 46: Alberta Windfarms, Alberta, Canada Appendix I , 127 Figure 47: Delaware Mountain / Wyoming Wind Energy Centre windfarms, USA..... Appendix I , 128 Figure 48: Urban windfarms, Canada, USA, UK Appendix I , 129 viii A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s I am grateful for the guidance received from my advisory committee: thank you Dr. Stephen Sheppard (UBC), for the encouragement, enjoyable opportunities and experience, and Douglas Paterson (UBC) for all those hours of engaging discussion... every minute helped. Much appreciated support also came from the Dan McRae and Brent Leigh (Squamish Sustainability Corporation), Adelle Airy, Jon Salter, Cam Campbell and others at the Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (UBC); Jerry Maedel (UBC); and James Griffiths, Monique Stevenson, Danijela Vecei (Sea Breeze Power Corporation). To family and friends too numerous to name: I'm back, thanks for not disappearing like I did. ix P a r t I. P r o j e c t O r i e n t a t i o n C o n t e x t Opportunities for wind farming in the Squamish region are examined in this thesis. Harvesting wind energy is explored in depth at several locations, some of which have been suggested by stakeholders as part of the ongoing consultation for wind resource development in the region. These and other windfarming sites (see Figure 1) are included based on a number of motivations (introduced in Section II and discussed in Section III). Wind is deeply rooted in the history of Howe Sound. This is reflected in the region's culture, for example, through popular sport and lifestyle associated with windsurfing. Through design and planning it is possible to bring more people \"closer to the wind\" in the realization that wind is a key source of energy, an element in creating a sense of place, and an aesthetic component of the landscape. Kevin Lynch (1976) encourages devices that will create awareness of natural elements and their processes as a critical part of fostering the sense of a region. Stephen Kaplan (1988) demonstrates that a positive experience from landscape is heightened by its ability to educate and inform us. Comprehension and understanding of a sustainable landscape function influences our response to it (Thayer, 1989). The aim of this thesis is therefore to incorpo-rate many of these aesthetic, cultural, and educational considerations into windfarm design in the Howe Sound area. The environmental and aesthetic opportunities around wind energy are relevant to the recent attention to Squamish's potential as a visitor destination. For example, the District of Squamish has recently opened a visitor centre complete with tourism and recreation information, displays and trip packages. Connected to this is the idea that the image of Squa-mish could be strongly identified with sustainability, through measures such as alternative growth strategies in the Smart Growth on the Ground community planning charrette for Squamish (2005), and the Squamish Waterfront Development 1 Figure 1: Map of study area including 11 sites considered for windfarming Corporations plans for more sustainable development at the waterfront. Often, there is a disconnect between people and the environment; as landscape architects we can bring people closer to the natural systems we are dependent upon (Thayer, 1994). This study argues that a windfarm may serve both as an icon to Squamish's vision as a leader in sustain-ability, and as a tourist attraction itself. This study implicitly responds to a multitude of current environmental and economic issues that are related to global reli-ance on fossil fuels. Marked deviations in climate and weather continue to raise concerns about rising levels of green-house gases such as CO2 and their effect on natural systems. Wind energy is an opportunity for communities to move away from further reliance on non-renewable energy sources and at the same time contribute to a healthier regional image. The 2010 Olympics, an expanded sea-to-sky highway, and the proposal for a \"hydrogen highway\" between South-east False Creek and Whistler, will bring heightened international exposure to this region. Squamish can position itself as a key player in the bigger picture of a regional environmental movement for a global audience. The motivations for and implications of green energy will become increasingly apparent as Squamish grows and responds to this increased atten-tion. In an effort to foster and promote communities in Howe Sound as sustainable, longer-term strategies for wind energy are explored and visualized in this thesis. W i n d f a r m s in t h e l a n d s c a p e It is argued here that windfarm design at the regional scale is crucial in promoting heightened awareness of energy use and sources of alternative energy; it should, however remain sensitive to the region's existing landscape character. With a smoother integration of such technologies into the landscape, a stronger link between communities and the greater region upon which they depend for their livelihoods may be established. The size and scale of wind turbines tend to force them into visual prominence in the environment. This is seen as an opportunity to bring awareness and understanding of ener-3 gy resources to the people that consume them. Making the connection between consumption and production is a crucial step towards the creation of sustainable communities (Thayer, 1989). Making this connection visible is an opportunity to bring people closer to the environmental systems from which, more than ever before, we are so detached. Thayer (1994) also indicates the necessity of moving away from nonrenewable \"vertical\" energy sources such as fossil fuels, towards \"horizontal\" natural systems such as solar and wind energy. Such a shift in energy infrastructure must be paralleled with energy conservation behaviors, linking these systems into a greater integration of living systems. Effec-tively utilizing these energy sources requires accepting and embracing the visual consequences of reconfiguring commu-nity and regional landscape (Thayer, 1994). Landscape Architecture can play a critical role in mediating highly visible alternative forms of alternative energy and the presence of technology in the landscape (Figure 2). The highly unnatural, geometric and technology-driven subdivision of the landscape, regardless of it's natural forms, has over time produced a grid pattern that is deeply ingrained in North American culture (Jackson, 1980). Such artificiality, the antithesis of nature, often clouds our impression of new technolo-gies such as wind turbines (Pasqualetti et al., 2001)., The introduction of new technologies has never been universally welcome (Pasqualetti et al., 2001), and there are many examples of both their denunciation and their embracing by com-munities. The recent proposal for the Knob Hill windfarm on northern Vancouver Island is an example of the desire to place such installations in remote or unseen areas. The Nai Kun Wind Development proposal for an offshore windfarm of up to 138 generators in the remote area off the Queen Charlotte Islands again follows this \"out of sight, out of mind\" mentality. Conversely, the highly visible Pickering and waterfront turbines around Toronto have risen to iconic status and are seen as positive contributions to their cities. This kind of public acceptance requires a more robust conception of wind farming in its societal context as well as carefully sited, carefully designed wind farms. 4 Figure 2: Tower construction in Kao Sok National Park, Thailand P u r p o s e of P r o j e c t The purpose of this windfarm study is to: 1) develop an analysis and design methodology for windfarms in western Canada that foster aesthetic form as well as sustainable function, in the context of rugged, large-scale landscapes; 2) explore the region of the Howe Sound for windfarm siting and design, integrating the disciplines of visual re-source management, landscape planning, and infrastructure design; 3) examine the role, impacts and benefits of industrial windfarm technology within the larger structure of Howe Sound landscape spaces, and how this affects our experience moving through it; 4) test the potential for, and integration of Computer Aided Design (CAD), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and visualization platforms in participatory planning and design for windfarms. 5 A r g u m e n t s E x p l o r e d The following arguments often discussed with reference to wind energy are taken into consideration in this thesis: 1. Form affects appeal. The form of wind farming in the landscape can significantly affect the public's reaction to it, both positively and negatively. 2. Visual disclosure versus out of sight, out of mind. Visibility of windfarming is necessary for its acceptance in the landscape. It solidifies our awareness of the resources we are dependent upon and our impact on those resourc-es. Exposed infrastructure also helps in educating people by communicating a message of sustainability. 3. Form follows philosophy. Wind farming is an opportunity to bring together an appreciation of and reliance on both nature and technology without philosophical contradiction or hypocrisy. Exposing all elements of our con-sumptive lifestyles, including energy production to serve demand, is critical in moving towards more sustainable design. 4. Visual harmony. Wind turbines may be designed in a manner which complement their surroundings. Aesthetic principles may be applied to wind farms as dynamic, sculptural elements in the landscape. 5. Sense of place. Large-scale infrastructure such as wind turbines can contribute to the character of a region visually and psychologically. Landmarks with such a strong image can send a positive regional message, contribut-ing to the identity of communities within it and the lifestyles they support. 6 6. Suitability. Windfarming may be inappropriately located in some parts of the landscape when considering vari-ous aesthetic, cultural and pragmatic rationales for programming regional land-use. 7. Seeing is believing. Visualization is a tool for education, understanding, participation and decision making. People may fear what they don't understand or cannot comprehend. 8. Integrate and Experiment. By exploring the application of GIS tools and CAD/ 3D modelling tools we can har-ness the strengths of each for a more robust, effective set of scenario visualizations. GIS has strong georeferenc-ing and orthophotographic data display capabilities, and a capacity to work with very large raster data sets, but tends to be weak in visualization quality. CAD typically lacks the capacity for integrating geospatial referenced attribute data, but makes up for this with more versatile visualization and animation. M e t h o d o l o g y O v e r v i e w See Figure 3: Methodological Flow Chart This study begins with considering the literature relevant to establishing a practical and theoretical baseline from which to explore the potential for wind energy in Howe Sound. Theoretical and design drivers are extracted from these sources to formulate a series of motivations for site selection and design criteria that address findings from the literature and the arguments outlined above. This study conducts a visual site analysis involving viewshed analyses for potential sites, a wind resource study including visual indicators and quantitative data, and a visual inventory of existing conditions. Three major landscape types are identified and defined as part of this inventory: Ridgelines, Valley Walls, and Valley Floor. 7 Landscape typologies will be identified, and their potential to support wind farming assessed. Squamish public involve-ment, literature evaluation, case studies, and Squamish site analysis will lead to a number of motivations or approaches to guide wind farm design and site selection Design motivations are translated into site selection and design criteria for visualization scenarios Design studies for the identified sites are carried out, with consultation from industry experts Design studies are carried out in 3 dimensional landscape models, which then feed back into an iterative design process Designs are assessed in terms of satisfying of motivations and criteria Design studies are carried out in 3 dimensional landscape models, which then feed back into an iterative design process Further development of visualization materials include: video animation and fly-throughs Figure 3: Methodo 8 t Part II - Project & Theoretical i Framework review of literature case studies, and • Squamish public involvement documents Part III - Site'Analysis I landscape character, typologies,; v. and visibility analysis j IT\"*\"\" 1— .... | Part III - Visual Criteria r site^selectipn, design motivations and — |cntena forjscenario objectives?/jmotivationss Part IV-design scenarios i \" — ' J (form) Part IV - Input\" from meteorologist (function) 1 Part IV Windfarm design visualizations Part IV - Analysis of visualizations in context of objectives / cntei la : Part IV - Development of [recommendations foRSquamishi ! based,.pn design iterations Production of image based media dynamic video and still imaqe isualizations for public awareness and participatory plannirg -branding regional image * \\ flow chart These types are associated with physical characteristics and design guidelines. A matrix provides a comparison of the region's potential wind energy development sites, where poor site choices are eliminated on the basis of their inability to accommodate critical motivations for windfarm placement and/ or design requirements. This results in a subset of highly favourable sites, where more detailed design solutions are proposed and visualized. The development of an initial set of scenarios highlights different sites and arrangements for the proposed wind farm from a landscape architectural perspec-tive. This methodology takes a broad approach, intending to encompass elements of scenic beauty, aesthetics, character of place and environmental psychology. Initial scenarios produced were brought to other stakeholders within the indus-try for comment, from a functional perspective. The aim of this process in balancing aesthetics and power requirements produces a viable set of options that not only visually fit within the landscape, but also are efficient in power generation. A revised set of windfarm designs are visualized following this consultation, analyzed against design criteria outlined in Part III, and ranked in terms of their favourability. Favourability is determined by the capacity for designed windfarms to satisfy four motivation categories: Aesthetic Context, Aesthetic Image, Community & Culture, and Pragmatic & Ecological. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for Squamish in pursuing wind energy development. The methodological approach and its outcomes are primarily visual in nature, with an emphasis on regional scale land-scape modelling, and less on finer scale site design and landscape features such as trees. Regional identity, the viewing experience and landscape character are factors that may be addressed through a visual resource approach. The primary medium for this visioning process comprises two, three, and four dimensional landscape visualizations. These visualiza-tions are subjected to a subsequent analysis in order to assess the design success in meeting the project's objectives. End products include a collection of visual imagery and animations that describe the selected scenarios, as well as a series of specific recommendations for successfully integrating wind energy into the region. A series of examples of how to accomplish the study objectives and principles are developed, rather than one single, ideal design. 9. P a r t II. C o n t e x t a n d T h e o r e t i c a l F r a m e w o r k 2.1 E n e r g y F u n d a m e n t a l s Examining alternative energy strategies for the Squamish region starts at a broad scale, giving an overview of alternative energy sources in Appendix I, before focusing on wind energy (below), the state of windfarming in other places (Section 2.2), and then the current public participatory initiative in Squamish (Section 2.3). This allows us to consider the case of Squamish windfarm planning with respect to relevant literature in the areas of visual resource management, experience of landscape and regional design (Section 2.4). In section 2.5 some reflections on the major criticisms of this framework are undertaken before moving into Part III: Site Analysis. A diverse energy budget that is protected against the sudden market trends of any single energy source is preferable. Market forces favour distributed energy systems, which tend to have less environmental impact due to smaller generating stations, less dependency on the power grid, less energy and fuel wasted, and shorter transmission distances (SGOG, 2005). Despite around 90 percent of the province's energy being produced from hydroelectric facilities, BC Hydro is pro-moting conservation strategies and seeking alternative energy supplies as it nears it's maximum capacity (SGOG, 2005). There are a number of more sustainable energy production options for the region, which move away from non-renewables and traditional carbon-based sources. Energy Sources Hydroelectric energy is the largest component of British Columbia's current energy budget, with residential and commer-cial buildings consuming about 1/3 of this energy, business and transportation consuming about 1/3, and industry consum-10 ing about 1/3. Hydroelectricity, natural gas, photovoltaic, fuel cells, biomass, geothermal, tidal and wave energy may all be potentially incorporated into the expansion of Squamish's energy resource base. Wind power, however, presents the most currently accessible, abundant, reliable, affordable, resource that may be developed independently or in tandem with these sources. An overview of potential sources of energy is included in Appendix I. Wind Energy \"Wind turbine development at world level is expected to increase by 15-30 percent per year for the next 10-15 years, a rate of growth which can be compared with the present growth in the computer industry.\" -Birk Nielsens Tengestue Landscape Architects, 1995 During the 20 year lifespan of a turbine, it produces about 55 times more energy than that which was used for its initial production and transportation. Approximately 2/3 of wind energy is available in winter which makes it an appropriate com-plement to solar energy and hydroelectric power which are at a minimum in winter. A wind energy system transforms the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical or electrical energy. Mechanical energy is most commonly used for pumping water in rural or remote locations. Wind electric turbines generate electricity for use or sale to utilities. Micro wind turbines are designed for residential / farm use, and produce small amounts of electricity. The most economical application of wind electric turbines is in groups of large machines (700 kW and up). Since windfarms are modular, they consist of many indi-vidual units that can be added to, removed, serviced or upgraded.as needed. Wind is increasing in popularity as an energy source, and is the fastest-growing source of energy in the world, a trend driven largely by dramatic improvements in technology. British Columbia currently has no large-scale windfarms in place, 1 1 but numerous projects are being proposed. Canada currently gets only about 570 megawatts of its energy from wind, or 0.2 percent of its electricity needs. Natural Resources Canada estimates that our country has almost 30,000 megawatts of developable wind resources, which translates to about 10 percent of it's energy needs. Although Nunavut alone has the wind capacity to satisfy 40% of Canada's electricity needs, the realized potential for wind energy is far less due to inte-gration and cost efficiency (CBC, CANWEA, accessed 2006). Some of the benefits of windfarming are that it produces no harmful emissions once installed and is an abundant, high output, renewable energy source. Turbines can be set up with little disturbance to ecosystems and are generally accept-able by the public. 85% of surveyed residents were in favour of wind power in Squamish (Sea Breeze Power Corporation, 2004), and it is potentially less expensive than hydro, at $0.04 - $0,055 / kWh. Negative aspects of windfarming are that it is dependent on wind strength and consistency, turbines aren't feasible for all locations, small and large systems are cur-rently expensive, turbines and their shadows are visually prominent and to date, aren't widely accepted in British Colum-Another major concern of wind energy is the noise that windfarms generate. Technological advancements in the industry have addressed this problem. A noise level volume comparison is given below: bia. • Threshold of hearing: 0 db • Rural night-time background: 20-40 db • Quiet bedroom: 35 db • Wind farm at 350 m: 35-45 db • 750 KW wind turbine at 250 m: 48 - 52 db • Wind in the trees: 55 db • Car at 40 mph at 100 m: 55 db • Busy general office: 60 db • Truck at 30 mph at 100 m: 65 db • Dog barking: 75 db • Normal conversation: 70 db • Pneumatic drill at 7 m: 95 db 12 • Jet aircraft at 250 m: 105 db • Threshold of pain: 140 db In conclusion, windfarming is seen as a viable energy option for Howe Sound, just as it has been for a multitude of other locations around the globe. 2 .2 C a s e s t u d i e s The following is an examination of case studies in wind farming that highlights local and international examples of wind-farming. This is important for showing the variability in public acceptance, development approaches, windfarm siting, and design principles that exists among populations. Key findings for sites in urban and non-urban North America and Europe are listed below, organized by topic, and are expanded upon in greater detail in Appendix II. These findings focus on public education and acceptance, the visual impact of wind farming, turbine arrangement within a windfarm and within the landscape, and public involvement process. Public education and acceptance Several studies in the UK show: 1) The visual impact of wind turbines has been seen to be independent of landscape type (O'Leary and McCor-mack, 1993); 2) These studies suggest that windfarms become more universally unacceptable as they grow in size to 25 ma-chines. There existed a preference for multiple smaller windfarm clusters rather than single large windfarms (O'Leary and McCormack, 1993); 3) Windfarms consisting of fewer, larger turbines were preferred dramatically over those consisting of more, small-13 er machines, independent of landscape type (O'Leary and McCormack, 1993); 4) Residents living near windfarms feel that the presence of windfarms have neither positive or negative impacts on their communities, and that antipathy regarding impacts on landscape is significantly increased before con-struction than after construction (O'Leary and McCormack, 1993); 5) Citizens living closest to turbines tend to be the most positive about them, and the majority expressed support for windfarm expansion (University of Newcastle, 2002). Visual Impacts A number of generalizations regarding the visual impact of windfarming can be made: 1) Environmental impact assessments of very large offshore windfarms (130 machines) indicate that these installa-tions can achieve no significant impacts (see Cape Wind, Appendix II, US Army Core of Engineers, 2002); 2) Density and visual clutter are not necessarily linked; instead, variability in turbine size and type contributes more to such visual disorder (see San Gorgonio windfarm, Appendix II, Wagstaff and Brady, 1982); 3) The use of small and medium sized turbines in the foreground contributes to visual clutter more so than the use of large turbines in the foreground (see San Gorgonio windfarm, Appendix II, Wagstaff and Brady, 1982); 4) The development of turbines on hillsides significantly increases the sense of intrusion or scarring of the land-scape, in turn reducing the landscapes sense of intactness (see San Gorgonio windfarm, Appendix II, Wagstaff and Brady, 1982); 5) Excluding turbines in the foreground generally results in the greatest reduction in the visual dominance of tur-bines 6) Turbine-free zones assist in retaining landscape intactness, reducing the overwhelming nature of large wind-farms. These empty spaces can be arranged to highlight or compliment natural features, and reinforce the 14 order of numerous smaller, compact turbine clusters (see San Gorgonio windfarm, Appendix II, Wagstaff and Brady, 1982); 7) Windfarm design and siting in three-dimensions is essential, since the perceived order in plan view breaks down when viewed in perspective (see San Gorgonio windfarm, Appendix II, Wagstaff and Brady, 1982); 8) Particularly sensitive sitings include slopes over 25% grade, skyline and ridgeline locations (see San Gorgonio windfarm, Appendix II, Wagstaff and Brady, 1982). Arrangement of turbines within a windfarm The manner in which turbines are arranged in relationship to one another can also affect how they are processed. Analy-ses of windfarm designs suggest: 1) Inconsistent spacing offers a less convincing anchoring in the landscape, unless clearly motivated (see Figure 4, below, and Kyndby windfarm, Appendix II. Birk Nielsens Tengestue Landscape Architects, 1995); 2) Inexact horizontal / vertical arrangement suggests turbines are arranged according to unperceived landscape elements (see Kyndby windfarm, Appendix II. Birk Nielsens Tengestue Landscape Architects, 1995); 3) Precise, linear arrangement provides calm, architecturally clear, strong arrangements while underlining the land-scape (see Kyndby windfarm, Appendix II. Birk Nielsens Tengestue Landscape Architects, 1995); 4) Turbines that appear out of visual rhythm break the repetition for no apparent reason, which may be the basis of the visual structure of the windfarm (see Kappel windfarm, Appendix II. Birk Nielsens Tengestue Landscape Architects, 1995). 