The open society and its enemies

By John McDaid | Saturday, 7 February 2009
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Jack and Spotty with the WTG blades. (click image to embiggen)

Jack's classroom has a stuffed mascot, Spotty, who makes the rounds on weekends, and we wanted a good location to tell a story about, so we headed up to Windmill Hill for a photo op with the newly delivered Portsmouth wind turbine blades. Even Spotty found them breathtaking.

They are 120 feet long, weigh 12,000 pounds, and the base is big enough to climb inside (there's a warning saying "no more than three people at a time.) With their smooth aerodynamic surfaces lined with vortex generators, walking around them feels like a pre-flight on a stealth flying wing. I mean, you can read "120 feet" but you don't really get a sense for the scale until you're up close.

But we weren't the only folks there today, and the other visitor did not share Jack's — nor even Spotty's — enthusiasm. The turbine got a visit from Mr. Windy Crank* today.

We were headed back down the road from the site as he was coming up. Jack said something about how big the blades were.

"Yeah," he said. "It's twice the size of the Abbey."

Jack said he thought that was cool.

"How would you like to live in that house," Mr. Crank said, pointing down the hill. Jack immediately said, "That would be AWESOME."

"Really?" said Mr. Crank. "Have you ever heard one of these?"

"Sure!" said Jack. "We went to the turbine festival."

"But have you stood under one for an hour?"

"Yep," said Jack. "We played there for an hour. I went inside!"

I had to work to keep from smiling. "I like the sound," I added, just to rub it in. "I think it's soothing."

He sputtered and wandered off. If you've been following the turbine project, you know this guy; he's the one who shows up with the photocopied newspaper clippings about dead birds and noise horrors. I have always listened politely, taken his handouts, and read them with an open mind. What I didn't find was any "there" there; it pretty much all boils down to hired BS from vested interests, NIMBY/BANANAism, and Fear Of The New.

What annoys me most is the tacit assumption that our current energy infrastructure is somehow benign and costless. As if particulate emissions and mercury from, oh, say a nearby peaking facility were less of a clear and present danger than a turbine.

Portsmouth should be proud that as a community, we were able to move beyond the fearmongering and negativity and take this bold step into the future.

*Not his real name.

Get turbine updates: Visit Portsmouth RI Energy

PS: Yes, I'm fully a week behind on covering stuff in town. This was an awful week at work, and I'm trying to get caught up.

Tags: 
Localblogging, Schools, WTG

Comments

Portsmouth Citizen

Sun, 02/08/2009 - 12:46pm

About "Mr. Windy Crank", I'm not sure I remember who you mean, although I've seen the news clippings on bird kills at Altamont Pass California and I also know why that situation doesn't apply to Portsmouth's wind tower.

But your saying you find the sound soothing, while valid, is a matter of taste. To another, it may be like fingernails on a blackboard. Granted, you can't hear it at all if you live even as little as a quarter mile away, so living right under it matters. I can understand that an otherwise reasonable person would not relish the changing reality of having to suddenly live under a wind tower after a lifetime of not living under one. It's one thing to be a NIMBY when the "BY" part of NIMBY means Portsmouth. It's really is another thing altogether if you are literally talking about a person's actual Back Yard.

So my question is, do you know if Mr. Windy Crank actually lives in that house "down the hill?" Or is he just a ... crank?

John McDaid

Sun, 02/08/2009 - 3:23pm

Hi, Portsmouth Citizen...
Sorry, I have an e-mail from Mr. Crank somewhere, but I can't find it right now, so I'm unable to state definitively that he does not live in the house near PHS. But based on the way he said it, and the fact that he was whingeing at meetings back when it was slated for the Middle School, I don't believe that to be the case.

Cheers.
-j

craigi

Sun, 02/08/2009 - 7:18pm

In order for us all to advance into the future...properly, we must learn what our regional advantages are and take advantage of them. We can see this with the "eat local" movements as well as the idea that quality of life trumps a bigger highway coming though your downtown.

Rhode Island, and specifically Aquidneck Island, has WIND POWER. Yes, the turbines should probably be out in the water - and by the dozens, but these few projects at least prove to the naysayers that they work......

This stuff should be fast tracked in order to help bring RI out of the current depression. These turbines can bring in reasonable energy costs, as well as tax dollars.....and also help with tourism and quality of life. I've been to Denmark and seen thousands of turbines and can assure folks that they look quite nice.......just like a tractor looks nice in a farm field. Function brings beauty.

John McDaid

Sun, 02/08/2009 - 7:58pm

Hi, craigi...
I really love your point about function and beauty. Look at the steampunk movement, which has rediscovered the beauty of Victorian mechanical devices. Can an appreciation for the awesome aerodynamics of turbines really be far behind?

You're right about taking advantage of our location. We got wind, we got tidal, heck, we even got some geothermal. It's going to take a lot of slices (or "stabilization wedges" as the Princeton theorists have it) to put together a solution.

Cheers.
-j

ELCAPITAN

Tue, 02/10/2009 - 10:04am

I suspect when the first automobile sputtered down the street there were a lot of people who didn't want them on the roads next to their houses. When Route 24 was extended through Aquidneck Island, people did not want the "noise" in their backyard, and, perhaps, the cave man frowned when the first man on a horse galloped by his cave making a racket.

We all want to turn on our electronic marvels in our homes, but don't want to hear or see the devices that will keep that electricity coming. We are worried about our Town budget but most people talk about "cutting" rather than "generating revenue". It really takes both.

I guess I should feel sorry for the people who don't like these things in their back yard, but we all have are crosses to bear to live in the society we chose to maintain.

If you don't like the Wind Turbine in your backyard - please move.

John McDaid

Tue, 02/10/2009 - 11:40am

Hi, ElCapitan...
Neil Postman used to say that every technology is a Faustian bargain. We get something, but we do lose something, and the important thing is to make those choices with our eyes open. Which we have.

We've had a robust discussion about the turbine as a town. There were numerous appearances before the Council. I think the PEDC did a thorough job at due diligence with surveys and outreach. We had a referendum. The people voted, and it's time for the naysayers to move on.

Cheers.
-j