Nimbyland's No-Wind Situation
The Washington Post, April 13, 2008 — Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) announced yesterday morning that he will bar commercial wind turbines from state-owned land, satisfying Western Maryland opponents of the turbines but disappointing supporters of the wind energy industry.TAGS: frank maisano, Gov. Martin O'Malley, Government Policy, Sen. George C. Edwards, Skeptic Generated News, US, western maryland, wind power
Keen on wind, but...
I think this deserves more discussion.
1) We need all the windpower we can get.
2) However, it isn't instantly obvious that putting windmills in a state forest, thereby cutting down at least some trees, is necessarily the optimal place to do it.
3) Without further information on the specific sites, it's not really obvious whether this is indeed just knee-jerk NIMBYism or actually a sensible decision (for now) on the part of Gov. Martin.
I agree, it may be
Someone was telling me today about how much Saskatchewan farmers get per oil drill on their land. Why not windmills? There's a windmill farm proposed for agricultural land near my village, and the Nimbys are getting ready to rumble, but I think it's a great idea -- certainly better that those hideous high-tension power line towers we've all gotten used to over the years.
Fern Mackenzie
Speaking of wind power
This is pretty damned nifty.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1476/86/
Using jet engine technology to re-imagine the wind turbine.
Allowing for 4x the energy from the same land area, and a hell of a lot easier logistics and manufacturing.