1 5 Figure 4: Kyndby windfarm, Denmark Arrangement of turbines within the landscape In addition, the manner in which turbines are arranged with respect to the landscape also affect their visual acceptability. When considering windfarm design in its landscape context: 1) Curved lines can be well suited when adhering to curving landscape elements, but generally straight lines are a solid, more cohesive presence and authority (see Figure 4, below, and Kappel windfarm, Appendix II. Birk Nielsens Tengestue Landscape Architects, 1995); 2) Offshore sites tend to have stronger, more consistent winds and can visually incorporate larger turbines than land-based sites (see Horns Rev windfarm, Appendix II. Birk Nielsens Tengestue Landscape Architects, 1995) 3) Turbines may be arranged to follow natural landscape features such as topography or cultural landscape fea-tures such as urban forms and patterns (CEEO, 2003); 4) Turbines can be successfully integrated into urban areas, and can serve additional benefits to energy production 16 such as: tourist attraction, publicity, communication of image, public awareness of energy sources / use, contri-bution to the experience of urban places (see urban windfarms, Appendix II). Figure 5: Kappel windfarm, Denmark Public involvement in windfarm developments Public participatory processes in windfarm development have shown that: 1) Visualization can assist the public participatory planning process in achieving well-supported, refined windfarm designs (see Middelgrunden, CEEO, 2005, and San Gorgonio, Appendix II, Wagstaff and Brady, 1982). 2) People who accept the development process typically accept the outcome (Soerensen et al., 2001); 3) Turbines owned by strangers are not accepted locally (see Middelgrunden, Appendix II. CEEO, 2003); Projects such as Middelgrunden, Denmark, highlight the critical component of public participation in the development pro-17 cess for highly visible structures. Landscape visualization has proven to be a valuable planning tool in its ability to portray the interests of the public as well as private stakeholders (Tress and Tress, 2002). Tress and Tress (2002) worked on a variety of countryside developments where conservation scenarios were visualized using photo simulation techniques from an oblique aerial perspective. Community members and non-members were able to better understand design impli-cations of planning decisions, and express their ideas, visions, and wishes for future development. Visualization is a critical part of the rural site planning process, engaging stakeholders, planners and administrators. Ap-proximately 150,000 Danish families are involved in wind projects as concerned community members or for economic interests. Their involvement has been directly linked to their improved success rates (Soerensen et al., 2001). Benefits of public involvement in resource management described by Sheppard (2004) include: 1) Increasing public awareness among the public through interaction and collaborative learning 2) Increasing the overall flow of benefits to society by contributing to better decisions and outcomes for multiple us-ers, and more equitable sharing of costs and benefits 3) Improving social acceptance of sustainable practices through better information and involvement in the decision-making process 4) Building trust in institutions. 2 .3 S q u a m i s h W i n d E n e r g y In i t ia t ive Squamish Wind Power Project Report Phase I Sea Breeze Power Corporation is developing this Squamish wind resource project in a series of three phases: 18 • Phase I - Pilot Project Strategy and Public Consultation (completed) • Phase II - Wind Assessment and Analysis (currently ongoing) • Phase III - Project Development The community consultation program included brochures and questionnaires delivered to all residences and businesses in Squamish, and a public open house. The open house was an informational session, attended by approximately 70 resi-dents. The purpose of reviewing this document is to highlight the concerns, ideas, and perspectives of residents that will be most directly impacted by the development of a windfarm in the region. Many comments give insight into the plausibil-ity of certain high-profile, proximal locations such as the waterfront and the spit (Sea Breeze Power Corporation, 2004). Questionnaire A questionnaire consisting of 10 multiple choice / short answer questions was provided to residents. An in-depth review of community responses to the questionnaire is given in Appendix VI. A focus group discussing wind tower locations identi-fied the following priorities. The motivations for development scenarios presented in this thesis represent various interests or incentives that may be catered to throughout the windfarm design process. These motivations have been influenced by the issues identified in the resident questionnaire, summarized below: • Minimization of visual impacts • Preservation of natural beauty • Compatibility with existing land uses (e.g. microwave towers, recreation) • Reduction of potential wildlife impacts, including the potential for bird strikes 19 • Consideration of cumulative visual impacts • Compatibility with First Nations uses • Topographical and geological constraints • Potential to showcase Squamish as a progressive town • Potential to attract associated tourism. 2.4 T h e o r i e s , P r i n c i p l e s a n d M e t h o d s : Deve lop ing a f o c u s for w i n d f a r m a n a l y s i s and d e s i g n Experience of Landscape - the importance of visible technology \"We cannot relieve tensions which we cannot perceive\" -Robert Thayer, 1994 The sources, paths and transition points of our energy and resources should be designed to be legible in the landscape. \"Nature and Infrastructure\", writes Strang (1996), \"working together, must both be allowed to express themselves as a ma-jor determinant of urban and regional form.\" Referring to green development in Davis, CA, Thayer writes \"to describe it as 'beautiful' does not seem to do it justice; it is a place which constantly but gently reminds its residents of the environmental values upon which it was built\" When systems and technology are visible, we're able to take an inventory of their impact and respond accordingly (Lyle, 1994). This is the landscape transparency that Thayer (1994) discusses in order to repair the ever-widening gap between the landscape's surface appearance and underlying functional or technological properties. In addition, the momentum of current culture pushes us deeper into preoccupation with surfaces and farther away from core concerns (Thayer, 1994). 20 Windfarms in Howe Sound represent a long-standing relationship between nature and technology. In windfarming, tech-nological processes are revealed and expressed in a transparent, symbiotic relationship with natural systems. Environ-mental guilt is reduced by generating electricity in visible harmony with the environment. Forcing an undeniable con-frontation between nature and technology, their scale and visibility prevents them from falling into the dangerous trend of invisible, incomprehensible and simulated technologies, nano and biotechnologies, and those transplanted to far away places or other countries. There are two components of design which drive the windfarm designs proposed in this thesis. The first is transparency of function, and limiting interventions that detract from this. The second is designing beyond the purely functional, offering richer and more layered meanings and experience. Reconfiguring landscapes such that energy systems and living sys-tems are planned in coordination will go a long way toward sustainability and reducing NIMBYism (not-in-my-backyard), and will make people feel less threatened by technology in general and less in need of covering up their energy technolo-gies (Thayer, 1989). Windfarming can be seen as a way of dealing with the consequences of our lifestyles now, rather than forcing it on future generations. Similarly, it represents a compensation for past environmental crimes. Strang (1996) cites historic cultures such as the Inca, where the logic of the landscape's hydrology was evident in their city forms, and infrastructure was bound to the watershed in a clear, visible way. Water and sewage treatment plants have educational value, and enough nutrients to support rich vegetation. The open space value of municipal utilities could provide networks of usable public and ecologically active spaces. Bill Leddy's Sutro Baths renovation on the coast of California houses a water desaliniza-tion plant driven by offshore wind. Infrastructure here serves multiple roles, renovates an existing ruin, reinvigorates a civic landmark, generates power and provides fresh water. 21 Public Perception - what people prefer The installation of wind turbines in Howe Sound must adhere to a number of researched concepts of landscape percep-tion and preference if it is to generate a positive response by residents. Visual preference is a subjective judgement that can be measured but varies with many individual factors. Although aesthetics is not typically concerned with the origin or purpose of an object, the aesthetics of sustainability transcend this notion. Embedded within the sustainable landscape are educational, emotional, cultural, ecological, political and aesthetic layers of appreciation (Porteous, 1996). A number of evolutionary theories have been well developed to explain human landscape preferences. Preferred land-scapes are generally those which resemble landscapes which satisfied our ancestors' needs. Environments such as savannas, with their open grasslands and scattered trees, areas of water and protective woods fall under this reasoning (Dubos, 1980). Appleton's Prospect-Refuge theory suggests that environments providing safe views of predators from places of protection, coupled with food sources for foraging, are another example of evolutionarily favourable landscapes (Appleton, 1996a). We haven't evolved long enough with industrial technology for our preferences to reflect our depen-dence on its presence. Highly diverse landscapes encompassing a vista of varied topographic forms and surface covers are typically those marked as having the highest scenic value. The markedly rugged, heavily forested landscape of the Howe Sound doesn't easily fit into the Dubos' (1980) archetypal savanna, or the open pastoral, agrarian landscapes that represent a savanna-like and fundamental example of the American cultural bond with nature (Thayer, 1994). In the North American context, human disturbance in the landscape is generally considered to be an intrusion unless it contributes to a pastoral or his-toric landscape alteration. Far from the tamed, romanticized nature of Great Britain, the Pacific Northwest landscapes exemplify something far more wild, sublime, less artistically pastoral and humane, and greater in scale compared to wind 22 turbines. European and Asian attitudes towards visual quality tend to be more accepting of human modifications and transformations as potentially artful or cultural, and more ideal (Sheppard, 2004). Despite opposition in some areas such as the U.K. countryside, this may explain, in part, the higher acceptance and more widespread installation of wind farm-ing on other continents that don't share the same idea of nature and wilderness that British Columbians have. Embedded within these disparate value systems is the distinction between European and North American definitions of nature, with the general European acceptance of more disturbed landscapes and cultural landscapes, and the North Americans recog-nition and love of the untouched wilderness of the latter. The industrial revolution and technology threatened the ideals of the agrarian countryside; however windfarming presents a unique combination of attachment to the land and introduction of technology. The visible mark of wind farms has historically been the greatest cause of public opposition (Pasqualetti et al., 2001). This aspect in particular should be catered to directly by designers. The Kaplan's (1988) suggest several perceptive fac-tors that can guide designers in creating environments that people will respond to positively. They suggest that people, of necessity, seek more information and look for new challenges when encountering new situations. This leads to some scenes, particularly those that allow for involvement, being, more favourable to visitors than others. Four informational fac-tors, coherence, complexity, legibility and mystery, operate jointly as people assess their environment (Kaplan, 1988): 1) Coherence: A small number of coherent areas makes a setting easier to understand. Orderliness and organi-zation into legible areas, repetition of.themes, unifying textures, and limiting the number of contrasting textures contribute to a coherent landscape. 2) Complexity: This refers to the richness, intricacy and diversity of visual components, which encourages explora-tion and can also display varying levels of coherence. 23 3) Legibility: Distinctive, memorable components can assist with orientation, way-finding and improve a place's leg-ibility. Experience and familiarity can also derive patterns from apparent disorder, which leads to better legibility. Unexciting, undifferentiated areas can become more special places with memorable, distinct features and land-marks. 4) Mystery: Exploration becomes compelling if the prospect of discovery or understanding is suggested. What lies just beyond sight may be intriguing as a source of more information. A distaste or technophobic fear of certain technologies is manifested in the landscape of the city and by the manner in which we zone, arrange, buffer, hide, or otherwise \"ignore\" such technologies. Thayer (1994) describes four such factors: a) Zoning and Regulations: Zoning and other regulations keep technologies away from residential and recreational areas. We can propose-turbines in reasonable, favourable locations within proximity to populations if it coincides with public awareness, education and input. Although NIMBYism doesn't tend to favour \"green technologies\" such as wind turbines, currently zoned industrial areas within the town of Squamish may be particularly suitable to wind turbines, with no physically harmful risk to human populations. b) Buffering or camouflage: Concealment of technology behind formal architectural and landscape screens, and camouflaging them via co-lour, form or texture. We can however propose turbines that work in visible harmony with landscape and urban forms, and arrange them with respect to the visual qualities of the landscape. 24 c) Symbolic transformation: As a symbol of environmental awareness, sustainability and green energy, the potentially positive image wind farming already possesses may be fostered if its detrimental impact on the psyche of people can be alleviated. Education, aesthetics, and indicators of care may be established to foster a symbol of caring for the environ-ment, rather than encroachment. Thayer goes on to describe how adopted technologies and consumer products symbolically define who we are, whether it is our automobiles, electronics, or other technologies. Wind farming can similarly define the Howe Sound as a sustainable region. d) Denial or avoidance of technology entirely. By making our energy sources visible, it becomes impossible to negate them or remove them from our mental maps as is the case with most of our public utilities. This doesn't allow us to separate the \"good\" technologies from which we benefit, from \"bad\" technologies that cause unsightly environmental degradation, making us more holistically responsible for our own lifestyles. This realization of our demands on the environment, and the reality of the environment's supply of resources is a critical step in alle-viating technophobia, as well as a move towards sustainability through awareness of our energy needs and it's infrastructure. Landscape Meaning - merging technology into landscapes we prefer The inherent beauty or ugliness existing in a particular scene can differ between people. Common environmental mean-ings do however exist throughout and between populations, and may change over time. Human intrusions on the land-scape are experienced at three different levels (Thayer, 1994): 25 1) Perceptual 2) Functional 3) Symbolic Similar to Porteous' (1996) sensory, formal and symbolic layers of landscape preference, these three dimensions contrib-ute to the totality of an individual's positive or negative response to the landscape (Thayer, 1994). This thesis expands these notions into four major themes: 1) Cultural & Community (symbolic) 2) Aesthetic Image (perceptual) 3) Aesthetic Context (perceptual) 4) Pragmatic & Ecological (functional) These four themes (described later) become the framework for selecting sites for, designing, and analysis of windfarms. 1) Perceptually, we still tend to favour natural, unaltered landscapes, because these are evolutionarily derived and we haven't lived long enough in our technology-saturated environments for our inherited instincts to catch up and prompt us to prefer these landscapes. Although we may not agree on the functional or abstract meaning of a technology, most people, regardless of culture, can agree upon it's identification as an intrusion to the natural landscape. We can make assumptions regarding people's acceptance of technology at a perceptual level. Ex-plicit technologies, which exist as conspicuous, man-made features or materials in the landscape, tend to be the least favourable. Iconic technologies, or those that are particularly obvious, large in scale, and contrasting with the landscape, prompt the strongest response. Wind turbines exist as this kind of conspicuous technology, and 26 as a result, suffer great discrimination (Thayer, 1994). Designing windfarms to respect this perceptual meaning of landscape is therefore critical in successful windfarm design. 2) The functional dimension of meaning requires the viewer associating a purpose with the technology in the landscape. Of these functions, transformative and energetic technologies such as raw material extraction and power plants have the greatest impact on landscape character and as a result are visually the least tolerated. Wind turbines are a clear example of an energetic technology with high visual impact. We tend to appreciate ru-ral landscapes with their agricultural technologies, shudder at intrusions of transformative or energetic technolo-gies, and rely on transportation technologies to sail us into them (Thayer, 1994). The perceptual and functional meanings of windfarming, which are common sources of their dislike, must be supplemented by a third dimen-sion of symbolic landscape meaning. 3) Symbolic meanings depend on what the technology \"stands for\" beyond it's ordinary use in the landscape, and perhaps offer the most to wind farming in terms of preferable public perception. Windfarms can serve as sym-bols representing the moral and philosophical state of the region's residents, as well as their cultural history and potential future. Sustainable initiatives relieve us of the guilt we feel when our emotional love of nature collides with the reality of our environmentally damaging, technophillic lifestyles. Although wind farms have, for some people, come to symbolize ugly, technological intrusions, their other meaning, representing ecological harmony and responsible development, far outweigh their visual impacts. This thesis poses the question: can windfarms, which satisfy our functional dependence on energy, not be accepted and appreciated like grain elevators or silos, which satisfy our functional dependency on food energy? The meaningful asso-ciations attributed to agricultural infrastructure such as grain elevators have come to symbolize a wealth of North Ameri-27 can cultural values and lifestyles. Here windfarming has the potential to symbolize our dependence, respect, and spiritual connection to the landscape that we depend on to sustain those values and lifestyles. The deepest meaning of any place is it's sense of connection to human life and indeed to the whole web of living things residing there: for example, when the setting visibly supports biological and social function, and local identity has clear temporal structure that reflects this (Lynch, 1976). Thayer (1994) makes the argument that our response to utilitarian landscapes follow the model below (Figure 6). We construct a hierarchical framework of subjective meanings based on previous exposures to perceptual, functional and symbolic dimensions of landscapes. This hierarchy results from preference and social norms, and allows us to respond to a specific landscape as if it were an objective stimulus, therefore assigning it somewhere within the field of topophilia (love of place), technophilia (love of technology), and technophobia (dislike of technology). In the case of a wind farm, it is first perceived in a formal sense, as it contrasts greatly from the surrounding landscape and is recognized as an intrusion of some kind. It's function is legible, capturing the force of the wind to generate electricity. Symbolically, a number of ab-stracted meanings could then follow, ranging from environmental coexistence within an ecosystem, to outright intolerance of an intrusion into nature. In Howe Sound, it may provoke feelings of technophilia due to a fascination with this dynamic, sustainable technology, topophilia due to the elegance of it's complementary arrangement within a scenic landscape, or technophobia, depending on the subjective nature of the viewers information/ knowledge in that circumstance. One-di-mensional aesthetic experience falls short of defining the totality of topophilia: anticipation, strong sense of physical and emotional attachment, and satisfaction are part of this bond. 28 Figure 6: Symbolic, functional and perceptual meaning of landscape, and our technophobic, technophillic, and topophillic reactions to it (Source: Thayer, 1994) Regional Landscape Design - how design can facilitate the merging technology and landscape A. Sense of the region Squamish is Coast Salish for \"the mother of the wind\". The name, Squamish, is saturated with mental and emotional at-tachments that stem from a people's sense of this region. The sensory quality of environments can have a strong social and emotional importance, as well as an aesthetic character that may be catered to at a regional scale. Although our senses are local, our experience is regional (Lynch, 1976), with vision potentially spanning the two scales. The pres-ence of wind farming can impact the character of the Howe Sound region in different ways depending on its location, size, arrangement and visibility. This windfarm project will explore a number of scenarios in order to retain or alter particular aspects of this regional character. Regional design, according to Lynch (1976), begins with surveying major public views from major view corridors. The fre-quency with which water, plants, rock, earth, broad reaches of sky are visible determines how we visually experience the 29 ' environment. A conscious effort to retain Squamish's visual link to its greater landscape may be made, and this reflects on the sensitivity of a design to its environment. In Squamish, some key view cones may be proposed to contain turbines, others will not, and this design decision will reflect a predetermined