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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.
