East Coast Could Benefit From Offshore Wind Farm
The East Coast could actually benefit much from an offshore wind farm and this is not just heresay. You see, the academe of two of the country’s top institutions, the University of Delaware and the Stanford University, had funded a study. The results did claim that if such an offshore wind power facility is created, the energy that they could get could possibly power all of the East Coast.
Although an offshore wind farm could actually benefit the people and the government of the East Coast residents, some residents are yet ready to argue about the plan. They do claim that if this becomes reality, the view of the plant could actually ruin the natural views that people are currently enjoying.
If the plan becomes reality, the wind farm would be built on the shallow water in and around Cape Cod. They would be using turbines that would be built on some 60 to 90 feet of water.
[Via Green Options]
[Image from The Ramblings of a Bush Philosopher: Australia]
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POSTED IN: General, Green Lifestyles, News, Wind
2 opinions for East Coast Could Benefit From Offshore Wind Farm
Ilovecapecod
Mar 6, 2007 at 5:41 am
It is not about the view. It is about degradation of wildlife habitat which is home to threatened and endangered species on Cape Cod. It is about navigational (ferries carrying thousands of passengers each year all on record in opposition to this hazard among others) and air safety (three small airports have all gone on record as a significant hazard to air safety. It is about a 24 square mile (the size of Manhattan island) industrial wind farm comprised of 130 417′ wind turbines (larger than the statue of liberty) and a 100 foot electrical platform filled with oil which threatens the entire ecology of the area. It is about dredging the Nantucket Sound to run the cables, plowing and trenching for electrical cables, and the infrastructure required in order to build and support it. It is about a developer who refuses to locate this project in an area where it will cause no harm. It is about a developer who is attempting to seize public waters for his own monetary gain.
Klaus Daimler
Mar 6, 2007 at 9:05 am
Noel - The Cape Wind project that you talk about would be the largest in the world, yet would only power 3/4’s of the Cape and Islands. Maybe a better stat to consider is that Cape Wind would account for less than 1% of the electricity used in the ISP New England power grid. Wind is inefficient and intermittent, the entire eastern seaboard would still require backup power generation when the wind is not blowing. If you check the data on the Cape Wind website, you will often find that the project is not producing any electricity.
Offshore renewable energy has its drawbacks, especially in Nantucket Sound where an industrial powerplant of this magnitude would fundamentally change the cultural and histroical integrity of the Sound, not to mention negative impacts to Cape Cod’s economy, public safety, and local ecology. Nantucket Sound is only body of water in the continental United States that is surrounded by protected state waters. This creates a donut-hole for policymakers to grapple with. Twice this waterbody has been nominated as a National Marine Ocean Sanctuary. Nantucket Sound is not the place for an industrial power plant.
There are other viable offshore wind alternatives to Cape Wind, but the public needs to be given a choice in the matter. Placing windturbines off the entire East Coast would be irresponsible. Some sites are better than others, but every site deserves to be fully evaluated.
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