set of motivations or rationale. Eye range districts are ranges of landscape that contain similar levels of detail legibility from any one particular viewpoint. These zones deter-mine the dominant forms detectable in the landscape from those viewing areas (Lynch, 1976). At long range distances, clusters of turbines making up the wind farm as a whole can be seen as a visual unit. From shorter ranges, individual turbines themselves are more distinct from one another, and the viewer sees them less as a package nested in the land-scape. B. Environmental Image Any inhabited, altered landscape is a medium of communication. The imageablility of a physical environment is the de-gree to which it imprints a strong sense of order and character in the minds of observers. Clear visual elements, and a visual harmony between those elements and the environment is necessary to achieve this structuring of our perceptual world. With this sense also comes a sense of security. This intentional expression of place brings in Howe Sound is conducive to people participating in their surroundings with their eyes, ears and minds. The extent to which the parts of a landscape can be organized into a coherent pattern can be catered to by diligent turbine placement and arrangement. Environmental images are the result of a two-way process between the observer and his environment. The observer limits and filters through the distinctions and relations presented by the environment, attaching a meaning to it that may be significantly different from other observers. An environmental image may be composed of identity, structure and mean-ing. Distinctly identifiable objects, recognizable as a separate entity from other parts of the surroundings, must first be identified as being unique. A spatial pattern or relation of the object to the observer and to other objects must be devel-30 oped in the image, and this object must have some practical or emotional meaning to the observer. By concentrating on the physical clarity of the image, we can allow individual responses and meanings to develop without direct suggestion (Lynch, 1960). Image development is an interaction between people and what they sense around them. Both physical surroundings and people themselves may be retrained/reformed to strengthen image development. Repeated experience helps re-assign values to previous experiences and signals, eventually changing the pattern of perception. A new, updated image allows people to exist in harmony again, without distress or anxiety, after landscape intervention such as windfarming. Both public participation and visualization may assist with the preparedness and retraining to which Lynch (1960) refers to. Re-forming an acceptable regional image of Howe Sound in light of the proposed windfarm is an important part of the ability for a community to prepare and accept regional change. C. Wind Turbines in the Landscape \"Mental Landscapes\", or the mental maps of our surroundings that we formulate, often influence how we view the land-scape and our responses to change within in. Dramatic changes such as an array of wind turbines can threaten the sanctuary of our landscapes and subsequently threaten ourselves and our identities (Pasqualetti et al., 2001). The scope of this design must reach far beyond the installation of wind turbines on a land parcel, and into the psyche of the region's residents. It could be said that the generations of past Dutch wind farmers give validity to the addition of modern windmills in their countryside. Holding sacred windshed phenomena, such as chinooks of the southern Alberta, closely to our lives, memories, and sense of place shows us the value of sensual immersion in our personal recognition of beauty. History, taste, and experience also control, to some degree, our appreciation of landscape and it's components (Pasqualetti et al., 2001). 31 D. Design Considerations - formal requirements The design, spacing, height, type, surface treatment, etc. of wind turbines are dependent on the landscape in question and on the wind conditions. Wind turbines and landscape may form a coherent unit, emphasizing both elements. The sensory quality of environments can have a strong social and emotional importance, as well as an aesthetic character that may be catered to at a regional scale (Lynch, 1976). Attempts to hide or blur wind turbines are doomed to failure due to their scale and exposed siting in the landscape. Form and function here are inseparable. Turbines become a dominant element in the landscape, and the key consideration is not to visually oppress the landscape. For example, windfarms may contribute to outlining contours and contrasts on site (Birk Nielsens Tegnestue Landscape Architects, 1995) such as the Danish windfarm at Kappel (Appendix II). Nielsens goes on to express his four notions of aesthetics when considering windfarms in their landscape context: 1) Visual order: Clear, coherent units, linear, geometric formations, rhythm and internal geometry form a contrast to the landscape. Uniform design, rotational speed and direction, colour, height, diameter all contribute to design order. Some exceptions are appropriate to terrain as they can highlight landscape variation. 2) Linearity: Curved lines present particular design challenges due to their indistinguishability at a distance on flat landscapes, yet can accentuate landforms on topographically varied landscapes. 3) Simplicity: Logical, clear arrangement, avoiding visual confusion, underlines the character of man-made ele-ments. 32 4) Contrast: Strong vertical elements contrast with flat landscapes, which create perspectives revealing depth and distance and make open space stand out even more clearly. Vertical installations accentuate vertical - horizontal contrast, and locations in landscapes already containing vertical elements detract from the installation's distinc-tiveness. Simple, unambiguous formations give a windfarm significant outward form, eg. a closed system with quadratic or rectilinear overall form. Turbine scale may be mediated by not allowing them to penetrate the hori-zon or outline of ridge / mountain tops. These would compliment recommendations on design and mitigation stemming from the San Gorgonio Wind Resource Study (1982), which recommended colour \"clusters\", with open \"windows\" between them. They also correlate strongly with US Forest Service (1972) and Litton (1968) theories of visual dominance in the landscape: 1) Sequence relates most strongly with the work of Birk Nielsens (1995). Forms which interrupt the systematic repetition in a sequential landscape lead to a \"missing tooth\" appearance. Abrupt changes in the sequence of turbines are visually disruptive if the reason for their abruptness is not understood and deemed acceptable. Tur-bines need to perceived as a coherent cluster and not as single and scattered elements. 2) Convergence suggests that existing colours, lines, openings, forms and/or textures tend to focus attention to a smaller area, almost as if a number of vectors or arrows point the eye to a certain place in the landscape. Such locations would be inappropriate for visually unappealing objects. This principle reinforces perspective in an overall landscape composition. A yearning exists for that which lies just over the horizon, just out of view, on the other side of the valley, etc. In the context of landscape symbolism, varying topographic features, forest canopy, and objects such as trees and structures describe a composition that consciously or subconsciously influences our reaction to it (Appleton, 1996b). 33 3) Enframement is a situation where the landscape forms a frame or bounding box that captures within it the focal elements of the landscape. This situation is commonly referred to as a landscape vista, which, unlike a panora-ma, contains margins or framing \"bookends\". 4) Contrast in colour and form is expected to be high between turbines and the landscape. In addition to this con-trast, the typically axial arrangement of Dutch and Danish wind farms reinforces their dominating character. Such axial arrangements exhibit a high degree of order and coherency; they tend not to foster any dialogue between turbines and the landscape. Adapting windfarm symmetry to changes in landscape form, and allow-ing a single turbine or a cluster of them to be dominant in the landscape, can give rise to more visually pleasing, distinct installations that communicate information regarding landscape form. D. Design Considerations - functional requirements Once a site has been considered within the greater context of its surrounding environment, the functional design of the windfarm itself must also be considered. In order to be effective, rows or arrays of turbines are ideally perpendicular to dominant winds, rather than parallel. At the same time, the spacing of turbines must be 3-5 times the blade diameter if aligned perpendicular to dominant wind direction, and 7-9x blade diameter if aligned parallel with the dominant wind direc-tion. A Pre-feasibility study (Sea Breeze Power Corporation and Dillon Consulting, 2004) also highlights the direct, positive relationship between wind speed, number of turbines, energy producing capacity, and revenue. In addition, there is an inverse relationship between turbine size (blade length), and the cost of energy production. 34 Visual Resource Theory - the physical environment for windfarm design A. Visual Absorption Capacity Visual absorption capacity (VAC) refers to a landscape's ability to absorb disturbance without losing it's visual character (Sheppard, 2004) and may be applied to the case of large scale windfarming as well. Typically, gentler shallower slopes with less uniform surface patterns have a higher VAC. Steep slopes are more visible, as they \"face\" the observer and ob-jects on the surface don't obstruct one-another. Turbines contrast more with uniform land surface patterns. In this study, VAC may be applied to find sites that can facilitate turbines in a manner that does not impinge on landscape character or in a manner which is informed by the character of that landscape. Here we are not seeking potential sites that hide or camouflage turbines from view. Instead we are celebrating a new focal point in the landscape, symbolizing a more sus-tainable region, and its placement being inspired by, informed by, and complemented by an iconic landscape. B. Visual Contrast The presence of wind turbines in Howe Sound will be a dominant feature in the landscape when located within the viewshed of observers. Despite being smaller in scale than the surrounding mountains, a number of factors contribute to their domi-nance. First, the colour of turbines is generally a neutral white or grey-white. This tends to be a preferred colour that can resemble/reflect the occurrence of ambient light / colour to some degree. Although this colour has an ability to work with a wide variety of other colours in the environment, it contrasts with much of the darker forest and mountainous surroundings of the regional Howe Sound landscape, contributing to the turbine's visual prominence. Secondly, the linear sequence of the wind farm will tend to lead the eye along the row of turbines; any deviation from this sequence will tend to be visually disrup-35 tive. Thirdly, the different seasons will have great influence on the visual impact of the turbines. In-the winter months, typical low cloud cover can obstruct visibility to all mountain-based sites, particularly those at higher elevations. Snow cover from late fall to the spring is typical at these higher elevations, and potentially reduces the contrast of wind turbines seen against snow covered backdrops. The extent of front-lighting and backlighting of the turbines against sky and forested backgrounds will change from site to site throughout the year and day, also impacting turbine visibility. C. Viewer Sensitivity The selection of viewpoints will be influenced by the various types of user-groups or observers that may be in Howe Sound at any point in time, and the areas they typically visit / reside in. Different stakeholder groups will have varying levels of concern for the scenic quality of the landscape, and the presence of wind farming in the region. Viewer type, duration, volume, frequency, view access, and viewing conditions all impact viewer sensitivity (Sheppard, 2004). Viewer types with large volumes, long durations, and high frequencies with clear views of the potential wind farms are weighted heavily in their need for appropriate visualization; however there are important user groups that aren't great in numbers nor frequency, such as back country hikers and climbers, that experience parts of the landscape which must be consid-ered equally sensitive to disturbance. 2.5 Criticisms of this approach The view of wind turbine generators as industrial technologies puts them at the very heart of the conflict between nature and technology that Thayer (1994) establishes. Thayer (1994) points out two implications underlying the development of computer-based land analysis and simulation systems. First is the assumption that the negative impacts of technology on landscape can best be controlled by employing those very technological capabilities to counteract it. This is relevant 36 in the use of visualization software for designing windfarms, as well as in relying on industrial-scale energy generation to satisfy growing energy needs stemming from industrialization. The second implication is that of the potential dangers involved in blurring the line between simulation and reality. Au-thenticity doesn't exist in a virtual world. Computer simulations can be a misleading use of imaging technology in that they may present imaginary landscapes with positive bias and the believability of real ones. Visualization as a tool within the planning process has been well established in previous studies (Sheppard et al., 2004), as is an adequate code of visualization ethics to make them viable (Sheppard, 2001). Images similar to those produced in the aforementioned stud-ies, despite coming from very different technical operations, can be produced in other, far less complicated software than those applied in this thesis. Such literal visuals as those explored in this thesis may be potentially manipulative as they are presented as a reality to an untrained public unaware of it's limitations. Subtle elements such as the presence and position of trees, weather, lighting, viewer position, and colouring may influence responses to a particular visualization. Accuracy, representativeness, clarity, interest and legitimacy are the key principles which this thesis follows in order to be effective (Sheppard, 2001). It may be noted that Squamish is already a relatively green energy region, with most of its energy coming from Hydroelec-tric facilities (SGOG, 2005). The rationale for this kind of study is based on the reality that current BC Hydro facilities lack the capacity to satisfy the energy demands for projected population growth in Squamish. The population is expected to approximately triple by 2031 (SGOG, 2005): Wind energy can be an ideal renewable energy compliment to hydro. Sec-ondly, hydroelectric generators are scarcely visible due to their location in valley bottoms. Despite run-of-river hydroelec-tric facilities being less damaging to river ecosystems than dam facilities, their lack of visual presence and inaccessibility to the general population hinders communication or awareness that may lead to more sustainable decisions by energy consumers. 37 Several other assumptions are embedded within this topic and methodology. The first is that we can, within this process, begin to mend the disparity that has evolved between humans and their environment. Particularly within industrialized so-cieties, we have been gradually disassociating ourselves from the natural resources we are dependent on. The spiritual shift that results from this immersion into a predominantly technological environment occurs in tandem with a tendency to behave in more environmentally damaging ways. This thesis takes the view that windfarming can help to relieve this trend by reconsidering our relationship with natural landscape processes (Strang, 1996). Especially relevant to a landscape architectural design approach is the additional issue of the phenomenological conse-quences of windfarming. The genus loci, or \"spirit of the place\" that may be attached to any particular environment may be altered and reinvented over time via the introduction of technologies such as windfarming. Here it is argued that any attempts to preserve completely the current genus loci of the study region is in conflict with the ongoing formal and cultural changes that take place in this region. Many technological installations have altered the spirit of place in Squamish, some of which contribute to the community, economy and livelihood of this region. The Wood fiber mill, terminal station, pow-erlines, the Sea-To-Sky highway, and forest cut blocks all impact the experience of this region from a phenomenological perspective. Some of these technologies are appreciated more than others. This appreciation is subjective; the change in perspective depends upon how they have impacted peoples there. A windfarm moves towards coming to terms with our love of the natural environment (topophilia) and our dependency on technology, which together is a realistic progres-sion in our appreciation and respect for place. 38 P a r t III. S i t e A n a l y s i s 3.1 A n a l y s i s M e t h o d o l o g y O v e r v i e w This analysis aims to select suitable sites for windfarm development in the Squamish area and develop explicit criteria for further site design at preferred sites. The analysis focuses on aesthetic issues in balance with other social, economic, and biophysical factors. An understanding of the area's wind resource, its physical terrain and its topography is necessary. This is followed by an assessment of the visual characteristics of the potential sites. The initial set of potential sites being examined by Squamish for windfarm development will be reduced to a subset of more ideal sites following these consid-. erations. This process of site elimination will be done by establishing a series of aesthetic, cultural and pragmatic motiva-tions for windfarming with explicit criteria, and assessing which sites are best suited to satisfy these. Figure 7 summarizes this process: Potential windfarm sites Wind resource assessment: this helps us understand the nature of the wind resource. Wind resource assessment: Visual inven-tory: this helps us understand how people experience the region and to classify sites with similar physical and spatial attributes. Viewshed analysis: this lets us analyze observer viewpoints and understand potential visual extent of sites. Development and application of motiva-tions to rank and identify preferred sites. Design criteria used to guide the achieve-ment of motivations through initial design and subsequent analysis of design success. Wind Resource Assessment (3.2) • wind characteristic- in the region Visual Inventory (3.3) • qualitative-description of region •typology of sites Viewshed Analysis (3.4) • guide viewpoint-selection and assess visual impact Subset of potential sites (3.5) • cultural, aesthetic or.pragmatic motivations guiding site selection Site design criteria •explicit design requirements-for Figure 7: Analysis methodology favourable sites 39 3.2 T h e H o w e S o u n d W i n d s h e d Wind is generally governed by three factors: pressure, temperature and friction. Wind is created as moving air passes from higher pressure areas to lower pressure areas. Much of the wind systems in Howe Sound are cause by seasonal and diurnal heating and cooling, along with cold and warm fronts. Fronts are separations between cold and warm air masses, and are caused by shifting wind, rising pressure, clearing weather, or changing temperature (Environment Cana-da, 1999). In the coldest winter months, November through February, 80 percent of the winds are the northerlies, from the north, and 10 percent are southerlies, from the south. In the summer this trend changes, with 35 percent of winds being northerlies, and 50 percent southerlies (Figure 8) Pt . Atkinson Howe Sound Squamish Squamish Whistler (ECstn 10459NN) (EC stn 1106200) (EC stn 10476F0) (iWindSurf stn Squamish) (EC stn 1048898) 1996/5/31 -2004/3/21 1995/2/1 -2004/3/21 1982 /5 /17 -2004 /3 /21 2003 /9 /2 -2004 /1 /31 1983/1/1 -2004/3/21 Figure 8: Wind rose diagrams for weather stations in the Squamish region. Bar length indicates primary direction of wind origin. Northerly winds are outflow events, when ridges of high pressure occur in interior B.C. These are often referred to as 'Squamishes' or the 'Squamish' winds, and begin when temperatures fall and pressure rises of the Chilcotin plateau (just 40 north of Howe Sound). The cold air that builds over these coastal mountains flows south through the mountain passes, down the valley past Lilloet and Pemberton, then out across Squamish into Howe Sound. Winds are strongest by the time they reach the mouth of the sound. In the summer, with a ridge of high pressure to the west of the region, winds tend to be northerly overnight and in the early morning, at their fastest between 7:00 and 10:00 am. Winds weaken quickly after this peak, and a transition to southerlies occurs by the afternoon. Southerly winds result from higher pressures off the coast than over the interior. This may happen after the passing of a front over the region or when a ridge of high pressure builds offshore. As a surface front draws closer from the Gulf of Georgia, pressures begin to rise. Before the front enters the Sound, strong southerly winds are channeled into the mouth of the inlet. A sudden switch from northerly to southerly can happen in minutes, with an initial surge lasting around an hour, then persisting for many hours afterwards. On a typical day, with a ridge of high pressure to the west of Vancouver Island, the wind flow varies from the north during the morning hours and from the south during the afternoon. Daytime heating of mountains draws air upwards, pulling air into the south to replace it. Wind gradually increases speed as it reaches the head of the sound and is tunneled toward Squamish. These winds reach their peak during the maximal day time heating, then switch to northerly again when mountain slopes cool through the evening and night, when drainage winds begin. This diurnal in-breathing and out-breathing rhythm is strongest during the .summer. Quieter days of summer often see downslope drainage winds occurring in the bays and inlets of the Howe Sound (Environment Canada, 1999). Wind Resource Assessment In addition to installing a meteorological tower at the Alice Ridge site in the Spring of 2006, meteorological data from four existing meteorological towers is also available. Although winds at these stations will be significantly lower than at the elevations attained by large wind turbines, the trends they show can give insight as to promising turbine locations. From 41 north to south, the weather stations are at Whistler, the Squamish airport, offshore in the Howe Sound south of Britan-nia Beach, and at Point Atkinson, which is immediately south of Horseshoe Bay (see Figure 6). Year to year variations in average wind speed at ground level are low, with around 10 percent variability, and wind speeds are strongest offshore at about 5 m/s. Offshore winds have the most significant winter peaks in speed. Point Atkinson has average wind speeds around 3.5 - 4 m/s, and the last two sites average around 1 - 2 m/s. All locations experience unique diurnal and seasonal wind speeds and directions. Field observations such as tree \"flagging\" also confirm the strength and consistency of winds to supplement this data (Figure 9). Figure 9: \"Flagged\" trees indicating strong, consistent winds at the spit, along Squamish's Waterfront 3.3 Visual Inventory The study area for this analysis is a loosely defined region encompassing the furthest visible extent while centred within the central Squamish valley (Figure 10). The visible extent of Howe Sound includes the water, valley, mountains, the town of 42 Squamish, and several proposed locations for windfarms. Land within this viewshed is delineated and examined in closer detail in the viewsheds section of Part III. Figure 10: Looking north up the Squamish valley from the Waterfront Some generalizations can be made which contribute to assessing the visual character of potential windfarming sites in the region (Figure 1): • Ridgelines: Sinuous ridgelines typically drop down towards the valley centre and are typically forested, though in the case of the Stawamus Chief, may exhibit large expanses of exposed bedrock. The elevation of the highest peak in the valley, Mt. Garibaldi, is 2678 m., making the suggested turbine height of 124 m. equal to 4.6 percent of the total vertical relief found in the region. • Valley Floor: The relatively flat bottom valley, including marine and terrestrial areas, comprise the \"floor\" of the study area. All urban areas and the vast majority of visible man-made structures reside here. • Valley Walls: Mountain walls line all sides of the elongated viewshed. The valley walls run roughly north-south, and angle northwest at the northern end of the valley around Levette lake. Mt. Rodderick, Brennan Ridge Goat Ridge, and the Stawamus Chief, contribute to the walls of this valley. The Southern portion of the valley and Howe Sound arc in a large curve before opening up to the Straight of Georgia. 