Monday, May 14, 2007

Delaware 'Sinking' About Wind?

Slacktivist points out that concern about global warming may be a factor in Delaware citizens' enthusiasm for a proposed offshore wind power plant. Why? Well, you can check his map yourself, but it looks as though about 1/3 of the state would be submerged by a 14-meter sea level rise (admittedly still a fairly remote scenario).

Slacktivist also discusses the wind development situation in Vermont, a state where I live and in which, in my opinion, the public debate has been dominated by a relatively well-to-do group of anti-wind folks who have done an excellent job of sowing confusion and mistrust. There are still a couple of proposed wind projects making their way through the permitting pipeline and we may yet see them built. Wind remains a good idea for New England, despite all of the misinformation, because of its ability to save natural gas. For more on why, see A Night to Remember, a case study with some zing from Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture).

Regards,
Tom
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2 comments:

KM said...

Does wind save natural gas? In Delaware, it seems the prospect of a large offshore wind facility will require adding a natural gas-fired plant. See the story from the News Journal of Wilmington.

10:05 AM
Tom Gray said...

No, this is incorrect. Any need for additional fossil-fueled generation, of whatever kind, is due to increasing electricity peak demand. Wind is not a particularly efficient way to meet peak demand, because the wind may not be blowing during the hour of the year that a utility experiences peak demand. On the other hand, during many, many other hours during the year, the wind will be blowing, and the fossil-fueled plant will be saving fuel. See Myth #4 in the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Energy Myths fact sheet, as well as a host of authoritative studies at the Utility Wind Integration Group Web site.

Regards,
Tom

9:14 PM

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