Our Best Energy Choice
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Just two weeks ago, I was traveling along the North Carolina coast talking to business owners about their feelings toward offshore drilling. The response was overwhelmingly negative, and for good reason. Our state brings in more than $2.5 billion a year from travel and tourism, and recreational fishing provides 27,000 jobs in North Carolina.
But for people on the coast, it isn’t just about jobs. Coastal North Carolina is where their everyday life occurs, a way of life that could be destroyed by even just one oil spill. The tourism industry in the Gulf of Mexico is still in tatters from the Deepwater Horizon spill, and will be for many years to come.
Now our governor is changing her position on offshore drilling, as long as there are “adequate safeguards.” How do we know what is adequate when it comes to drilling for oil deep into the ocean?
The oil and gas off our coast is not worth the environmental pollution and devastation it can cause. We need to be looking at new technology in North Carolina, something that can bring industry and jobs but not harm our state. Offshore wind energy is this reality.
North Carolina could be the pioneer in wind energy, bringing thousands of jobs and millions of dollars to our state while offering clean power that doesn’t threaten our existing tourism and fishing industries.
I urge everyone to call or email the governor and let her know that wind energy, not drilling, is the best choice for North Carolina.
Todd Selby
Raleigh
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Comments
jamjam 1 year, 7 months ago
oil is not the answer. the outer banks would make a great wind farm.
Courseaire 1 year, 7 months ago
Just put up a few wind turbines in front of the Pilot's bloggers homes for wind - there's plenty of it.
geoffcutler 1 year, 7 months ago
What about taking the Wall Street protesters, putting them on bicycles hooked to wind turbines and have them start pedaling. This would be a better investment of our tax dollars than Solyndra. It would provide a constructive green jobs alternative to occupy what is an apparant abundance of free time, and it would be a nifty environmentally conscience way for these loons to make at least a minimal contribution to American society.
fugitiveguy 1 year, 7 months ago
Geoff, thats what I call thinking outside the box!
teufelhunden 1 year, 7 months ago
Dang Geoff that was sheer poetry!
geoffcutler 1 year, 7 months ago
Yeah...it's tailor made for Obama's 2012 campaign. He could call it: "Pedaling for Power."
fugitiveguy 1 year, 7 months ago
its only a matter of time before this comes to Carthage, the occupation I mean
DaveyNC 1 year, 7 months ago
jamjam, the Outer Banks makes a better vacation destination. Keep the wind farms off of it. Put them somewhere else, well offshore.
Toda 1 year, 7 months ago
In the face of capitalism at it's best ~ "The Occupiers" on Wall Street and on their door steps. Change is difficult in the face of astronomical profits. Tax the rich and feed the poor.
jimt 1 year, 7 months ago
Wind farms "well" offshore is happening all over Western Europe. Now I know they are "socialists" and we have nothing to learn from their example, but we could do the same at a cost that is much lower per kilowatt generated than nuclear and without the environmental downside of coal based electricity generation or the uncertain consequences of fracking.
But I can see the Republicans blocking such a move since it doesn't benefit their utility company masters.
MichaelFlorence 1 year, 7 months ago
I for one would love to see more wind farms especially off the coast. However please remember the environmental cost of constructing these wind farms in the best wind areas. These are also the migration routes for all kinds of birds. I cannot give you the specific links but Google "bird deaths by wind turbines" and things like that to understand the total cost. In Texas there have been deaths from Bald Eagles down to Sparrows. It may be Green, but it still has a dark side behind it.
teufelhunden 1 year, 7 months ago
Are there more bird deaths by wind turbines or airplanes? Curious.
geoffcutler 1 year, 7 months ago
jimt, you don't have to wait for Republicans to try and block areas test sited for wind power. Democrats in the form of limousine liberal, Ted Kennedy, and family, successfully blocked turbines from obstructing their view from the family compound in Hyannis.
RmeMP 1 year, 7 months ago
Hey fugitive guy... It will NEVER happen, not in Carthage.
RmeMP 1 year, 7 months ago
Best energy source? Easy - nuclear.
jimt 1 year, 7 months ago
Geoff, perhaps I should have been less ambiguous, my intent in saying "well offshore," was meant to connote beyond the horizon, which at sea level, if I recall correctly, is about three or four miles. Hope this settles your concern. Here's what the Dutch have done:
"The Egmond aan Zee offshore wind farm (OWEZ) now has 36 Vestas V90-3.0 turbines producing 108MW. The project cost more than €200m, and was the first big wind farm to be built off the Dutch coast in the North Sea. Located 10 to 18km from the coast, the wind farm covers around 27km² and is just visible from the coast when the weather is fine.
Egmond aan Zee was opened in October 2007, and generates enough electrical power for about 100,000 Dutch households – a town the size of Eindhoven. It has been designed to last for 20 years." Source: http://www.power-technology.com/projects/egmond/
Regarding MichaelFlorences concern, it is my understanding that the current generation of wind turbines have much, much longer arms that rotate much more slowly than the wind mills of the past. If true, the birds should have little trouble staying out of the way to these arms. The mid-west is also prime wind mill country, and again, although they will not be out of sight, their construction and maintenance would create a lot of jobs while avoiding carnage for migrating birds.
jimt 1 year, 7 months ago
Now let's look at costs. This is a complex issue, and space limitations mean this will be a somewhat cursory comparison. The Dutch wind farm cost about $300 million/US. At 108MW it generates only about 1/10th the power of General Electric's new "third generation" nuclear power plant which will, it is claimed, generate 1150MW. The cost of construction of such a plant is estimated at anywhere from $1 to $2 billion dollars. This suggests that if the Dutch had wanted to construct an off-shore wind farm capable of generating a similar amount of power its straight-line cost would be about $3-6 billion/US. But economies of scale could bring down the cost of both technologies, but by how much is not known.