43 • Forested valleys: Side valleys falling between elevated areas typically contain streams and are heavily forested. • Ceiling: The clouds and sky form the \"ceiling\" of the region, which may be low and closed in with overcast and winter weather systems, or open on clear days. From these physical observations, we can infer how an observer's position will influence the visibility of various windfarm sites. The composition of foreground, middle ground, and background changes dramatically with different viewpoints. Vis-ible sequence of objects also changes significantly from different viewpoints of the region, along with their visibility. Potential Windfarm Sites All of the 8 sites marked by Sea Breeze Power Corporation will be incorporated into this study, together with three waterfront and off-shore sites (Figure 1). Generally, windfarm sites can be grouped into three types based on their relationship to the landscape structure as described above (Figure 11): 1) Major ridgeline locations include: Mt. Ellesmere, Alice Ridge, Levette Lake, Brohm Ridge. Ridgelines form the sil-houette and skyline of mountain ranges, an undulating horizontal boundary between the land and sky. Mt. Garibaldi is dominant along the ridgeline, together with other numerous prominent peaks in the region. Ridgelines are visu-ally dominant and iconic. Turbines here would likely be silhouetted against sky when seen from most viewpoints. 2) Valley Wall locations include: Brennan Ridge, Mt. Rodderick, Goat Ridge. Valley Walls form the hillslopes and low-er ridgelines that bound Howe Sound, and frame views up and down the valley. These sloping mountain sides and descending ridgelines visually form concave lines joining the valley floor and ridge tops. Much of the Stawamus 44 Chief forms a particularly steep valley wall and is a symbol / iconic image for Squamish. Most of the visible land area in the region are the valley walls. Turbines may be hidden, or silhouetted against sky or mountain backdrop, depending on viewing location and direction. 3) Valley floor locations include: all water locations and urban sites such as the town of Squamish, the town's waterfont, and terminal station. This valley floor forms the ground plane that people and communities reside on, suggesting a more intimate relationship between residents and objects placed on the valley floor. Much of this land area and its installations are obscured from more distant views due to the masking effect of objects existing on the ground surface. This suggests that designing windfarms for visibility on the valley floor requires careful consideration of spatial adjacencies and context. Turbines are typically more visible if offshore, backdropped against hillsides; they are generally less visible onshore, but dominant in foreground views. Two subsets of valley floor locations exist: offshore sites (which tend to be more distant from areas where people reside), and onshore sites (which tend to be closer and more connected to areas where people reside). Figure 11: The three major landscape typologies in the region: Ridgelines (top red line), Valley Walls (sloping red lines), and Valley Floor (lower horizontal red line) 45 The sites of Alice Ridge, Brohm Ridge and Levette Lake will receive front-lighting from most viewpoints to the south, includ-ing those within the Squamish townsite. The predominance of front-lighting at Alice Ridge, Brohm Ridge, and Levette Lake will make turbines at these sites appear flatter, but brighter. Offshore turbines will be almost entirely back-lit in southward views from town. The western and southern sites of Mt. Rodderick, Sechelt Lake, Brennan Ridge, Mt. Ellesmere, Offshore, and Goat Ridge will be largely side or back-lit throughout most of the day from the town's perspective, particularly in the -winter months when the sun isn't high enough to cast light on the fronts of the turbines. Sea-To-Sky highway and backcoun-try views will depend on the direction of travel and viewing. Enormous topographic variation could also lead to significant shadow effects within the potential sites: in sunny areas, there may be potentially flickering turbine shadows falling on ob-server points. Windfarm and Infrastructure Characteristics Typical 1.5 MW wind turbine generators suitable for high energy output in Howe Sound would have 80 m. tall towers, with blade radii of 44 m. Normally blades are painted white, but where icing is an issue they are painted black to maximize heat absorption (Sea Breeze Power Corp., 2004). Wind turbines require a clearing of major vegetation around the base of the turbine tower and transformer access area. They also need a well maintained access road, pad-mounted transformer for voltage step-up, and underground cables connected to a transformer that steps up the voltage again to the grid voltage (Figure 12). Energy is lost as it is transmitted through cables to an extent proportional to distance travelled. Electricity then goes through a substation, including metering and circuit breakers, and can then feed into British Columbia's electricity grid (Sea Breeze Power Corp., 2004) 46 3.4 V i e w s h e d A n a l y s i s This section begins with an examination of all viewpoints and view corridors considered in this study, and the rationale for viewpoint selection. Following this, all potential sites are considered in a viewshed analysis, with major findings summa-rized. The viewshed analysis discussion is then focused by examining specific viewpoints in relation to the three primary windfarm locations. Such an analysis informs sections 3.5 and 3.6, which provide a rationale for the elimination of poor sites and selection of favourable sites. Figure 12: Perspective view northward showing site access to powerlines and roads 47 Viewpoints and View Corridors Design must have an understanding of human activities on the land in order to reflect the functional pattern of the landscape. This requires consideration of important recreational patterns, viewpoints, or travel patterns, which is how most people frequently experience the landscape (Pasqualetti et al., 2001). Observer position perhaps has the greatest impact on the visual experience of landscape, relatively altering how all of the aforementioned site types are perceived. Critical sightlines such as those towards the Stawamus Chief, towards Mt. Garibaldi, Diamond Head, and out the Howe Sound towards the Straight of Georgia will be considered as important vistas, iconic for the area of Squamish. The contextual landscape which the sites are nested within, and how this visual backdrop changes with changing viewpoints will be considered as this is a critical element to the composition of proposed wind farm scenarios. Viewing conditions involving variable weather and light may also be considered. Sheppard (1989) provides criteria for viewpoint selection in this assessment of selection of landscape simulations; a subset of these will be considered for this study: Populated places at higher elevations: • the Waterfront; • the proposed residential community adjacent to it; • the town centre; • the spit Natural areas, parks and recreation sites at higher elevations: • Stawamus Chief; • Alice Lake (within Alice Lake Provincial Park, adjacent to the Alice Ridge site); • Tantalus Lookout (Adjacent to the Brohm Ridge site); 48 • Levette Lake recreational area; • Mt. Garibaldi; • Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park; • Elfin Lakes Trail; The higher elevation of these latter viewpoints offers unique prospects of potential wind farms in that they provide a more aerial view, particularly over the lower elevation sites. Viewpoints at similar elevations will likely share similar backdrops for windfarms; lower viewpoints may offer a backdrop of snow or sky, higher viewpoints may see turbines against darker, vegetated landscape. Sequences of viewpoints along circulation routes will be considered for their sequential relationship to the proposed sites: Walks: • viewpoints representing a walk along the Waterfront, with it's direct line of sight to, and alignment of Alice Ridge and with Mt. Garibaldi; • the path leading to Elfin Lakes, which generally follows a ridgeline with proximal views over Alice Ridge and more distant views of Goat Ridge; Roads: • the high traffic Sea-To-Sky Highway travelling north and south, perhaps the most popular mode of travel through the valley; • Cleveland Avenue, Squamish's most active urban street, may be seen as being of particular visual importance to the sense of place in downtown. 49 Outside visual bounds of Squamish Within primary influence zone of Squamish (approx. 12 km x 24 km) Part of Squamish Community (approx. 8 km x 16 km) Within Squamish town centre (approx. 4 km x 8 km) Figure 13: Eye-range districts for the Squamish valley centred around town, and the location of potential sites within them 50 Visibility changes dramatically from different viewpoints of the region. This derivation of visual ranges seems analogous to Lynch's (1976) \"eye range districts\", which allow designers to grasp the resolution of detectable forms from certain view-points. \"Eye range districts\" adopted for this region are show in Figure 13: 1) Most of the potential windfarm sites reside wjthin what the US Forest Service (1973) describes as the distant 'Background' zone seen from the main viewpoints on the valley floor. This area, residing 8000+ m. away, has very simplified visual characteristics consisting of outline shapes and ridges with little details apparent. Elements in the landscape are viewed generally as patterns of light and dark. Entire landscape units, water-sheds and vegetative patters are discernible with visible alteration being the least apparent. 2) Many of the settlements surrounding Squamish, such as Brackendale, as well as the off-shore locations, all reside within the 'middle ground' from central Squamish, existing roughly between 800 m. and 8000 m from the Squamish town centre. Significantly closer than the mountain locations, the offshore locations typically exist in a range that visually links the foreground and background parts of the landscape (USDA Forest Service, 1973). 3) The Goat Ridge site, the Waterfront and townsite will all, at some point, be within the 'foreground' visual range for travelers along the Sea-To-Sky highway. Viewers travelling along the highway could potentially be as close as several hundred meters away from turbines on the lower Goat Ridge. Most of the mountain-based potential wind farm sites have hiking and/or biking trails very proximal to them which would similarly bring turbines into the middleground or foreground of vistas into the landscape from these routes. 51 4) The Terminal Station potential windfarm site, however, resides within a 'foreground' range of up to 800 m. away from town, where the observer feels \"within\" this part of the landscape. Here the observer can feel a size relationship with the elements, discernment of colour intensity, and sensory experiences. This site has the unique characteristic of feeling as though it is part of the town itself, rather than outside of town. A qualitative scenic evaluation of selected viewpoints will assist in the categorical inventory of the Howe Sound as a visual resource, and the suitability for various parts of the landscape to facilitate turbines. By surveying major public views and view corridors we can also select adequate viewpoints for design analysis, although our viewpoints will not be limited to these. Viewpoints are not judged based on frequency of visitation or popularity, since very infrequently reached vistas may perhaps be the most prized and sacred of all; popularity would lead to an inaccurate, biased sense of the region (Lynch, 1976). This approach will adopt the matrix approach of the US Forest Service (USDA Forest Service) and BLM (U.S.D.I.B.L.M., 1980) in typologically describing areas of the region in order to assess their sensitivity to wind farm development, and how the presence of turbines might influence their scenic quality. Specific viewpoints for consideration in viewshed analysis and simulations are shown in Figure 14. The viewshed analysis projects viewsheds out from potential turbine locations, which are assumed to be 124 m. tall. Viewsheds are calculating using TRIM 20 m. elevation contours and ESRI ArcGIS software. Overview of viewshed results Although ArcGIS 3D Analyst viewsheds were calculated for all potential sites, only those for the three primary sites, as de-termined by this analysis, of Alice Ridge, Goat Ridge, and the Waterfront are shown (Figure 15). These images indicate the maximum land area from which turbines, based on a turbine height of 120 m., within these areas would be visible. The 52 } m Weill S*1* • .evetta L » i [6] Brorim^R'Cdge r M, • V [4] [ 1 3 ] [ 1 2 ] J e t o e t t % a k e Mtlfedderick t-Terminal ft* I Brennan Ridge :> ' '. <_ - . . Mt. Ellesmere O Turb ine ^ locations for v i e w s h e d a n a l y s i s [5] Offshore W.iterfjfcnt 81111/ 1 1 ] - [ 9 ] [ 1 0 ] Goaf Ridge Figure 14: Turbine sites for viewshed analysis, and viewpoints under consideration: [1] Waterfront, [2] Squamish town centre, [3] the spit, [4] Elfin Lakes [5] Water craft, [6] Mount Garibaldi Provincial Park, [7] Alice Lake Provincial Park, 8] Squamish River Estuary, [9] Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, [10] Shannon Falls Provincial Park, [11] Tantalus Provincial Park, [12] Baynes Island Ecological Reserve, [13] Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park 53 Figure 15: Viewshed maps showing the maximum visibility (highlighted yellow) footprint of the Alice Ridge (top left), Goat Ridge (top right), and Waterfront (bottom) sites 54 boundaries of these turbine sites are loosely defined, but the aggregation of turbine locations within these sites provide a maximum potential viewshed, as they include a larger potential land area than would actually be required by a windfarm. In addition, they do not account for the presence of trees or other objects on the land surface that could reduce visibility. Alice Ridge has the greatest visible extent, much of which extends outside of the central valley, and into Garibaldi Provincial Park. Viewpoints such as the Waterfront, Squamish town site, the spit, the Stawamus Chief and many of the valley parks will have views of this site (see Figure 16). The Waterfront, being low and central in the valley has the smallest visible extent, most of which falls within the central valley where Squamish, Brackendale, and other communities reside. This site will not be visible from large expanses of Tantalus, Alice Ridge, and Garibaldi Parks, and any views, such as from the Stawamus Chief, that include the Waterfront site will contain the already-disturbed footprint of the Squamish town site (see Figure 16). A more detailed viewshed analysis of the Alice Ridge and Goat Ridge sites is performed in the design analysis, (Section 4.3). Goat Ridge, being more elevated than the waterfront, and central in the valley, is highly visible in town and from the Sea-To-Sky highway south of Squamish. It produces a viewshed that is an intermediate between Alice Ridge and the Waterfront, in that it has greater visibility throughout the central valley and highway than the latter, yet less visibility in park land compared to the former (see Figure 16). All three of these sites are highly visible within town, since those which are further away are at a higher elevation. The Levette Lake site, residing at moderate elevation similar to Goat Ridge, is visible from town, but not the Squamish River Estuary. Most of the Sea-To-Sky highway in and north of town falls within its viewshed, as does most of the Squamish River north of the estuary, Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park and Tantalus Provincial Park (see Figure 16). Mt. Rodderick, Brennan Ridge, and Mt. Ellesmere display similarly low visibility from town. Tucked into the arc of the Sound that curves around Goat Ridge, these sites have their most consistent visibility along the highway south of town (see Figure 16). Almost none of the viewshed for Sechelt Lake falls within the central valley, and this site is visible only from higher elevations along the mountains surrounding the site and central valley. The viewsheds for the offshore site resemble that of the waterfront, 55 Figure 16: Site photos from the Stawamus Chief of windfarm sites and key features- [1] View west to Squamish Waterfront, [2] Squamish River Estuary, [3] Squamish town centre, [4] Tantalus Provincial Park, [5] Levette Lake, [6] Brohm Ridge, [7] Alice Ridge [8] Garibaldi Provincial Park, [9] View north to Alice Ridge, [10] Mount Garibaldi, [11] the view south to Goat Ridge, [12] Sea-To-Sky highway, [13] Mt. Ellesmere, [14] Brennan Ridge, [15] the view southward from the north peak of the Stawamus Cheif, looking over Goat Ridge towards Mt. Ellesmere 56 through displaced slightly further south, eliminating visibility from the northern end of the valley and river corridor. The Brohm Ridge site provides a similar viewshed to that of Alice Ridge, with consistent visibility throughout the town, central valley, trails, and Garibaldi Provincial Park (Figure 16). Selected viewpoints and sites This analysis will now focus on the three primary windfarm locations found to be favourable in the forthcoming analysis sec-tions, and their situation within the following viewpoints: Waterfront: from the Waterfront, looking north, the landscape exhibits strong enframed and convergent vistas. Look-ing south the landscape converges towards the water, without direct views out to the distant sea. Mountain \"walls\" reinforce this, where the east and west sides of the valley guide the eye northward towards the dominant feature focal point, Mt Garibaldi, which exists in direct alignment with the Alice Ridge site. This viewpoint is more central in the valley than the spit, reflects the experience of residents, recreators and visitors, and provides views of most of the potential wind sites. Squamish town centre: Accounts for the experience of residents and visitors. The linear arrangement of roads and buildings downtown can block many views as well as form strong axial views. Although few open spaces exist in the town centre, most of the potential windfarm sites are visible from this viewpoint. The spit: Offers convergent, enframed vistas looking north and south from a more exposed, marine setting. Ac-counts for the experience of residents, visitors, and recreational users such as windsurfers. Provides relatively close, open views of Goat Ridge, Waterfront and offshore windfarm locations. 57 Water craft: Offer views of an enclosed landscape type with Valley walls on the east and west sides, and focal views, as in the case of the Waterfront viewpoint, if looking north. Accounts for the experience of residents, visitors, recre-ational users, particularly with views of Goat Ridge, Waterfront and offshore windfarms. Parks / protected areas: High Elevation: Such as Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park, Elfin Lakes, Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, Shannon Falls Provincial Park, Alice Lake Provincial Park, Mount Garibaldi Provincial Park and Tantalus Provincial Park. Low Elevation: The Estuary, Waterfront, and Baynes Island Ecological Reserve. These areas represent meaningful landscapes of particular sensitivity, as they contribute to the wild, natural sense of place in Howe Sound. The base of Mt. Garibaldi, the Diamondhead, and the Black Tusk are popular destinations for hikers, providing access to the pristine wilderness and untouched beauty of the mountainous landscape. Numerous hiking and biking trails exist within these areas and along logging roads that access them. Potential sites such as Alice Ridge and Levette Lake have much of the viewshed falling within some of these parks. These viewpoints ac-count for the experience of visitors, recreation users. The Elfin Lakes trail appears to fall within the Alice Ridge site viewshed, though the lakes themselves may not. The lower elevation sites at the Waterfront and Squamish River Estuary have many open views of the landscape, and are immediately accessible by people from town. Baynes Is-land Ecological Reserve is seen as a particularly sensitive viewpoint, as it exists to preserve the natural wilderness present in the Squamish River ecosystem. 58 Stawamus Chief - Iconic viewpoint/ destination which offers among the strongest panoramic landscapes of the re-gion, and is centrally located in the valley, proximal to Squamish town centre. This viewpoint would allow for views of almost all potential windfarm sites for significant numbers of residents, visitors and recreators such as climbers. Sea-to-Sky Highway: northbound vs. southbound - Accounting for the experience of visitors, residents and rec-reation users throughout the valley, the highway offers broken views or peepholes into and out of the sound due to roadside vegetation and cut banks. Particularly noteworthy entry sequence views occur as the highway passes through the narrows of the Goat Ridge site. Goat Ridge appears to have the greatest visibility from the highway, and is briefly the closest to it (Figure 17). Figure 17: Site photos from the Sea-To-Sky highway south of Goat Ridge travelling north, showing the impact of tree presence on the visibility of Goat Ridge and other landforms 3.5 M o t i v a t i o n s and D e s i g n C r i t e r i a Motivations based on the relevant literature reviewed in Part II and a visual analysis of the region in Part III, have been 59 established as indicators of site suitability and wind farm design. These motivations represent user interests and require-ments, each potentially favouring different sites in the landscape. This study assumes that combinations of these motiva-tions which would drive the siting and design of windfarms can be weighted or ranked as a guide to overall suitability for siting, and favourable sites can be highlighted for scenario development. Design criteria are a more explicit, formalized, measurable extension of the site selection motivations. They provide a set of explicit requirements to conduct a comparative analysis of success final designs in achieving these predetermined goals. This analysis does not attempt to reconcile with existing visual quality objectives or other visual resource management poli-cies in the region, such as those applicable to the forestry industry or land resource management plans. Four overall themes or motivations for windfarm siting and design are considered here: 1) Aesthetic Context motivations. Sites which satisfy these motivations will support a harmonious relationship or \"fit\" between a windfarm and its surrounding environment. Urban forms such as city patterns, streets, alignments, blocks and parcelling can potentially guide the siting of turbines in a manner which connects the windfarm formally with communities. Natural forms such as ridgelines, slopes, and other topographical features can inform the design of windfarms such that they are responsive to and in visual harmony with the landscape. Unlike hiding, indicators of \"fit\" include subordination to surrounding landscape (related to visual absorption capacity and visual contrast), spatial relationships, compatibility with forms and other landscape characteristics. 