Wind Turbines and Green Collar Jobs
In light of this interview on OpenLeft.com with Congresswoman Hilda Solis, I started thinking about the environment. First off, it’s interesting how she is tackling the idea of saving the world:
By turning global warming into a jobs issue, Solis is working to reframe the often depressing and disempowering rhetoric of the environmental movement into language that different groups can get behind.
Language and framing is very important. Remember Carbon (Dioxide) is a form of pollution. We should remember that. Also, don’t forget about “traditional pollutants”. Mercury may not heat up our air, but it does poison our fish, and our brians.
Solis’ idea of getting environmentalists and city (development) planners together in the same room is another good one. To what extent do we do this in our area? Sure, we have token green buildings and so on, but to what extent are the green initiatives in Brighton and Irondequoit well-thought out plans, and to what extent are they shallow gimmicks? What, in other words, ever happened to those “task forces?”
In any case, this quote really stuck out for me:
A few weeks ago, I accompanied a Sierra Club lobbyist to a visit with freshman Tim Walz, and he’s using the same strategy in his rural Minnesota district - sustainable energy means jobs. Conservative rural residents are now proud of wind turbines, because it means economic growth.
(Emphasis mine)
This isn’t a Rochester issue per se, but we’re surrounded by prime wind-land, lots of open space, and rural folks as well. Where are their wind farms? Where is their economic growth?
As I drive around the Finger Lakes region, I see many roadside political signs that say something like: “Say NO To Wind Turbines”. As they are just signs, I don’t get to ask them why we should say NO to wind turbines. My best guess is that wind turbines are not aesthetically pleasing, and that they would put the signs out of business!
So this is a Rochester issue…some people in our area are fighting against wind turbines.
If I was a rural landowner, and my neighbor wanted to lease to a power company, I might be a little frustrated.
From Cornell’s Wind Energy Development in New York State: Issues for Landowners
400′ tall. The Statue of Liberty and her pedastal are 300′ tall. They’re HUGE, they can be seen for miles and miles. (personally I think they look like progress, but they’re not the usual bucolic countryside…)
Also, some people say they’re noisy, and they kill birds and cast massive flickering shadows.
Western New York has a very different rural development pattern than that of the western states. Our parcels are much smaller, and much more residential. This isn’t Wyoming.
Finally, they don’t really create many jobs. There’s a handful of construction jobs, but mostly they’re unattended. Still, they’re a good “winter crop” for some landowners.
Remember that NY is a “home rule” state, so that NIMBYism is a more potent political force than elsewhere.
Reading this, I have to wonder how we ever got into this “All or Nothing” state of mind that exists in so many areas of political discourse.
We can put restrictions on where the turbines go, or how large they could be, or how loud they could be. I’m sure there are enough remote areas of NYS where turbines could still be placed and the noise wouldn’t bother anyone, nor would the flickering shadows bother anyone. Or you could limit the size of the turbines in other areas. Seems to me there is still great value in a device that powers 600 homes for virtually no cost from 100% renewable energy. I don’t know what to do about the fact that turbines kill birds.
The problem is the economics of it: if you’re trying to make money, then it makes sense to build really big turbines.
Thanks for explaining that, but once again I ask, why does it have to be ALL or NOTHING?
Aren’t there alternative wind turbine possibilities that don’t require really big turbines and still are cost effective? Couldn’t lots of small turbines (which will obviously cost less money to build) provide lots of energy, just not as much as lots of huge turbines would provide, without many of the side effects? Perhaps that technology doesn’t exist today … or perhaps the legal rationale for shifting to that technology doesn’t exist today.
I’m just trying to understand the issues.
Part of the problem is that the wind doesn’t blow as much close to the ground. You need a long, strong breeze. That means a higher tower.
Also the power increases as a funtion of the area (the circle) swept by the rotor. So while a 40 meter blade can generate 500 kW, an 80 meter blade can generate 2,500 kW….
Some people think that one big slow-turning blade is less intrusive than many small fast-turning blades, too.
There are also economies of scale - fewer foundations to build, fewer access roads, etc.
Check out this picture of a blade on the ground for a sense of the size of these things:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayros/269574855/
Brighton recently had the opportunity to address green options for a new community project. Until the time of the announcement of the Green Task Force for the ideas were not even considered, pushed aside as idle chit chat. Upon the announcement of The Task Force, there was a “newly found” interest by officials. Sadly the ideas were squashed because they “cost too much.”
The Property Revaluation flyer I received from the Town did, however, say it was printed on recycled paper. Maybe this is the extent of the powers of The Force. The scales seem to be leaning to the gimmick side.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think wind turbines look cool… seriously, it looks like something out of a star trek movie or something… It’s certainly no more of an eye sore than powerlines and we’re all used to that
When I travel to Philly there is a ridgeline between Binghamton and Scranton with a dozen or so turbines. Its mesmerizing…hard to look away.
Traveling East on the thruway, looking south past Syracuse there are massive Wind Turbines on the hill south of Rte 20. They’re beautiful and I AM a rural land owner and I would LOVE to have Turbines in my back yard. I recommend the book “Adirondack Green” for any one who would like to have a different perspective on windmills. I think wind power is the way to go.
They are very elegant.
I agree. I think they’re beautiful. It’s entirely subjective, of course.
I’ve seen the ones in Wethersfield up close, but they are small, compared to what is being planned. In principle, I think wind turbines are a wonderful idea, but the way they are being proposed right now is troubling. A large company comes to a deal with a landowner, whose neighbors are out of luck. But I think what bothers people even more is that the plans all call for the power to be sucked away (most likely “downstate,” which makes it a hard sell to many rural folks, who mistakenly believe their tax dollars support downstate) with few benefits to the host community. If these turbines generated local power instead, I think we’d be seeing an entirely different dynamic.
Nice to see so many who agree with me that wind farms can be an elegant and attractive addition to the rural landscape– more like silos than like cell towers.
I’ve been on a tour of the Maple Ridge facility, and, while the turbines are, indeed, huge, they are not loud at ALL. In fact, you can barely hear them at all while standing right under them. Also, I understand the “they kill birds” thing to be untrue– of course, all towers (and, actually, some patio doors) will kill an occassional bird, the wind turbines do not have a very significant effect. Domestic felines allowed outside, on the other hand, make a real dent in bird populations.
So, keep your cat indoors, turn down the thermostat a notch, and support green energy development in upstate. The extra cash from a wind farm may well help an ordinary farmer keep some land in production that would otherwise sprout suburban housing, making global warming just that much worse.
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