There are significant other cost drivers to consider when comparing wind to nuclear. Wind if free, but it may not always be blowing. So It may also be necessary to find a way to "store" this power during times when the wind is not blowing. It may require a significant reconfiguration of our electricity grid to incorporate wind generated electricity as well. But given the age and inefficiency our national grid when compared to the grids in Europe and Japan, this is something we need to do anyway. So perhaps these costs might be discounted in the comparison.
By contrast with wind, uranium mining, enriching, manufacture into fuel rods, and storing of highly radioactive waste is very, very expensive, and we still do not have anyplace to store this waste for the thousands of years during which it is still dangerous. So once these costs are factored in, it becomes clear that it may not really be possible to do a straight-line cost comparison of the two options because there are so many variables. Nevertheless, a nuclear power plant can operate 24/7 for 40-50 years, except when it is down for maintenance.
So, on balance, I come down on the side of wind power. It's safe, generates jobs (although so would a concerted effort to build additional nuclear power reactors), and does not pose a threat to the environment so far as current studies indicate. It may be more expensive per kilowatt/hour, but Americans, and government, can do a lot to reduce their need for electricity by changing our housing and office/plant construction methods, among other things, perhaps by requiring housing and industry to build-in solar panels in regions that average over 200 days of sunshine/year.
fugitiveguy 1 year, 7 months ago
Birds love wind turbines. They use them as sort of a catapult.
Matt_Woodruff 1 year, 7 months ago
Domestic cats kill ten thousand times more birds than wind turbines do. That is a NON issue. Get real!
FaithinUSA 1 year, 7 months ago
You want to talk about LOONS....its no wonder this government can't get anything done...we have the same problem in these posts that we have in Washington. You people are so divisive and quick to be name calling. Those people at O.W.S. are at least trying to do something while you bad mouth them what are you doing to help our society? Yeah they have plenty of time...THERE UNEMPLOYED.. This problem is only going to get solved when we all come together as one...black and white , rich and poor...Jew and Gentile...Dem and Republican...we need to drop the labels the elites try to put on us to make us divided and remember we are all brothers and sisters and we are all Americans...lets unite as a people against those who want to bring this country down...enemies both foreign and Domestic. When the people are in one accord there is nothing they can not do...IMJS
geoffcutler 1 year, 7 months ago
Yup! There doing something, alright! There clogging up our city streets and costing states millions of extra dollars per day to make sure they don't burn everything to the ground. Anarchists, Communists, SEIU devotees, and a host of other do-nothing loons who want little more than a free meal ticket. They're doing something, for sure. They're guaranteeing that Obama is one and done.
Tatoosh 1 year, 7 months ago
The only way that we will get out of this economic mess is to unleash the full potential of our energy resources. We need to pursue wind, nuclear, gas, solar and oil. Our country needs to export energy as a commodity. It will create jobs. It will create untold tax revenues. It will make us safer during a national crisis. It makes us independent of the the Middle East.
It is a no brainer. We should not get caught up in the fight to promote one resource over another. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages.
Tatoosh 1 year, 7 months ago
"Wind farms are occurring all over Europe". The problem is that they are not dependable. They always require a backup system. Duplication is always more expensive. Just imagine the East Coast dependent upon wind power only to have a Category IV Hurricane blow them away. We should develop all types of energy in our country - gas, nuclear, oil, wind, and solar. We need to be an exporter of energy to the rest of the world. It will create jobs, return revenues, and enhance national security.
Tatoosh 1 year, 7 months ago
One cannot compare drilling off the coast of NC in 75 feet of water the same risk as drilling a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico or 5 miles deep in Brazil. When one goes 40 miles offshore along the NC Coast, often times the depth is 100-125 feet. The technical challenge of fighting an oil leak with scuba divers in relatively shallow water versus robots a mile deep are considerable. Governmental regulations have forced drillers farther and farther offshore increasing the risk of catastrophic events.
RmeMP 1 year, 7 months ago
@ tatoosh:
You are correct; regulations have made drilling dangerous, NOT the companies who conduct drilling. Regulations have mandated that rigs be put so far offshore, in such deep water, that when there is an accident it is very difficult to monitor and fix quickly. If regulations were lifted/modified to let companies drill closer inland, things like the horrible BP gulf oil spill wouldn't happen.
Want someone to blame for the gulf spill, blame the government folks who forced them to drill so deep.
JER 1 year, 7 months ago
It's gods fault. Man walks, birds fly...it makes no sense.
Roorke 1 year, 7 months ago
According to Wikipedia The U.S. is second behind China in wind farms to produce electricity. Texas has the most electric producing wind farms in the U.S.. Thank GOD for wind, and TEXAS.