2) Aesthetic Image motivations. These motivations will favour sites which cater to a strong, iconic presence of wind-farms. These sites will likely be visually dominant in the valley, proximal to communities and key viewpoints, and fall along major sightlines. Also, sites that allow for visually sculptural windfarms that express the dynamic animated 60 presence of turbines in a visual landscape composition will be favoured here. 3) Community & Culture motivations. Windfarms that are compatible with the spirit and history of the place/com-munity will be ranked highly for these motivations. Rooted in the landscape and its history, traces of previous events and the consideration of future community events can be considered in site selection. Visibility from communities and the highway will promote not only community awareness of sustainability and energy, but also serve to generate a positive, environmentally regional image. Indicators of compatibility with community and culture include: c • user sensitivity: sensitivity to impacts on cherished landscape, use areas, sacred sites, etc. • consistency with established societal goals such as educating local residents on sustainability • avoidance of nuisances such as noise, shadow \"flicker\" from turbine rotation, etc. 4) Pragmatic & Ecological motivations. These motivations prompt the selection of sites based on functional, eco-nomic and ecological considerations, engineering feasibility and project viability. Proximity to sensitive habitat and existing infrastructure, bird impact risk, avoiding development in undisturbed areas, construction costs and energy production efficiency are all pragmatic and ecological factors for site selection. The sequence used in the analysis (section 3.5) and design (part IV) processes is as follows: 1) Establish potential sites for windfarming (section 3.5) 2) Define motivations (section 3.5) 3) Define design criteria (section 3.5) 4) Weigh the importance of, and apply motivations / design criteria to all sites (section 3.6) 61 5) Select preferred sites (section 3.6) 6) Develop detailed designs / configurations for preferred sites (section 3.6) 7) Visualize designs (part IV) 8) Detailed analysis (part IV) 9) Revised design, visualization and analysis (part IV) 10) Presentation (part IV) Environmental Impacts Numerous environmental considerations must be taken into account for windfarms to be feasible, and are evaluated in the Pragmatic & Ecological motivations (defined above). A major environmental impact of windfarming stems from the con-struction process. Roads must be substantial and dependable for large trucks and machinery, and for maintenance access during the lifespan of the turbines. Best management practices must be adhered to during construction and maintenance of the windfarm. Species displacement, tree and vegetation cover removal, noise, industrial pollution, erosion and sedimenta-tion of water flows can all occur during the construction of infrastructure such as roads and power lines. High standard road construction that alleviates surface runoff sheet flow along roads will prevent erosion due to high water flow velocity, and contaminants entering the water table. Similarly, it is important to re-vegetate disturbed areas to ensure a no-net-loss situ-ation for the area's ecosystems, and provide a visually inconspicuous disturbance. Such practices should be undertaken, particularly in areas of steep slope where water flow velocities, potential for erosion, and the need for large retaining walls or cut banks are all greater. Numerous recent studies have indicated that the potential impact of windfarms on birds is relatively low. Numbers vary slightly, but higher estimates from the Altamont windfarms in the United States found that an average turbine will encounter 62 2.9 bird strikes per year (NWCC, 2001). Altamont is an area of similarly high avian activity to that of Howe Sound, though with significantly different climatic zones. A bird impact rate of around 2.2 per year is typical of other Canadian studies re-searched (www.canwea.ca, www.naikun.ca, www.bsc-eoc.org, accessed 2006). Their impacts on wildlife and vegetation would be analogous to any other structure, powerline or building. A number of mitigation strategies have been suggested by researchers (www.bsc-eoc.org, http://www.canwea.ca, http://www.fws.gov, accessed 2006): • Avoid siting wind turbine in locations of endangered or sensitive bird species • Avoid known areas of migratory bird pathways • Avoid bat hibernation or breeding areas • Configure turbines to avoid bird mortalities. This includes grouping turbines and ensuring adequate storm water management to reduce opportunities for water to collect and attract birds. • Use tubular towers as opposed to lattice design. All guy wires should be marked with bird deterrent devices. • If towers exceed 200 ft. use minimum lighting required by federal aviation administration. • Consider height of towers to reduce opportunities for strikes • Consider shutting towers down during periods of year when birds are known to be in high concentrations. • Location priorities should be given to human altered landscapes such as industrial and agricultural areas. • Turbines should not be placed between wetlands where birds travel back and forth. • Where possible, turbines should not be located on ridges or adjacent to landfills. To help them soar, eagles use thermals, which are rising currents of warm air and updrafts generated by terrain, such as valley edges or mountain slopes The Brackendale annual eagle count provides a spatially referenced account of eagle populations in the region, which number around 4,000, and are highest in the winter months (http://www.brackendaleeagles.com, accessed 2006). The 63 Squamish River Estuary is another protected habitat for waterfowl (http://www3.telus.net/driftwood/squambl.htm, accessed 2006). Scenarios that attempt to minimize risk to wildlife are explored as pragmatic motivations in this site analysis. Modern technology has substantially reduced noise emitted from wind turbines to the extent that it is no longer a major design constraint for sites outside of the town area. For urban locations, siting windfarms within zoned industrial areas will prevent mechanical turbine noises from infiltrating \"quiet\" areas such as residential and park zones. 3.6 S i t e A s s e s s m e n t A site analysis matrix showing overall motivational themes, motivations, design criteria, weightings and site favourability is shown in Appendix IV. From left to right this addresses: Theme (the grouping of site selection motivations into 4 themes); Motivation (guiding the assessment of favourable and less favourable sites); Criteria (motivations broken down into more quantifiable, explicit, rankable measures); Low Weight/ High Weight (this highlights five motivations deemed to be of par-ticular importance in identifying the good windfarming sites); all sites and their favourability for satisfying each motivation. Sites which appear to have fatal flaws are outlined in red; those sites with critical success, which satisfy highly ranked mo-tivations, are outlined in green. Weighting rows in the matrix as high or low allow certain motivations / criteria to override others; high weightings are at-tached to key motivations responsible for generating iconic, sculptural, educational, ecologically sound designs that fit har-moniously with and contribute positively to the regional experience of the Howe Sound. Motivations are weighted as being of high or low importance before assigning favourability ratings (more favourable, less favourable, or intermediate) to each of the potential sites, letting us filter out lower scoring sites or those with fatal flaws during this site elimination process. Motivations and criteria that are ranked as being of high importance allow us to quickly eliminate those sites which cater to 64 them (desirable), or don't (fatal flaw). This permits a site that caters towards one critical motivation, although lacking in other non-critical motivations, to be as suitable as another site which may as a whole be favourable, but fails to satisfy the same critical motivation. Similarly, a fatal flaw may be apparent whereby any site that completely fails to satisfy a particularly high ranked critical criteria becomes unfavourable as a site. The rationale behind site elimination of specific sites, based on Appendix IV, is as follows: • Brohm Ridge: lacks the iconic visual dominance of Alice Ridge and is even further away; potential plans for ski resort • Levette Lake: the fatal flaw to this site is that it is too close to Brackendale Eagles. Provincial Park and Tantalus Provincial Park; and its location low in the valley suggests higher risk for bird impact • Terminal Station: has a fatal flaw, being too close to the estuary, suggesting higher risk for ecological disturbance & bird impact • Off-shore: water is too deep, and channel near estuary has been dredged (>20 m. depth) • Sechelt Lake: completely out of viewshed, on undisturbed landscape, land outside District of Squamish authority • Mt. Rodderick only partially visible from town • Mt. Rodderick, Ellesmere Lake & Brennan Ridge: the fatal flaw here is the currently limited accessibility via road, and, although visible from some locations, the sites fall outside viewshed or perceivable eye range district of the Squamish townsite; they also lack the iconic, sculptural, landscape-responsive opportunities of Goat Ridge and Alice Ridge. The remaining sites of Alice Ridge, Goat Ridge, and the Waterfront are deemed to be the most favourable for windfarm sce-nario development under the terms of this study, as can be seen in Appendix IV by the higher number of more favourable ratings and lack of fatal flaws. 65 Par t IV. D e s i g n S c e n a r i o s 4.1 D e s i g n / A n a l y s i s M e t h o d o l o g y The final preferred sites of Alice Ridge, Goat Ridge and the Waterfront fall into the landscape typologies of Ridgeline, Valley Wall, and Valley Floor, respectively. Although the design process was iterative (Figure 18), consisting of numerous modified designs and detailed siting, the final windfarm designs and their visualizations are presented here. -analysis of viewshed extent: quantification of total visible area within Squamish, parks, along highway -proximity of turbines to view-. points, residential areas, roads and power infrastructure -assessment of design success in acheiving design criteria Design criteria (from analysis) Design analysis in reference to design criteria (from analysis) Subset of potential sites (from analysis) Scenario Development Consultation and evaluation Design development Visualizations Final visualizations -preliminary, exploratory designs are modelled in 3D for all preferred sites -emphasis on formal characteristics and design potential -preliminary designs are refined via consultation with external wind energy . consultants -key issues highlighted: shadow \"flicker\", alignment with dominant wind direction, depth of water in the Sound -refinement of designs following sugges-tions from consultation and evaluation of preliminary modelling - visualization / animation trials using 3D . Studio Max (for complex animation and camera manipulation), ArcGIS ArcScene (for detailed high resolution orthophotos), and SketchUp (for building massing) Figure 18: Scenario visualization and design methodology 66 Landscape visualization methods The purpose of visualizing large-scale design scenarios is visually to communicate a future environmental condition in a manner that is understood by people, convincing to people, and unbiased (Sheppard, 1989). Such imagery can convey more information in more meaningful and memorable ways than other non-visual forms of communication (Sheppard, 2001, Sheppard and Salter, 2004, Lynch, 1976). Simulation methods used in this project involved 3D models, 2D photo-imaging, and hybrids of the two. Animations were produced that incorporate movement from the viewpoint perspective (i.e. the perspective of the landscape while moving down a road) and from the target perspective (i.e. a stationary view-point of rotating wind turbines). Animation is seen as critical to this exercise because it more closely represents modes of experience in the study area, and more accurately predicts the visual impact of wind turbines, since motion is a major visual attractant. These simulations will attempt to follow the principles outlined by Sheppard (1989) of accuracy, repre-sentativeness, visual clarity, interest, and legitimacy. Conventional wind farm visualization programs such as WindPro, used by the industry for siting wind turbines, are insuf-ficient in capturing the quality of the landscape or modelling its form appropriately to make decisions based on the intro-duction of turbines into a landscape. Although useful for incorporating wind resource data and functional requirements of wind turbines, and for accuracy cheeks, these programs have a limited capacity for realistic landscape simulation and landscape modification. Photomontages require photographs, which are static and must be collected in advance. Wire-frame and synthetic-looking landscape renderings typical of many 3D programs are too unrealistic for visual assessment. This makes it difficult to understand the real visual impact of the turbines on the character of the region. The programs tend to be focused on engineering and meteorological data; this study will take into account the region's visual landscape first, then consult with meteorologists to find potentially appropriate formations for the wind farm among a choice of aes-thetic scenarios. The GIS/3D modelling-based approach used here allows for a dynamic rendering, interactive design, 67 multiple view-angles, and animation without reliance on photographs. This thesis emphasizes the visual properties of wind turbines in a large-scale 3D landscape in its methodology, and relies on consultation and research to supplement this with engineering and meteorological support. Simulations reproduced in this report all use similar magnification, with rendering settings equivalent to a 35 - 50 mm. camera lens. A limitation of this method is the topography data available, which is restricted to 20 m. resolution. With the exception of the turbines, visualizations consider the landscape as an undulating surface void of objects such as trees, fences and other small three-dimensional structures. This is a reflection of data availability, time constraints, and software ease of use. Design Consultation Two representatives from Sea Breeze Power Corporation, a local wind energy company involved iri the Squamish wind energy initiative, were invited for their input on four preliminary design scenarios (after the initial assessment of all sites). Design scenarios for the Waterfront, offshore, Alice Ridge and Goat Ridge were projected in the Landscape Immersion Laboratory at UBC and discussed. Many difficulties were discussed such as the unknown strength of the wind in real numbers, the unknown presence of birds and their flight paths, etc. The arrangement of turbines in linear arrays parallel to dominant northerly winds was of concern for some preliminary designs, as this requires much wider spacing between turbines: up to 9x rotor diameter. In addition, the hazards of shadow \"flicker\" over residential areas needed to be avoided Of particular note was the importance of context in presenting the scenarios. By explaining the aesthetic, pragmatic, and cultural drivers that lead to the scenarios, the audience was able to view the designs from a different perspective, and consider them in a different light. Concepts of \"fitting\" into the landscape, \"responding\" to landscape forms, and connect-ing people to the surrounding environment on which they depend are too abstract to be understood without explanation. 68 Key outcomes of the expert consultation included: • Alice Ridge: Being outside of town, in an area known for strong winds, and not likely in a major bird migration area, this scenario garnered the least critical comments despite its arguably \"sacred\" visual sensitivity. Ideas stemming from this simulation included the potential for simulating the view from the Elfin Lakes trail, which lies adjacent to this site. • Goat Ridge: Ecological impact potential was noted, since lower turbines may fall within typical bird flight paths. Its strengths were aesthetic, being scenic and balanced in the landscape, and also pragmatic, in that the line of turbines cut perpendicular to the dominant wind directions. It was noted that seeing before and after images would be helpful to understand the visual impact of the design better. This highlights the utility of showing site photos that are from similar vantage points as the simulations. • Offshore: The problem of water depth made this scenario highly implausible, though it was positively received as a concept. • Waterfront: A preliminary design which aligned 4 lines of 4 turbines along major rail and road corridors generated interest as a concept, however, caution was given due to the shadow flicker that would fall on houses nearby. In addition, there would be significant wind shadow effects resulting in reduced wind strength for downwind turbines, because the turbine arrays were aligned north-south and northwest-southeast, which is the direction of predominant winds. 69 4 . 2 F i n a l D e s i g n S c e n a r i o s This section describes the final scenarios arising from the above process, together with the design motivations and con-cepts intended to drive the design. A reference map showing the location and direction of all visualization images shown in 2D in this section is provided in Figure 19. Design 1). Alice Ridge: \"Crowning\" Deriving it's form from the gently rising arc of Alice Ridge, this formation attempts to accentuate features of the landscape -by following the undulating ridgeline landscape typology, and plant itself strongly in an iconic form within the site and viewshed (Figure 20). 1.5 MW Turbines incorporated in this design are a grey-white, semi-reflective metal, and stand at 80 m. to the \"head\", with 44 m. long blades. The Alice Lake visitor area provides a half-day hike to the ridge, and roads/ cycling trails are found in the area. The ring of evenly spaced turbines forms a grand outdoor room for those that access it, with the intent of establishing a sense of arrival, mystery and intrigue within the site. Access roads and tree removal for construction and maintenance would require upgrading, but both of these disturbances already.exist, as does access to existing power line corridors. The design's form appears to open up to, and would be visible from much of the Elfin Lakes Trail (Figures 21 and 22). Lining up along the view corridor from parts of the Waterfront and Mount Garibaldi, the windfarm would be visible from the town centre (Figure 23), the Waterfront, and the Stawamus Chief (Figure 24). The design intends to be revelatory of the landscape form it occupies, is iconic and visible over long distances. 70 9 sew .< f ake M ddi rtlmal Stn \\9i ,11 Water front Brennan R idge 0 f f s h o r e It. E l tes /nere ... £13 G o a f R idge Mt. Qaribaldi 1 2 , -V , Figure 19: Reference map showing view cones (location and direction) of all visualization still images following in this section. 1 = Figure 20,2 = Figure 24,3 = Figure 21,4 = Figure 22, 5 = Figure 25, 6 = Figure 26,7 = Figure 27, 8 = Figure 28,9 = Figures 32 & 36,10 = Figure 31,11 = Figure 33,12 = Figure 34,13 = Figure 35,14 = Figure 29,15 = Figure 30,16 = Figure 23 71 Figure 22: Alice Ridge windfarm from upper Elfin Lakes Trail Figure 23: Alice Ridge windfarm from the Squamish town centre 73 Figure 24: Alice Ridge windfarm from the Stawamus Chief Design 2). Goat Ridge: \"Cascading\" Following the sloping valley wall of Goat Ridge, and dropping into the heart of the Howe Sound corridor, the site marks the southern boundary of the Squamish viewshed (Figure 25). The windfarm also forms a gateway northbound into the Squa-mish valley and creates a picturesque, focal vista in views south from town (Figures 26 and 27). The windfarm uses the same turbine type as Alice Ridge, spacing them along the cascading series of granite outcroppings with sentinel turbines on either side of the Sea-To-Sky Highway. From this close perspective, two turbines serve as a specific gateway, appear-ing in tandem with the first clear views of Squamish. Placement is therefore potentially revelatory, with a more direct con-nection to Squamish in views from town than that of the Alice Ridge site, identifying the windfarm with the visual sphere of Squamish. This is a highly visible, scenic windfarm location, visible from town, the Waterfront (Figure 28), the highway, Elfin Lakes (Figure 29) and the Stawamus Chief (Figure 30). Existing roads and power lines occur nearby, though some scarring from roads and tree clearing will still occur up the ridge. 74 Figure 27 Goat Ridge windfarm from south of the Squamish town site, on the Sea-To-Sky highway looking south Figure 28: Goat Ridge windfarm from the waterfont 76 Figure 29: Goat Ridge windfarm from Elfin Lakes Trail Figure 30: Goat Ridge windfarm from the Stawamus Chief Design 3). The Waterfront: \"Embedding\" This design attempts to embed a windfarm within the urban footprint of Squamish, bring energy sources into the everyday experience of people, and serve as an aesthetic extension of existing civic infrastructure. Large 1.5 MW and 750 KW turbines at the Waterfront would feel out of scale, yet the presence of a wind farm in this central area is critical to foster-77 ing a strong, visible image for a more sustainable Squamish, and to promoting the presence of green energy production in everyday life for the residents of this region. The Smart Growth on the Ground charrette in Squamish found that the downtown area could absorb 4800 new homes by 2031 (SGOG, 2004). It would take the equivalent of thirty 500 KW, 27 m. height, 30 m. rotor diameter turbines to satisfy this residential energy requirement. Instead, a small, demonstration-scale wind farm of 3 of these machines is proposed at the Waterfront / downtown area as a crucial first step in introducing wind power to the downtown, supplying a total of 10 percent of this future residential demand. The turbines are placed in a manner such that: • The major central streets of Cleveland Avenue and Logger's Lane, and the back street in between them, all line up with a turbine, forming strong, framed views of the machines, which are situated at the north end of the Water-front peninsula (Figure 31). This is to establish an iconic design, embedded within, strengthened by, and comple-mentary to the existing urban forms of the community, and seen from both visitor and residential locations (Figure 32). • The Waterfront area at the south end of the peninsula and along the blind channel is kept clear of turbines, for it seems that this would be a land-use conflict in an area which will serve as a natural, undeveloped place of rec-reation. The sense of connectedness stemming from uncompromised views from the south Waterfront into the landscape is in itself iconic, and an important public commodity. • Quality of views from existing and future residential areas are not significantly affected, particularly those oriented towards Mt Garibaldi and the Stawamus Chief (Figure 33). • Noise levels from the turbines would be acceptable. 78 Figure 32: Waterfront windfarm aerial perspective looking north from the south end of the Squamish Waterfront peninsula ?9 Figure 33: Waterfront windfarm looking east from the Squamish River Estuary, with the Stawamus Chief in background 4.3 A n a l y s i s of F ina l D e s i g n S c e n a r i o s The specific designs for Alice Ridge, Goat Ridge, and the Waterfront were assessed according to how well they met the design criteria outlined in Part III (see Appendix V for design analysis matrix according to motivational theme). Measures for each criteria were then converted to a score out of 10 to ensure that higher scores consistently indicate a more posi-tive result (Appendix VI). These normalized design criteria values are averaged by motivation theme in Appendix VI such that final scores for 1) Aesthetic Context, 2) Aesthetic Image, 3) Community & Culture, and 4) Pragmatic & Ecological 80 themes can be obtained for comparison purposes. Each of the site designs is discussed in turn: Alice Ridge (\"Crowning\"): is the furthest away from town and situated in a landscape that, although containing some recent clear cut and road disturbances, is relatively pristine. It projects its visual influence more in natural areas such as Elfin Lakes (Figure 34), and Garibaldi Provincial Park, than it does in town. Its location along a strong sightline down the valley, on axis with the dominant natural feature in the valley (Mt. Garibaldi), benefits its iconic image, but its score on Pragmatic & Ecological criteria is reduced by proximity to natural areas. This windfarm feels like it is within \"nature\", which could harm its appeal to residents and visitors who prefer such areas to be void of technological intrusions. The design is revelatory in that it responds to a ridgeline landscape typology, revealing or emphasizing elements of landscape structure as a result of sculptural turbine placement. Goat Ridge (\"Cascading\"): is the strongest overall communicative tool, potentially providing an up-cldse-and-personal experience with sentinel turbines alongside the highway. The windfarm is highly visible; when viewed from town it pierces the skyline in a balanced, graceful composition. Although the site is outside of the disturbed footprint of Squamish, it proj-ects its viewshed primarily within the developed areas of the valley (Figure 35), and minimizes visibility in parks/ protected areas or into surrounding communities such as Britannia Beach to the South. The proximity and visibility of this design are culturally stronger than the Alice Ridge \"Crowning\" site, and stronger aesthetically for its balance of scenic qualities. Wind strength and alignment with iconic landscape forms, however, are assumed to be weaker than Alice Ridge. This windfarm feels like it is in the \"heart\" of the Sound, between town and nature, revealing and responding to the cascading topographical undulations along the valley sides. 