Cape Cod Wind Farm Mock-up
Aesthetics and clean energy. Will the twain ever meet.? I think the answer is yes, but not without much pain and great expense. Vermont is wrestling the same issue with the debate now centered on the mountain ridgelines,. However, Lake Champlain has an ample supply of wind and the Islands area, particularly South Hero, has plenty of shallow water and prevailing southerlies and southwesterlies. This is the same area that VELCO was forced to place power lines underwater when ice damaged the overhead towers.
Wouldn't it be ironic if someday this same area sprouted wind turbines?
The much larger question is the economics of wind vs. fossil vs. nuclear. Nuclear is probably the best source for future electrical energy generation, much more effective than wind, but the irrational fear of nuclear will thwart its growth.
In all these discussions and controversies, we should always be mindful of the often hidden anti-growth agenda of many 'environmentalists.' The essential debate, it seems to me, is the long term sustainability of the economic and social well-being of our society and its continuing demand for energy to support the 'good life.' Few want to risk being labeled "Anti-growth", though Vermont has more than its share of people who really see this as the crucial issue in air and water quality controversies as well as for renewable energy. Cheap nuclear power would abrogate the sustainability arguments.
Jeff Wennberg, Vermont's Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, recently exposed anti-growth as the real agenda behind the Conservation Law Foundation's litigation efforts at stormwater remediation and the water quality of Lake Champlain.
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