March 16, 2006

Burlington Free Press.com | Top Stories

Wind Energy Recommendation by PSB Hearing Officer

The hearing officer's recommendation against the East Hill wind project is the correct one and the Board would do well to agree with it and reject the proposal. Wind energy will do little to alleviate Vermont's need for energy. It may rise to the level of 'feel good' energy for some, but in the scheme of things it is a distraction to the real need to replace the baseline electricity we now obtain from nuclear at Vermont Yankee and the hydro power we get from Quebec.

Wind energy is intermittent and unreliable. The cost/benefit ratio is too high.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes. However, wouldn't you agree that while we search for the big answers, it may serve us well to also have some smaller answers. If wind could be be 5% and conservation 20%...all of the sudden our need has shrunk to 75%. The era of single big answers to the big questions may be over.

David Usher said...

I agree that conservation can and should be a much bigger component than wind. Where wind is most appropriate is for premises based generation. That way the property owners/users are deciding on the economics and the aesthetics (as long as their neighbors agree). However, if Vermont is really serious about wind, we should have a policy that includes a certain % goal by some date certain, rather than costly, divisive, case-by-case battles and PSB decisions.