8 1 Figure 34: Elfin Lake Trail (green line) within the Alice Ridge windfarm viewshed (highlighted yellow) showing one or more turbines are mostly visible from trail (assuming no vegetation) Waterfront (\"Embedding\"): is a robust, photogenic design, scoring high in all areas. It fares particularly well due to its residing within a highly disturbed site (abandoned Nexen lands at the Squamish Waterfront), posing little imposition on the region's natural areas, and minimizing threat to surrounding ecology. It has a relatively low adverse visual impact (Figure 36) and emphasizes the form and image of town. Turbines are relatively small to minimize risk to birds in the adjacent Squamish River Estuary. Not as grand and iconic as Goat Ridge and Alice Ridge, this windfarm is a smaller statement, though seen more consistently by the public, and in a more educational context (Community & Culture). Being so proxi-mal, it feels like it is part of the town on the ground plane, and fits with the infrastructure and urban forms of Squamish. 82 Figure 35: Viewsheds for four of the Goat Ridge turbines 83 Figure 36: Waterfront windfarm shadow analysis for December, 12:00 pm (left) and July, 12:00 pm (right). Left turbine: 500 kW, 27 m. height, 30 m. rotor diameter; centre turbine: 750 kW, 40 m. height, 44 m. rotor diameter; right turbine: 1.5 MW, 80 m. height, 88 m. rotor diameter. The 500 kW turbine type is used in the design. 84 Analysis summary Table 1 and Figure 37 provide a summary comparison of the 3 designs against the four motivational themes. Rank Theme Alice Ridge Goat Ridge Waterfront A e s t h e t i c Context 5 6 7 A e s t h e t i c Image 10 10 10 C o m m u n i t y & Culture 5 6 7 P r a g m a t i c & E c o l o g i c a l 5 8 7 T O T A L 2 5 30 31 Table 1: Summary table of design scores (scores from Appendix VI) COMMUNITY & CULTURE 10 Cascading: Goat Ridge Embedding: Waterfront Crowning: Alice Ridge PRAGMATIC & ECOLOGICAL AESTHETIC CONTEXT AESTHETIC IMAGE Figure 37: Analysis of windfarm design scores by motivational theme This suggests that all sites have potential to embody a strong aesthetic image through design, and ratings were generally fairly high for the three sites, since the least favourable sites were filtered out during the site selection process in Part III. 85 However, Alice Ridge has the lowest scores under this system and would appear to have the greatest sensitivity to com-munity acceptance. 4 .4 Conclusions 1) Implications for Squamish Squamish is already a relatively green energy region in terms of reducing its reliance on hydroelectric generation. Gener-ally, the benefits of wind energy are at a national / global level (in terms of reducing dependence on fossil fuels), whereas potential negative consequences are at a local / neighbourhood level (eg. visual and environmental impacts). However, a number of factors highlight the importance of diversifying local energy production with renewables sources such as wind: • Hydroelectric generators are generally not visible, and therefore unhelpful in promoting potential movement to-wards sustainability through visual awareness, communication, information and public understanding of energy sources and consumption. • BC Hydro facilities lack capacity for expected growth in the region; if Squamish is to triple its population by 2031, the current energy supply must expand by some means to meet the heightened demand. • Implications of climate change on water supply become paramount when considering how insufficient snowpack and summer melt waters could impact hydroelectric energy generation. There is a level of security in a diversified energy budget regardless of a dependency on renewables or non-renewables. • The pre-feasibility study (Sea Breeze Power Corp., 2004) indicates that 85% of respondents are in favour of wind energy; although opinions varied, the community indicated a general desire for ecological, visual and noise con-cerns to be addressed if a wind energy resource is to be developed. 86 • Wind is a part of Squamish history, heritage and culture. The very name Squamish is roughly translated as \"moth-er of the great wind\". This proposal for wind energy offers a unique opportunity to be a recognized and visible leader in renewable energy in Canada and internationally. 2 ) Recommendations on siting / design for windfarms in Squamish There are a range of possibilities in siting and design of strongly iconic and educational windfarms to promote the Squa-mish identity and new forms of sustainability. Deliberate design and a dialogue with the community on the purpose of that design can promote public understanding and acceptance of new renewable energy forms. This is particularly true for an initial project to let people become familiar with wind turbines. Of the designs developed here, the Goat Ridge and Wa-terfront locations appear superior overall to Alice Ridge, but many design variations are possible including many different urban turbine types and configurations. Further recommendations to assist the District of Squamish's progression on this project at one or more sites include: 1) Alice Ridge visibility from Elfin Lakes can be reduced by avoiding installations on more prominent southern areas of the ridge (see Figures 18 and 19) 2) Forest/ land management activities for enhancing or screening views of turbines could include: • Roadside tree modifications to control and enhance views of Goat Ridge, eg. through selective foreground clearing to provide key vistas. Highway views may be controlled outside of the immediate Squamish area (see Figure 14). • Trail design (i.e. Elfin Lakes). By altering trail position and incorporating a planting design and signage, a more controlled, narrative visual experience with the Alice Ridge windfarm may be achieved. 3) Further design iterations - numerous variations within the presented alternatives exist and should be explored in 87 greater depth through charrettes as part of design development. 4) Viewing platforms / accessibility (i.e. Waterfront). The potential for urban turbines as a tourist attraction / public relations opportunity has been seen jn Toronto and other cities. By designing the accessibility, viewing, and edu-cational opportunities of the Waterfront windfarm, the new Waterfront development area can heighten its profile as a sustainable development and as a unique community. 5) The link between windfarm development and education can be further developed by integrating design of the proposed EcoTrust Natural Capital Centre with the windfarms and nearby energy-efficient development. 6) Promoting more sustainable energy infrastructure for the downtown and Waterfront development, as an exten-sion of ideas stemming from Smart Growth On The Ground planning. Incorporation of energy production utilities into this new system is necessary from the outset. 7) Integrating wind energy is possible in other potential future developments within the region, such as ski resorts. 3) Evaluation of visualization methods Strengths and weaknesses of visualization software are also assessed in this study. The CAD-based package 3D Stu-dio Max, from Autodesk, is more adept than GIS at animation and graphic rendering. 3D Studio Max's manoeuvrability throughout the 3D landscape model, and its ability to animate spinning turbines, was balanced by an incapacity to handle extremely large raster data sets. The GIS platform ArcGIS, by ESRI, on the other hand, was able to display highly reso-lute air photo data and operate in tandem with accurate geospatial data sets, but its graphic interface lacked the agility of 3D Studio Max. ESRI also has a unique plug-in module for importing / exporting 3D objects with SketchUp, providing a link between CAD and GIS, and enabling ESRI to perform some of the basic 3D structure placement possible in 3D Studio Max. This was utilized for the Waterfront windfarm shadow analysis in part IV. Although able to import geospatial information such as trails and highways referenced to latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, 3D Studio Max offers a less 88 spatially accurate simulation, although the viewpoints, camera paths and textures of the produced simulations are more favourable! Neither platform was particularly adept at incorporating individual trees and forest stands into the simulations, and although technically possible, would potentially exceed the computation power of the high-end computer workstation used in this study. The desirability for using geospatial information in tandem with high quality, easily manipulable render-ings of 3D objects would require the use of other software packages such as Visual Nature Studio (VNS), which incorpo-rates some of the strengths of both ESRI and 3D Studio Max, but has a longer learning curve. 4) Next steps in process This is an experimental first step in a framework for considering how to approach the opportunity of windfarming in the Howe Sound. A number of valuable steps can still be taken in refining the work done to date: 1) Conduct community feedback on visualizations and evolving designs for better awareness, further input, and increasing acceptance among residents of the region. The design analysis ranking system (including selection and weighting of criteria) could be conducted by community members, giving a more accurate indication of how the designs would fare if installed, rather than relying on the opinions of the author. Presentation of this early conceptual study to residents and key stakeholders could provide a low-risk introduction to the public on some key design/ planning issues, prior to more in-depth work. Appendix II also provides a useful summary of public reactions to other windfarms (and planning processes) before and after construction. 2 ) Refine the site suitability analysis with new data (eg. from meteorological tower) 3) Improve the visualization accuracy by adding surface cover and 3D objects: buildings, cars, vegetation, road-side concrete dividers, etc., into visualizations for increased realism, with various software programs (see www. forestry.calp.ubc.ca). Visual improvements would include more typical sky and darker green forest in 3D land-89 scape models. 4) Correct image scaling when presenting visualizations: simulations should be scaled to accurate size as seen in the real world, to determine the visibility and relative visual dominance of different turbine locations. 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Websites BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation: vvww.news.bbc.co.uk • http://news.bbc.co.Uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4742675.stm, accessed 2006 • http://news.bbc.co.Uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/4951236.stm, accessed 2006 Bird Studies Canada: www.bsc-eoc.org • www.bsc-eoc.org/peiwind.htm, accessed 2006 Brackendale Eagles Park: www.brackendaleeagles.com • http://www.brackendaleeagles.com/eagles.html, accessed 2006 British Columbia Wildlife Watch: • www3.telus.net/driftwood/bcwwhome.htm CANWEA - Canadian Wind Energy Association: www.canwea.com • http://www.canwea.com/downloads/en/PDFS/BirdStudiesDraft_May_04.pdf, accessed 2006 96 CBC - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: www.cbc.ca • http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/energy/, accessed 2006 Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning: •www.calp.forestry.ubc.ca Danish Wind Industry Association: • http://www.windpower.org/ Energy Savings Trust - www.energy-efficiency.org: • http://www.energy-efficiency.org/news/action. view_item?id=704&index=5&list_id=News Fuel Cells 2000: • http://www.fuelcells.org/, accessed 2006 Middelgrunden Wind Farm: • http://www.middelgrunden.dk, accessed 2006 Nai-Kun Offshore Wind Farm: • http://www.naikun.ca, accessed 2006 O'Leary and McCormack - MosArt Landscape Architecture and Research: • http://www.mosart.ie/, accessed 2006 97 New Wind Energy - www.newwindenergy.com: • http://www.newwindenergy.com/windcamjersey.html, accessed 2006 Photovoltaic Power Resource Site: • http://www.pvpower.com/, accessed 2006 Tree Hugger - www.treehugger.com: • http://www.treehugger.eom/files/2005/10/manchester_cons.php US Department of Fish and Wildlife: www.fws.gov • http://www.fws.gov/habitatconservation/wind.htm, accessed 2006 Windshare Co-op: • http://www.windshare.ca/about.html, accessed 2006 98 A P P E N D I X I E n e r g y S o u r c e s for B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a Currently, renewable sources of energy are the smallest sector of Canadian energy production (CANWEA, 2006). • Large Hydro — 59% •Coal — 1 8 % • Nuclear — 13% • Natural Gas — 4% •Oil — 3 % . • Small Hydro — 2% • Other Renewables (including wind) — 1 % Nearly 90% of the 63,051 GW of energy produced in BC in 2003 was generated from hydro (www.britishcolumbia.com, accessed 2006). Approximately 15% of this energy is devoted to residential buildings, and 10% used for commercial purposes. Business and transportation uses account for 33% of this energy, and industry for the remaining 33% (Environ-ment Canada, 2001). The region currently produces 250.1 MW of hydroelectric energy at the Ashlu Creek, Brandywine Creek, Cheekamus, Furry Creek, and Mamquam facilities. The average Canadian home uses 135 GJ per year. In the Squamish area, 42 GJ of energy per person are annually produced in its total energy budget. With expected populations of 22,900 and 33,100 for 2016 and 2031 respectively, Squamish's potential energy demanded will rise to 961,800 GJ and 1,390,200 GJ per annum respectively (SGOG, 2005). Appendix I, 99 The series of hurricanes in the late summer of 2005 drove gasoline prices to over $1 /litre across the country, peaking at $1.39 following hurricane Katrina. That storm crippled much of the United States' drilling capacity in the Gulf of Mexico and left many southern refineries unable to turn crude oil into gasoline. British Columbia's energy consumption is ris-ing faster than any other province, up 3.6% from 2003 to 2004, yet the province lacks any built large-scale wind farming (www.cbc.ca, accessed 2006). Terasen Gas, the major natural gas supplier for Squamish, provides an average of 80 GJ/year to customers, with prices increasing from $0,218 /m 3 to $0,445 /m 3 from 1997 to 2002 (SGOG, 2005). Although natural gas makes up a small component of the total energy production and consumption budget, it accounts for approxi-mately 90% of greenhouse gas emissions from all energy sources. In light of such findings, a broader range of energy sources becomes critical for a more stable and sustainability utilities sector. Hydroelectricity The amount of hydroelectricity generated is determined by water flow volume and the distance between the turbines and the water's surface. Greater flows and dam heights produce more electricity (as much as 300-400 MW within one large plant). A typical hydropower plant includes a dam, which stores water, reservoir, pipes, which transport water from the reservoir to turbines in a powerhouse. The water rotates the turbines, driving generators which produce electricity that is then brought to an electrical power substation for step-down to useable voltage via transformers (www.cbc.ca, accessed 2006). These plants are generally constructed within undeveloped, pristine natural landscapes and are generally not visible to the communities they serve. Although currently more expensive than fossil fuels (at $0.06 / kWh in 2004, about $0.01 / kWh more than natural gas), hydro is an adequately abundant, renewable source of energy for the Squamish region (SGOG, 2005). Expansion of the region's energy supply into other sectors may be increasingly important in the context of climate change and glacial retreat. Summer glacial meltwaters supply much of the water supply for hydroelec-tric generators once the spring melt has subsided. Appendix 1,100 There is potential for small-scale hydro in the Squamish region. Such hydro essentially runs off the natural flow of wa-ter courses, requiring no disruptive reservoir, or significant alteration of downstream waterflows (SGOG, 2005), thereby eliminating the two major detrimental ecosystem effects of typical hydroelectric power generation. Four sites in the region have been identified as being suitable for this, and would provide energy at around $0,038 - %0.058 /kWh, comparable to that of large-scale hydro. Natural gas Natural gas is a fuel consisting mainly of methane. It is colourless, odourless, and burns cleaner than many other tradi-tional fossil fuels, although it still contributes to global warming due to greenhouse gas production. It is refined to remove impurities like water, other gases and sand. Almost no atmospheric emissions of sulphur dioxide and small particulates are released when it is burned. Carbon monoxide, reactive hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide emissions are also lower than those given off when other fossil fuels are burned. When completely burned, the principal products are carbon dioxide and water vapour. By comparison, other non-renewables such as oil and coal produce non-burning ash, have much more complex molecular structures that include more carbon, as well as various sulphur and nitrogen compounds. British Columbia only produces natural gas in its northeastern plains where the mines and pipelines are far away from more populated areas (http://www.britishcolumbia.com, www.cbc:ca, accessed 2006). Photovoltaics When sunlight strikes a photovoltaic (PV) cell, electrons are dislodged, creating an electrical current. PV cells last up to 20 years, however other system components, such as batteries and power electronics may last only a few years. Typical Appendix 1,101 systems are Silicon-based, and offer approximately 15% efficiency in transferring the sun's energy to electricity in the PV cell reaction. This is compared to 30% fuel efficiency for automotive engines. Significantly, it takes between 1.5 - 5 years, depending on it's make and type, for a PV system to produce more energy than the total amount of energy consumed to build it. (www.pvpower.com, www.cbc.ca, accessed 2006). Producing photovoltaic energy is costly, up to 13x more ex-pensive than hydro, making it an unlikely source for the utilities grid (SGOG, 2005). This is a renewable energy source outside of the winter months, and applicable to the Squamish region in combination with other sources. Fuel cells Fuel cells consist of electrodes in an electrolyte. By passing oxygen over one electrode and hydrogen over the other, elec-tricity is generated. With the help of a catalyst and some other energy source, hydrogen is split into a proton and an elec-tron. As the electrons return to the electrode, an electrical circuit is created without the need for an inefficient heat-to-work step like conventional energy sources. This makes hydrogen fuel cells more efficient than internal combustion systems, and if the energy required for deriving hydrogen from water is renewable, such as from photovoltaics, this is considered a renewable energy source (www.fuelcells.org, accessed 2006, SGOG, 2005) Biomass Biomass refers to organic materials containing chemical energy that may be extracted through combustion. Leftover wood from logging operations that would normally be by-product is the most readily available source of biomass in British Columbia. Livestock manure and municipal solid waster are also plentiful sources of biomass. A potential annual produc-tion of 240 MW, or 1935 GWh is possible for BC, at a cost of $0.04 - $0.10 /kWh (SGOG, 2005). Biomass is generally most efficient as a heating energy source, and can typically be transported no more than 1 km. Anaerobic decomposition Appendix 1,102 of this waste can provide an additional source of energy in the form of methane gas (SGOG, 2005, www.cbc.ca, accessed 2006), Geothermal Steam or hot water reservoirs heated from geothermal sources drive steam driven turbines. Despite being limited to ac-tive tectonic boundaries? sixteen potential sites for geothermal energy have been identified in British Columbia, with Squa-mish's Mount Cayley being the closest promising site (SGOG, 2005). Tidal -Tidal power is as yet undeveloped commercially anywhere in the world. It captures the energy generated by moving wa-ter due to tides. This may be kinetic, produced by the motion of the tides themselves, or potential, using water held in tidal lagoons or barrages. Production technologies are being researched, but are not ready for implication. Two case study areas were identified by BC Hydro as having highest velocity tidal flows in BC: the Straight of Georgia and Johnstone Straight. These sites are favourable due to the position and timing of high and low tides, and the narrow passages lead-ing to concentrated flows. Predictable, reliable and consistent, 12 feasible sites were identified. A large facility has the potential to produce 800 MW or 1400 GWh annually at $0.11/kWh, while a smaller one would be able to produce 43 MW, or 76 GWh annually at $0.25/kWh. Their impact on fish ecosystems however, would need to be assessed on a site by site basis (BC Hydro, 2002). Appendix 1,103 Wave Energy Large funnel-like installations installed on coastlines or floating tubes are used to channel water into a chamber that uses the resulting compressed air to drive a turbine generator. A land-based commercial generator has recently been installed on the Scottish island of Islay for the national energy grid. This Land Installed Marine Energy Transformer (LIMPIT) has an energy rating of 500 KW, akin to a smaller industrial-scale wind turbine. Oscillating water column-type generators which are installed on the ocean floor require at least 400 km for optimal generation. Floating \"wave-farm\" technologies would produce 30 MW of energy over one square km of ocean, enough to power around 10,000 Canadian homes. These systems are generally anchored to ground-based transmission cables and require strong consistent waves. Appendix 1,104 APPENDIX II Global Wind Resource Development 1. Denmark In Denmark 14.4% of energy consumption is satisfied by wind power and 150,000 families are involved in wind energy projects for environmental or financial reasons. At least 70% of the population is in support of wind energy, while 5% is against. This is believed to be largely due to widespread public involvement through ongoing informational exchange, participation in the decision making process, or financial involvement. Projects owned by private developers (such as Grenaa) tend to meet local resistance. Projects (like Samsoe) involving the public in the pre-planning stages or through local ownership or ditsribution of benefits are not the focus of major protest. In 2005 Denmark projected it would achieve 50% wind electricity by 2030; they recently revised this projection to 2025. Advantages of public involvement include: • an essential improvement of planning decisions and balancing of different aspects of planning considerations • increased awareness of public concerns • an increased understanding of possible cooperation between opposing parties • elimination of misinformation and believed threats • future confidence and acceptance (www.windpower.org, accessed 2006) Land vs. Offshore: Although most windfarms are installed on land, some are constructed offshore. Most of these reside in Denmark and the Appendix II, 105 UK, and several have been proposed in the United States and Canada. Winds are more consistent and, on average, 1 m/s greater over unobstructed water than land. This speed increase produces approximately 40% more energy. Wind is more constant, leading to more consistent energy production. Larger wind turbines can be installed over water, and large expanses of flat open space are typically more available offshore than on land. Offshore windfarms offer an unobstructed view, potentially seen from long distances depending on light and weather. From long distances even very large turbines seem small in relation to great, open field of vision created by sky and sea, and in general it is difficult to estimate distances over the water. In the sun, turbine generators appear white, while under overcast skies they appear dull grey. During windy days the blades are blurred, reinforcing the columnar turbine poles. A. Kyndby. This windfarm is a single line of 21 stretching towards the northern coastline of Sealand. Spacing of turbines varies and thus create an unstable arrangement without any convincing anchoring in the landscape. Any variation in direction, height or distance must be significant to seem well-motivated. Inexact horizontal and vertical direction gives a uncertain / confus-ing row since turbines are rendered secondary to unimportant landscape elements. A precise, linear arrangement would ensure a calm, architecturally clear, strong arrangement while at the same time underlining the landscape (see Figure 38). Appendix II, 106 Figure 38: Kyndby windfarm, Denmark B. Kappel. Located in Southwest Lolland, the Kappel windfarm shows how curved lines can be well-suited in the right place (see Figure 39). No matter where you stand the construction maintains a consistent visual harmony in the surroundings. This implies that the turbines find an aesthetic \"fit\" within the visual forms of their landscape context. The line of turbines fol-lows the graceful arc of the coastline, a dike, road and agricultural edge using repetition, simplicity and uniform spacing to reinforce it's position in the landscape. C. Horns Rev. The largest offshore windfarm constructed, with a generating capacity of 160 MW, Horns Rev is located off the Danish Appendix II, 107 west coast (Figure 40). A project of similar size has been proposed offshore of the Queen Charlotte Islands, in British Co-lumbia, Canada. Being the largest windfarm constructed, it serves as a reference for the range in scale these arrays have reached, as well as the capacity for offshore sites to facilitate such expansive installations. Figure 40: Horns Rev offshore windfarm, Denmark Appendix II, 108 E. Klinkby. In a central agricultural area, the Klinkby windfarm consists of four turbines, erected on a gentle, raised plateau at the edge of the valley. This low plateau underlies and connects the installation, forming a visual basis for it. Unusually small 100 m. spacing between turbines adds to their appearance as a solid, cohesive composition with presence and author-ity (see Figure 41). For this reason small clusters should be as compressed as possible. The installation runs parallel to a high-tension transmission line, which not only maintains its visual footprint within an area already disturbed by energy utilities, but also contributes to the dialogue between energy production, transmission, and the landscape. (Birk Nielsens Tegnestue Landscape Architects, 1995). The choice of an even number of turbines could be seen as a poor design deci-sion in that it presents less of a opportunity to attribute organizational meanings to the windfarm such as a centre, symme-try, sides, etc. Figure 41: Klinkby windfarm, Denmark Appendix II, 109 F. Middelgrunden. The arc of 20 turbines in Copenhagen's harbour completes the half-circle curve of the city boundary across the water, creating a sense of completeness between the city and it's water-bound energy source in the same footprint (see Figure 42) . Located only three km. from a Copenhagen beach, Middelgrunden is 50% utility owned, and 50% cooperative owned. A successful public review process consisting of three public hearings held, the first in 1997 saw 27 positive responses and 8 negative responses to a proposal for three rows of turbines in an array. The second hearing in 1999 brought forth a revised plan which fewer, larger turbines in a single arc with a total equivalent MW output as the original plan (see Figure 43) . The design has a simple order, symmetrical balance, sharp, coherent contrast with the horizon, and a cohesive inter-nal geometry independent of viewpoint. A third hearing in 1999 was based on an Environmental Impact Assessment. This public involvement included information availability, ongoing involvement in local hearings, a tour to a similar installation to ease noise concerns, and eventually saw NGO groups such as the Danish Society for the Conservation of Nature reverse their early opposition to the proposed location. Hesitation over private development interests tended to subside in favour of trust, established through transparency of process. Only a small number yachtsmen, fisherman, politicians and local people remained opposed to the concluded project. Appendix II, 110 In an average year, the windfarm provides 4% of Copenhagen's energy needs and avoids the following air pollution: Sulphur dioxide 150 tonnes Nitrogen oxides 140 tonnes Carbon dioxide 81,000 tonnes Dust and clinker 5,200 tonnes Appendix II, 111 Turbines were painted neutral, light gray (RAL7035) to blend with surroundings, with 700 candela steady burn red lights atop each nacelle (turbine \"head\"). Stronger (2000 candela) lights and red blade tips are expected to be installed, by request of the Danish Civil Aviation Administration, which will significantly increase the visual impact of the turbines. The towers are mostly tubular and made of steel. The blades are made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy (CEEO, 2003). 2. Ireland A recent study completed by MosArt Landscape Research group in Wicklow, Ireland, presents a public preference study looking at a number of wind farm sizes and arrangement in the Irish landscapes. A series of 2 dimensional windfarm simulations were produced using photo editing software, and an undisclosed number of the Irish population were then Appendix II, 112 surveyed regarding their perception of each simulation. In order of decreasing scenic beauty rankings by the study group, five iconic Irish landscapes incorporated into the study were: coastline, mountain moorland, fertile farmland, industrial / urban, and flat midland bogs. It was found that, irrespective of landscape type, roughly three quarters of the Irish respon-dents feel that 10 turbines had a neutral or positive impact on scenic beauty. More scehically beautiful landscapes had higher negative impacts, with the highest level of concern given to the coastal and mountain moorland landscapes. Other conclusions were drawn regarding cumulative effects of different numbers and massing of turbines, again with neg-ligible differences between landscape types. Arrays of 5 and 10 turbines are seen as positive by the majority of the Irish respondents; arrays of 20 turbines evenly split the respondents, whereas 25 turbines are seen as a negative impact by the majority. Less than 20% of the respondents found windfarms of 5 turbines to be negative (with a preference to break these larger windfarms down into smaller groups). Not surprisingly, 2 windfarms of 10 turbines within the same viewshed was seen as more adverse than 1 windfarm of 10 turbines. Interesting results were found when comparing windfarms composed of varying sizes and numbers of turbines, but which would produce the same power output. Windfarms consisting of fewer, larger turbines were preferred dramatically over those consisting of more, smaller machines. The study didn't fully explore variations in arrangement or position in the landscape, but preference results stemming from the study were found to be independent of landscape type (O'Leary and McCormack, 1993). 3. Scotland Construction has begun on a 140 turbine land-based windfarm by Scottish Power, the national energy supplier for Scot-land, and is to be complete by 2009 (www.news.bbc.co.uk, accessed 2006). This proactive move will assist in the Appendix II, 113 country's plans to supply 18% of it's energy with renewables by 2018, and 40% by 2020. With enough power to supply 200,000 Scottish residences, the 322 MW project will take up 11.6 km. by 7 km. (8120 ha) of the high ground south of East Kilbride, near Glasgow. A recent study in Scotland (Braunholtz, 2003) interviewed 1,810 respondents regarding their perceptions of windfarms close to where they live (University of Newcastle, 2002). Ranging in size from 9 to 46 machines, the 10 windfarms exist in a variety of landscape types and were assessed according to distances between them and residents: 0-5 km., 5-10 km., and 10-20 km. The main points of the report's executive summary are listed below: • People living close to windfarms (within 20 km.) like the areas they live in,.mentioning the peacefulness (28%), scenery (26%), rural isolation (23%) and friendly people (20%) as particular strengths. When asked to say what the shortcomings are, most commonly mentioned are a lack of amenities (20%), poor public transport (18%), and lack of jobs (8%). Just five people (0.3%) spontaneously mention windfarms as a negative aspect of their area. • Three times the number of residents say that their local windfarm has had a broadly positive impact on the area (20%) than say that it has had a negative impact (7%). Most (73%) feel that it has had neither a positive nor nega-tive impact, or expressed no opinion. • People who lived in their homes before the site was developed say that, in advance of the windfarm development, they thought that problems might be caused by its impact on the landscape (27%), traffic during construction (19%) and noise during construction (15%). However, only 12% say the landscape has been spoiled, 6% say there were problems with additional traffic, and 4% say there was noise or disturbance from traffic during construction. • A majority (54%) would support an expansion of their local site by half the number of turbines again, while one in ten is opposed (9%). Support drops somewhat if the proposal is to double the number of turbines. In this case, four in ten would be in favour (42%) and one in five (21%) would be opposed. Appendix II, 114 • People living closest to the windfarms tend to be most positive about them (44% of those living within 5 km. say the windfarm has had a positive impact, compared with 16% of those living 10-20 km. away). They are also most supportive of expansion of the sites (65% of those in the 5 km. zone support 50% expansion, compared with 53% of those in the 10-20 km. zone). • Similarly, those who most frequently see the windfarms in their day-to-day lives tend to be most favourable to-wards them (33% of those who see the turbines all the time or frequently say the windfarms have had a positive impact on the area, while 18% of those who only see them occasionally say the same). • While many say that they feel that nuclear, coal and oil generation should be reduced, clear majorities favour increasing the proportion of electricity generated through wave (69%) and wind energy (82%). • Although few can remember being consulted over the development at the planning stage (13%), and the most common source of information about the proposed site at that time was the local newspaper (40%) rather than the local council planning office (4%) or the developer (1%), few are dissatisfied with the consultation by the developer (11%), with most expressing neutral views. • People living within 10 km. of the windfarm sites are more likely to recall having been consulted by the developer (37%), and are more likely to express a positive view of the process (40%). • If there is to be greater dialogue during a planning proposal, people would like to see it publicized through their local paper (43%), leaflets through the door (33%) or through public meetings (29%). This echoes work by researchers from the University of St. Andrews, who found that 24% of residents near the Dun Law windfarm site (included in the previous study) changed their opinion of the turbines after construction, becoming over-whelmingly more positive (www.energy-efficiency.org, accessed 2006). Researcher Dr. Charles Warren also concluded that the strongest support for the 26 40 m. tall machines came from those living closest to it. Appendix II, 115 4. Cape Wind: Proposed offshore wind farm - Cape Cod, MA Beginning in 2002, a series of public meetings were conducted to engage community members and business members from the Cape Cod region in a dialogue regarding offshore wind in the Nantucket Sound, off the coast of Massachusetts. Several groups such as Greenpeace and Cape Wind Associates, expressed their defence of a proposed windfarm of 130 turbines in the Sound against criticisms of groups such as Three Bays Preservation and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. The Cape Wind proposal offers a detailed account of the process of bringing the vision of 130 offshore turbines to a reality in the Nantucket Sound, and includes a wealth of photomontage simulations of the project. Requirements of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act have to be met through an Environmental Impact Report. A number of po-tential sites are being considered (and include land currently under military jurisdiction) as well as various sites around the Nantucket Sound. The sites are quantitatively and qualitatively assessed based on their size, water depth, and physical characteristics. The National Environmental Protection Act requires agencies to include a detailed statement (EIS) by the responsible official on: • \"the environmental impact of the proposed action; any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented; • alternatives to the proposed action; the relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity; • any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.\" Prior to issuing a permit, the investigators must prepare either an Environmental Assessment and a \"Finding of No Sig-Appendix II, 116 nificant Impact\" or determine that an EIS is necessary.\" (US Army Core of Engineers, 2002). The following environmental impacts were among those noted in the summary report: • Disturbance or mortality of shellfish and benthos material. • Loss of 0.68 acres of benthic habitat would affect finfish prey and forage areas (from research trawl and commer-cial landing data). • Marine mammals and sea turtles were likely to avoid the area during construction, sounds from construction ex-pected to not exceed 180 db, and would not lead to auditory damage. • Proposed upland cable route configured to make use of previously developed / disturbed land. • Bird activities would be temporarily displaced during construction and decommissioning activities, and bird kills are estimated to at up to 364 per year based on maximal mortality rates at existing sites, although the realized number is expected to be lower. • Part of the area of potential impact contacts paleosols, which are ancient land surfaces with potential prehistoric archeological significance, and are recommended to be avoided. • Noise expected to be largely inaudible. The presence of fog horns in the wind farm would be akin to those exist-ing already on permanent buoys in the sound and would not be audible on land • The turbines would affect daytime views from boats in the sound and proximal waterside locations. Nighttime views would be affected by lights atop each turbine. Construction noise would be temporary and analogous to typical roadway construction. • Magnetic fields would be akin to those typically raised along roadside transmission wires. • The wind farm would reduce the region's reliance on imported fossil fuels, diversify it's energy mix and supply, and reduce the cost of complying with the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards for Massachusetts. The project would reduce adverse health impacts from existing powerplant emissions and provide an estimated 391 full-time Appendix II, 117 jobs. It would contribute $1.5 - $2.0 billion annually to the national economy. • There is no statistical evidence that property values are harmed due to wind farm development within the views-hed (Sterzinger et al., 2003) 5. San Gorgonio, California A study completed in 1982, San Gorgonio Wind Resource Study (Wagstaff and Brady, 1982) documents the opportunities, affected environment, development scenarios, and environmental effects of a proposed large scale wind energy installa-tion in Riverside County, central southern California, north of Palm Springs (see Figure 44). The study conducts a land-scape analysis of the visual impact of four development scenarios, each with a unique objective that considering varying conditions of: • Types and sizes of turbines • Turbine spacing, acreabe requirements • Site preparation and infrastructure requirements • Construction procedures, duration, employment and traffic congestion • Operations and maintenance procedures and employment • Phasing • Decommissioning Appendix II, 118 Figure 44: San Gorgonio windfarm Development Scenarios The objective for Scenario I is for maximum development of the wind resource with a minimum of environmental con-straints. Land use constraints include: • Those lands with prior commitments to other uses • Locations which would interfere with existing communication networks • Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed Wilderness designation Scenario II aims to maximize development of the wind resource with a high level of environmental protection. Areas suit-able for specific turbine sizes are designated, and land use constraints are limited by: • Prior commitment of land area to another use Appendix II, 119 • Locations which would interfere with existing communications networks • BLM proposed Wilderness designation • Sensitive ethnographic areas • Critical visual areas/ areas above 50% slope • Designated Fringe-toed lizard habitat Scenario III attempts to develop the wind resource while adhering to a maximum level of environmental protection. Tur-bine densities are less than for Scenarios I and II, and only large turbine sizes are allowed. Areas suitable for wind re-source development are constrained by: • Prior commitment of land area to another use • Locations which would.interfere with existing communications networks • BLM proposed wilderness designation • Sensitive ethnographic areas • Critical visual areas • Slopes above 25% • Fringe-toes lizard habitat areas The objective for Scenario IV is a no project alternative. The wind resource in the San Gorgonio Pass study area isn't extensively developed, occurring only through individual initiatives on private lands. Constraint Analysis Appendix II, 120 The study produces a summary map showing a composite overlay of all constraints to be considered (see Table 2). The four scenarios assume a total potential land use area based on the relevant layers of this map, which is specific to each scenario objective (listed above). A r e a R e a s o n f o r P o t e n t i a l C o n f l i c t w i t h W i n d D e v e l o p m e n t BLM Proposed Wilderness Turbine installation would not meet non-impairment criteria as set forth in BLM Wilderness Study Area Interim Management Guidelines Nature Conservancy Site Turbine installation would be incompatible with site preservation Existing / Approved development Land previously committed to use other than power generation Proposed Devil's Garden Park Land previously committed to use other than power generation Communications (Edorn Hill) Important transmitter location; turbine development could cause frequency of smearing of band signal energy Sensitive Lands Visually sensitive Fringe-toed lizard habitat Species is federally listed as threatened Sloped 25% and greater Identified by Riverside County Hillside Development Standards as appropriate for open space; potential for erosion problems, need for excessive grading, increased landslide hazard Table 2: Summary of land uses identified as constraints to wind resource development, with reasons for designation Visual Objectives The visual objectives derived in this study provide a standard against which alternative design scenarios may be ap-praised, and are defined in terms of visual contrast, visual dominance, and effect on scenic quality. All potential areas for development are classified by Visual Constraints on Development in four catagories: Very Critical, Critical, Less Critical, and More Suitable. Appendix II, 121 Visual constraints are an amalgamation of: visual quality, visual absorptive capacity of visual units identified in landscape, and areas of high visibility based on principal viewpoints and view Maximum levels of visual alteration are then assigned to each of these four site classifications. Contrast may be negli-gible, weak, moderate or strong. Dominance may be inevident, inconspicuous, subordinate or conspicuous. A visual impact assessment is carried out and is considered together with the study area's visual constraints to form the basis of scenario evaluations. Visual impact assessment evaluation criteria are: • Visual conditions affecting visual dominance - viewing distance to turbines, angle of views, backdrops, visual ab-sorptive capacity of site, etc. • Visual contrast between the development and the characteristic landscape in terms of differences in colour, scale, form, line and texture • Visual unity (clutter, balance, intactness), visual diversity (determining visual interest), and distinctiveness (vivid-ness, novelty or drama of scene created by strong contrasts) These visual impacts for all the three development scenarios are tabulated for 10 principal viewpoints, and visualizations are conducted for these viewpoints. Appendix II, 122 Scenario Analysis A number of observations were made following a comparison of the scenarios: 1) Reducing turbine density does not automatically reduce the disorder and visual clutter of the scene. It may be preferable to use higher densities over smaller areas with zones in between that are free of turbine in order to in-crease the perceived organization. Lower densities can be effective in increasing the \"transparency\" of turbines against a backdrop or reducing the sense of intrusion on the landscape. 2) Mixed arrays of varying turbine size and type significantly contributes to visual clutter and disorder. 3) Hillside development significantly increases the intrusion, or scarring, and reduces the intactness of the land-scape by turbines and related infrastructure. 4) Excluding turbines from foreground views generally results in the greatest reduction in the visual dominance of turbines 5) Visual clutter increases When small and medium turbines are used in the foreground, rather than large turbines. 6) Limited use of small clusters of skyline positions, when spaced out with turbine-free zones, can be dramatic while complementing natural features. 7) Any perceived order in plan view breaks down in low level perspective ground views. Clear separation of turbine types, and use of turbine-free zones helps retain order. 8) Hilltop turbines reduce the natural image of the area, particularly with regard to lighting at night. Appendix II, 123 Mitigation Measures Turbine siting: • Avoid turbine installation on all slopes greater than 25% to prevent unnecessary landform degradation, visual scarring by cut and fill, retaining walls, trenching and vegetation removal. • Avoid skyline and ridgeline locations, except where small numbers of turbines are sited (which increases distinc-tiveness and landform accentuation • Avoid partial topographic screening of turbines from key viewpoints (in order to maximize distinctiveness and comprehension.) • Ensure scale of turbine neither dwarfs nor clutters topographic features Turbine type • Arrays of turbines should be setback proportionally from scenic highways and key viewpoints (2/3 mile for large turbines, 1/2 mile for medium turbines, 1/3 mile for small turbines- though these could provide distinctive effects closer to highways) • Setbacks should ensure that distinctive skylines aren't obscured • Avoid mixed arrays composed of more than one size of turbine, unless they specifically complement natural fea-tures • Separate clusters or arrays or turbines to establish turbine-free zones between them Assessment of Study Appendix II, 124 This study tends to take a technophillic view on the appropriateness of large scale industrial wind farming. As is evident in the discussion of Scenario II: \"Effect on landscape quality... generally neutral, with limited degradation and increased distinctiveness in places due to creation of man-made features complementing natural landforms; also due to increased diversity in areas of lower scenic quality. Subjugation of the natural landscape is avoided and the impact of natural fea-tures may be enhanced by views through the framed vistas... all upland areas remain intact.\" A summary of residual impact of mitigated Scenario II & III found: • Visual Contrast: Strong • Dominance: Conspicuous • Effect on Landscape Quality: Neutral • Visual Impact Severity: Moderate to Low • Meets Visual Study Objectives: Yes These findings seem to reinforce the positive outlook on industrial wind farming, with the conclusion that although visual contrast and dominance is strong, as long as visual impact severity is low and visual study objectives are met (mostly), the effect on landscape quality in that setting isn't harmful. Turbine arrangement should be uniform, clustered and con-scious, rather than allowing room for random, more chaotic or narrative designs. Visual analysis of landscape is simpli-fied, pragmatic and comprehensible. The case study does, however, note that \"this mitigated scenario would probably be preferred by more people than [the unmitigated] Scenario III, although those opposing development would be unlikely to be convinced by the mitigation measures. Individual differences of opinion on the colour coding might be expected. The image of the development to first-time visitors might well be strengthened and improved.\" . This thesis can potentially draw on the methodology used in this study in its incorporation of visual site analysis, site se-Appendix II, 125 lection, design criteria and visualization (see Figure 45) Landscape character analysis Constraints and objectives _ Windfarm scenarios Visual impact assessment Mitigation measures to scenarios W Figure 45: A generalized methodological flow chart for the San Gorgonio Wind Resource Study 6. Pincher Creek, Alberta Alberta has the highest electrical generation in Canada, at 172 MW, enough to power roughly 55,000 homes, or about 5% of the total residential dwellings in the province (www.canwea.com, accessed 2006, Statistics Canada, 2001). The topog-raphy of Southwestern Alberta, while quite different from Squamish, provides a mountain backdrop behind flat prairies or gently undulating hills. Pincher Creek sits in southwest Alberta, amongst the rolling, scarcely vegetated foothills that climb westward into the Rocky Mountains. Here the low-altitude Crowsnest Pass acts as a wind tunnel for winds falling down the eastward slopes of this mountain range. Parts of the wind farms here initially have the appearance of coherent, articulate order placed among the prairie foothills, but this becomes blurred as more turbines come into view off the highway (see Figure 46). There is a plethora of older lattice-tower turbines in the distance, beyond the modern machines. This suggests two spa-tially and visually distinct locations, whereas in reality they are intermixed and adjacent to each other- further eroding the sense of visual order. It would seem that only the initial turbines were placed in a manner which considers their aesthetic value, likely due to their proximity to the highway, and travel sequence played little or no role in it's design. An access road that winds between the towers is closed and locked, warning trespassers, and preventing the rewarding experience and views offered by this path. Appendix II, 126 Figure 46: Wind turbines visible from the highway in southwest Alberta 8. Other Sites in United States These images highlight windfarming in a mountainous landscape, and the importance of designing with respect to a mul-titude of viewing positions; what appears to be uniform from one viewpoint is revealed as imbalanced from another (see Figure 47 left and centre). The windfarms tend to be sited along ridge peaks for optimal wind access and strength (see Figure 47 right). Appendix II, 127 Figure 47: Delaware Mountain windfarm, Texas (left, centre), and the Wyoming Wind Energy Centre (right) 9. Urban Windfarms A number of large scale wind projects are being considered for populated areas. Construction has started on an Atlantic City windfarm consisting of 5 1.5 MW turbines to power the ACUA water treatment plant, with excess energy being sup-plied to the grid (www.newwindenergy.com, accessed 2006). Visible from downtown Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Expressway, this was the first wind farm in New Jersey (see Figure 48a). As part of the Windshare Energy Co-op, a 750 KW turbine has been installed at the Toronto waterfront, and another is planned in a 50/50 partnership with Ontario Hydro (see Figure 48b). The second turbine will be built at the Ashbridges Bay Treatment plant in the east end of the city (www.windshare.ca, accessed 2006). In the nearby community of Picker-ing, a 1.8 MW turbine standing 117 meters tall resides at the Pickering Nuclear site (www.wind.netwny.com, accessed 2006). Appendix II, 128 Several urban proposals are currently being considered, relying heavily on visualization as a communicative tool for stake-holders and the public. Manchester, UK, is examining the feasibility of an 85 m turbine sited at their city's football club sta-dium, which would be the largest land-based turbine in the UK. Norman Foster has designed the turbine, which displays consistent paraboloid geometries and a viewing platform in it's design vision. Designed with German power company Enercon in 1993, the design also lacks a gearbox, making it quieter and more efficient (see Figure 48c). In the same city, the Co-operative financial services building houses 24 micro-turbines (www.news.bbc.co.uk, accessed 2006, www. treehugger.com, accessed 2006). Among the proposals for the Freedom Tower of New York City is a windfarm above the observation deck (see Figure 48d), to supply 20% of the building's energy (http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/issue-oftheweek/20040105/200/817, accessed 2006). Figure 48: a) City ACUA water treatment plant, New Jersey, b) Toronto's waterfront turbine, c) Manchester Football Club (proposed), d) New York Freedom Tower (proposed) Appendix II, 129 A P P E N D I X III S q u a m i s h W i n d P o w e r P r o j e c t R e p o r t P h a s e I A summary of community input stemming from a public meeting held in 2004 regarding the potential development of a wind resource is given in this section. Wind tower location preferences were divided, though indicate relative community support for the waterfront location, which is considered in this thesis, but wasn't initially recommended by SeaBreeze as a site to pursue: •On Land: 33% •No preference: 29% •Waterfront: 24% •Ocean: 14% A selection of comments from respondents: •\"As long as is not in front of my house\" •\"I have no aesthetic problems with the towers... so long as ecological impact is taken into account, I'd say go ahead and put them wherever is most practical\" •\"Not in front of spit or in area that will effect the wind\" •\"I would suggest putting it where the largest number of people can see it. The type of alternative energy needs public awareness and support\" •\"Site them where they are the most efficient\" Appendix III, 130 When asked about location visibility: • Less visible locations: 37% • Highly visible locations: 23% • No preference: 21% • Not visible: 19% A selection of comments from respondents regarding visibility: •\"Not visible at all ideally, less visible being acceptable\" •\"I would prefer if visual sightlines [of] mountains were not obscured. I am not sure how they would look in the es-tuary. I'd prefer some areas kept pristine!!!\" •\"Again economics still determine the best spots\" •\"It will make us look ecologically minded, which is what we're trying to be\" •The tourism advantage of pure unadulterated nature is a valuable commodity that will not be given up easily\" •\"Shout it out - probably the cleanest power available\" 39% of respondents rated wind power as a 'statement by your community that you support renewable energy' as impor-tant, and 42% stated knowing 'that use of electricity is sustainable' is very important. Potential disturbance to marine and terrestrial habitat was ranked as very important to 49% and 38% of respondents respectively. The same portion of re-spondents, 25%, rated bird strikes as very important as rated them being not a factor. Appendix III, 131 A selection of comments from respondents regarding noise: •\"I like to know that wind power is a renewable energy solution, but object to marring the landscape\" •\"Noise? Lots of people live along the railway tracks and sleep well\" 72% of respondents would be willing to pay a small price premium for wind power. A selection of comments from respon-dents regarding cost: • \"The net gain to the community would outweigh the initial cost\" • \"Especially given that energy costs are only going to rise anyway as fossil fuels diminish\" • \"I'd rather buy wind energy than nuclear, or even hydro\" • \"To make it more appealing it should be equal to or better than what is offered by hydro electricity\" • \"If the wind turbines are located in the community creating community identity and employment I would gladly pay a small premium\" Positive comments regarding wind power in Squamish included: • the positive image is presents for Squamish • environmental friendliness •it's'hip' • bragging rights • reputation • natural fit with the region Appendix III, 132 • potential for jobs. Concerns regarding wind power development included: •\"Massing - visual\" •\"Additional transmission lines\" c •\"Impact on trails, wild areas and places we residents recreate\" •\"Location\" •\"Unsightliness!\" •\"None\" •\"Won't happen soon enough\" •\"The NIMBY principle - do it but where I have to see it\" •\"A manufacturing plant in Squamish would be key. Transportation - waterfront, rail, highway\" 47% of respondents indicated that they see Squamish emerging as a leader in environmental technologies over the next decade, 31% somewhat believed this, and 19% thought they wouldn't. The survey indicated that 84% of respondents were in favour of wind power development, with approximately the same number having interest in additional information, and only 2% were against wind power. A number of recommendations that may increase the economic benefits associated with the project were identified within the open house focus groups. Those that weren't highlighted in the questionnaire above include: • Locating towers in close proximity to each other to reduce costs Appendix III, 133 • Pursuing other types of renewable energy such as tidal or geothermal to broaden the cluster of options • Desire for the district to be a net exporter of energy by 2010 Some sites suggested by community members include: •The recovered Nexen lands and/or nearby intertidal areas (proximal to industrial area investigated in thesis sce-narios) •The Smoke Bluffs and the area behind them •Murrin Park / Watts Point •The ridge between the Squamish and Cheakamus rivers, near Evans Lake (the general area of Levette lake, in-vestigate in thesis scenarios) •The BC Rail north yards (proximal to industrial area investigated in thesis scenarios) •Behind Squamish Terminals (proximal to industrial area investigated in thesis scenarios) •Eastern flanks of Mt. Murchinson (this is the next ridge north of the Mt. Ellesmere, Brennan Ridge, Mt. Rodderick series of ridges investigated in the thesis scenarios; however it has the disadvantage of being adjacent to Brack-endale Eagles Provincial Park) Appendix III, 134 A p p e n d i x IV T h e m e A e s t h e t i c C o n t e x t A e s t h e t i c C o n t e x t A e s t h e t i c C o n t e x t A e s t h e t i c Image A e s t h e t i c Image C o m m u n i t y & Cu l tu re A d d r e s s e s community ideas / concerns C o m m u n i t y & Cu l tu re C o m m u n i t y & Cu l tu re C o m m u n i t y & Cu l tu re P r a g m a t i c / E c o l o g i c a l P r a g m a t i c / E c o l o g i c a l P r a g m a t i c / E c o l o g i c a l Mot ivat ion Embedding into urban / infrastructural forms Contribute to urban p laces : p lace-making qualities in urban context Maintain formal / v isual character of region (extent visibility, V i sua l Absorption Capacity , Landscape Sensitivity) ofJFavour l a n d s c a p e s that have strong landform and s e n s e of enclosure M a y already be affected by man -made features, have reduced tranquillity are have little inter-visibility with adjacent sensit ive l andscapes and exhibl a low density of sensit ive landscape features. Iconic contribution to character / sense of place of region Sculptural / aesthetic qualities in landscape / urbanj context Congruent with community preference of site locations as cited in Part II A d d r e s s e s cultural / historical aspects of region Promoting Squamish image as a sustainable region Promoting community awareness of energy source; & sustainability Access ib le , economica l , minimal disturbance footprint: Preservation of \"nature\" fi technological intrusions: Proximity to ecological ly sensitive areas Maximal functionality / efficiency: capacity to power future growth with windfarms Al low built forms such as civ ic infrastructure, architecture, and planning to guide wind farm site select ion and turbine placement. Bring the wind farm into the urban realm such that it b e c o m e s a part of the everyday urban exper ience. Contributing to public space , wayfindingj mental mapping , sense of place or the town character S u c h large, visible addit ions to the landscape may be iconic and visually dominant when consider ing their appearance from a variety of key viewpoints. Strong, scenic sightlines with drammatic siting gestures. To ach ieve a ba lance in engineering and spatial des ign , ensure both the function and aesthetic quality of wind farming. Turbines must be treated as dynamic, sculptural objects with character, depth, form, animation, and colour in a landscape composit ion. Al low current or historical events and p laces to inform the wind farm site select ion and des ign . May embody educational value in it's responding t e lements e m b e d d e d in the region's cultural history. Visibility from and proximity to the S e a - t o - S k y highway, being the most frequented route through the region, is an opportunity for S q u a m i s h to expose it's image as a more sustainable region. Visibility from the region's towns contributes to an awareness of energy sources and consumption. Either through viewing duration or proximity the windfarm b e c o m e s part of the everyday exper ience of living in the community. Proximity to existing roads, consumption centres, forest harvesting, power facilities, and power l ines are favourable attributes during the site selection process . Development would minimize construction and maintenance costs and it's physical imposition onto the landscape. Wind farming adjacent to streams, wetlands, parks and reserves would be avo ided to maintain the integrity of the S q u a m i s h outdoor exper ience I for eco log ica l reasons. Turbine clusters should be located away froi topographic r idges where thermals are generated, and within the existing 'disturbed\" areas , with a minimal v iewshed falling within parks and natural a reas . Account for future population as noted in O C P , and approximate energy demands . Satisfy new residential growth by wind energy. Requ i res adequately large space, a strong, consistently reliable wind source, orthogonal orientation towards dominant wind direction, and generous spac ing to minimize wind shadow effects Site analysis matrix showing for all sites: motivation theme, motivation, criteria, weighted importance of motivation, and site favourability More favourable^ Less favourable 1 Critical success Critical flaw^ Appendix IV, 135 A p p e n d i x V G r o u p A e s t h e t i c C o n t e x t A e s t h e t i c C o n t e x t A e s t h e t i c C o n t e x t A e s t h e t i c I m a g e A e s t h e t i c I m a g e C o m m u n i t y & C u l t u r e C o m m u n i t y & C u l t u r e C o m m u n i t y & C u l t u r e C o m m u n i t y & C u l t u r e P r a g m a t i c / E c o l o g i c a l P r a g m a t i c / E c o l o g i c a l P r a g m a t i c / E c o l o g i c a l M o t i v a t i o n Embedding into existing urban / infrastructural forms Contribute to urban places: place-making qualities in urban context Maintain visual character of region (extent of visibility, VACapacity, Landscape Sensitivity) Iconic contribution to character / sense of place of region Sculptural / aesthetic qualities in landscape / urban context Addresses community ideas / concerns Addresses cultural / historical aspects of region Promoting Squamish image as a sustainable region Promoting community awareness of energy sources & sustainability Accessible, economical, minimal disturbance footprint Preservation of \"nature\" from technological intrusions: Proximity to ecologically sensitive areas Maximal functionality / efficiency: capacity to power future growth with windfarms C r i t e r i a High Weight A l i c e R i d g e Allow built forms such as civic infrastructure, architecture, and planning guide wind farm | site selection and turbine placement. Bring the wind farm into the urban realm such that it becomes a part of the everyday urban experience. Contributing to public space, wayfinding, mental mapping, sense of place or the town character affected by man-made features, have reduced tranquillity, are have little inter-visibility with adjacent sensitive landscapes and exhibit a low density of sensitive landscape features. Total viewshed area occurring outside Squamish municipal boundary Distance from Stawamus Chief Distance from Waterfront Distance from Elfin Lakes Trail Percentage of highway falling within viewshed Such large, visible additions to the landscape may be iconic and visually dominant when considering their appearance from a variety of key viewpoints. Strong, scenic sightlines with drammatic siting gestures. Most Sensitive G o a t R i d g e W a t e r f r o n t / In t o w n 1 Sensitive 360 km2 5 km 4.5 km To achieve a balance in engineering and spatial design, ensure both the function and aesthetic quality of wind farming. Turbines must be treated as dynamic, sculptural objects with character, depth, form, animation, and colour in a landscape composition. Congruent with community preference of site locations as cited in Part I Allow current or historical events and places to inform the wind farm site selection and design. May embody educational value in it's responding to elements embedded in the region's cultural history. Visibility from and proximity to the Sea-to-Sky highway, being the most frequented route through the region, is an opportunity for Squamish to expose it's image as a more sustainable region. 33% preferred land-based location 18 km 72% 33% preferred land-based location Least Sensitive 227 km2 2.5 km <1 km 13 km 55% 24% preferred waterfront location, specifically meritiflrtgd___. Visibility from the region's towns contributes to an awareness of energy sources and consumption. Either through viewing duration or proximity, the windfarm becomes part of the everyday experience of living in the community. Proximity to existing roads, consumption centres, forest harvesting, power facilities, and power lines are favourable attributes during the site selection process. Development would minimize construction and maintenance costs and it's physical imposition onto the landscape. Distance to road Road condition Distance to transformer station Distance to powerlines Wind farming adjacent to streams, wetlands, parks and reserves would be avoided to maintain the integrity of the Squamish outdoor experience and for ecological reasons. Turbine clusters should be located away from topographic ridges where thermals are generated, and within the existing \"disturbed\" areas, with a minimal viewshed falling within parks and natural areas. 233 km2 of viewshed within parks Account for future population as noted in OCP, and meet approximate energy demands Satisfy new residential growth by wind energy. Requires adequately large space, a strong, consistently reliable wind source, orthogonal orientation towards dominant wind direction, and generous spacing to minimize wind shadow effects 94 km2 of viewshed within parks 45% of 2031 pop'n 50% of 2031 pop'n growth, 10.5 MW ttl. output 26% of 2031 pop'n 65 km2 of i within i 7% of 2031 pop'n growth, 1.5 MW total output 4% of 2031 pop'n Measured and calculated values corresponding to design criteria, and applied to each preferred site Higher values suggest preserva-tion of \"natural\" aesthetic of region, without technological intrusions, therefore maintaining the visual character represented by this motivation. Most favourable Less favourable Least Favourable Appendix V, 136 A p p e n d i x VI Criteria Allow built forms such as civic infrastructure, architecture, and planning guide wind farm site selection and turbine placement. ntext Bring the wind farm into the urban realm such that it becomes a part of the everyday urban experience. Contributing to public space, wayfinding, mental mapping, sense of place or the town character tic Co affected by man-made features, have reduced tranquillity, are have little inter-visibility with adjacent sensitive landscapes and exhibit a low density of sensitive landscape features. 0) £ Total viewshed area occurring outside Squamish municipal boundary Aest Distance from Stawamus Chief Aest Distance from Waterfront Distance from Elfin Lakes Trail Percentage of highway falling within viewshed 0 o n Such large, visible additions to the landscape may be iconic and visually dominant when considering their appearance from a variety of key viewpoints. Strong, scenic sightlines with drammatic siting gestures. £ 2 w E o> -< To achieve a balance in engineering and spatial design, ensure both the function and aesthetic quality of wind farming. Turbines must be treated as dynamic, sculptural objects with character, depth, form, animation, and colour in a landscape composition. ture Congruent with community preference of site locations as cited in Part II. and Cul Allow current or historical events and places to inform the wind farm site selection and design. May embody educational value in it's responding to elements embedded in the region's cultural history. imunit Visibility from and proximity to the Sea-to-Sky highway, being the most frequented route through the region, is an opportunity for Squamish to expose it's image as a more sustainable region. 0 o Visibility from the region's towns contributes to an awareness of energy sources and consumption. Either through viewing duration or proximity, the windfarm becomes part of the everyday experience of living in the community. Proximity to existing roads, consumption centres, forest harvesting, power facilities, and power lines are favourable attributes during the site selection process. Development would minimize construction and maintenance costs and it's physical imposition onto the landscape. Distance to road ologica Road condition ologica Distance to transformer station -agmatic / Ec Distance to powerlines -agmatic / Ec Wind farming adjacent to streams, wetlands, parks and reserves would be avoided to maintain the integrity of the Squamish outdoor experience and for ecological reasons. Turbine clusters should be located away from topographic ridges where thermals are generated, and within the existing \"disturbed\" areas, with a minimal viewshed falling within parks and natural areas. & Account for future population as noted in OCP, and meet approximate energy demands. Satisfy new residential growth by wind energy. Requires adequately large space, a strong, consistently reliable wind source, orthogonal orientation towards dominant wind direction, and generous spacing to minimize wind shadow effects 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Waterfront / In t o w n 10 10 Consistent scores (higher scores are more desirable) Average scores (grouped by motivational theme) A l i c e R idge I Water f ront / In G o a t R idge t o w n 1 4 1 3 10 1 5 10 10 6 4 4 2 1 2 10 7 0 0 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 1 1 1 • ,0 _____ 7 « 8 8 1 10 10 10 10 10 1 5 10 1 1 6 1 7 7 1 6 JJ 10 6 1 Appendix VI, 137 "@en ; edm:hasType "Thesis/Dissertation"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0093104"@en ; dcterms:language "eng"@en ; ns0:degreeDiscipline "Landscape Architecture"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:rights "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en ; ns0:scholarLevel "Graduate"@en ; dcterms:title "Lines in the sound : a regional approach to windfarm design and visualization in Howe Sound"@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; ns0:identifierURI "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/32497"@en .