Old Technology, Just With a "New Spin" :)

Wind power. It lauded as this futuristic form of energy. A possible solution at some point in the future but not commercial ready now.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Wind has been around well forever. It’s the source of all our electricity, if not for the ability to harness the power of wind with a kite, Ben Franklin may have never discovered electricity in the first place!

But obviously it takes more than lightning and a kite to power a society. But Wind power is not a myth, just this week the New York Times ran a story on an ancient italian town generating a surplus of energy off of wind and making a profit!

It might seem like a stretch to link an ancient town in Italy to a thriving modern metropolis like Virginia but this dream is more of a reality than you think! Oceana released a report just this week that stated:

Offshore wind power could exceed Virginia’s current electricity demand and create up to 26,660 in-state jobs, according to a report issued Tuesday.

Written by Oceana, an ocean-oriented environmental group, the report examines the East Coast. It found that wind farms could supply nearly half the region’s current electricity generation and provide up to 212,000 jobs.

The report looked at water that averages at least 12.5 mph winds, is three to 24 miles off the coast, and is no deeper than 100 feet. It excluded 67 percent of these areas due to potential military, environmental and shipping conflicts

Wind has blowing since the time of the dinosaurs and it’s not stopping any time soon. It’s time we start tapping into this infinite resource.

Take that King Coal!

Today is a great day for fighting coal in Virginia! Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has announced its plans to delay moving forward with a 1500 MW coal plant proposed for Surry County in Hampton Roads. Citing a down economy, reduced energy consumption and pending federal regulation by the EPA, ODEC announced it will wait up to two years before resubmitting permit applications to the state.

Make no mistake though, there is still a fight ahead of us. We will continue to build a community of opposition to this proposal until this project is permanently withdrawn or rejected.

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Supporting wind in Virginia

Op ed in the Roanoke Times
September 2, 2010

From the severe winter storms in the Mid-Atlantic to the horrendous flooding in Pakistan and the intense heat waves facing many areas of the world, it is clear our climate is changing. While no one weather event can be linked to global warming, there is mounting evidence that climate change will result in more severe weather events, as the world has been experiencing over the last nine months. Because of this pattern, it is more urgent than ever that society acts to stop climate change by whatever means necessary. Every step we can take, big or small, brings us incrementally closer to solving the climate crisis. Locally, one such step is the Poor Mountain wind project.

Wind power is a clean, renewable energy resource that does not pollute our air with dirty fossil fuel emissions, which is why the Chesapeake Climate Action Network is giving its full support to the Invenergy Poor Mountain project. As the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC, we see the need to move forward with clean, renewable projects to seriously curb the harmful effects of climate change. With more than 3,000 miles of shoreline, Virginia is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, making it imperative that every region of this great Commonwealth does its part. This wind project has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 98,000 tons annually in the Roanoke region, which is the equivalent to taking 20,000 cars off the road. In 2008, Virginia’s Commission on Climate Change recommended that Virginia return to year 2000 greenhouse gas emissions levels by 2025. Virginia cannot meet this goal without reducing its reliance on fossil fuels. Continue reading

Step right up to the CarnivOIL!

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Yesterday I joined with friends from Environment Virginia at Monroe Park next to Virginia Commonwealth University to celebrate CarnivOIL, a traveling carnival for the oil industry where everything’s free (because the oil industry never has to pay!) The tongue-in-cheek event highlights the cozy relationship between the oil industry and Congress- particularly the Senate that has failed to act on climate change. The lively event attracted many VCU students who stopped to play games like “Tar the Goldfish” where you tossed tar balls into fish habitats and the “Spill-O-Rama” which measured how strong you are by how much oil you can get away with spilling. In the boxing ring, a crab battled an oil executive. A fair fight, until the referee made the crab remove his gloves so the oil exec could clobber him. A great, fun event but it highlights a sad reality. Luckily, CarnivOIL-goers know it’s time to put a stop to the fun and games and get serious. At CarnivOIL, they signed a petition calling on Senator Warner to take action and pledge to take action themselves by signing the Power Vote pledge.

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Youth question Governor McDonnell's offshore views

Last night Governor McDonnell addressed a crowd of almost-entirely-not college students at the University of Mary Washington. It wasn’t the students fault for not being there- it was only their second day on campus, so the Governor’s town hall was under the radar. Despite that, there was a group from the Mary Washington environmental club that was excited to ask the Governor about his stance on offshore drilling and wind development.

Power Vote Team at McDonnell's Town Hall

Here is Abbie Rogers, a Winchester native and sophomore in anthropology and environmental studies, asking Governor McDonnell why he continues to support offshore drilling.

Governor McDonnell spoke at length about his support for offshore drilling- and for offshore wind- but failed to answer Abbie’s concerns. While the Governor is correct that currently Virginia and the US depend on oil and other fossil fuels for our energy use, he did not address Abbie’s questions about why he continues to support offshore drilling. He claims we need domestic offshore oil to avoid relying on ‘unfriendly’ foreign nations, but the Navy and NASA have voiced concerns about drilling off Virginia’s coasts. Beyond that, solving the foreign oil problem with a domestic oil problem is only shifting the problem, not providing a solution. In a followup question to Abbie’s, the Governor was asked about his plan to keep Virginia competitive in offshore wind development. He again spoke favorably about wind, but focused more on his concerns about regulatory burdens, such as permitting timelines, than his plans to bring wind development to Virginia’s coasts. Offshore wind is part of a true solution, one that may time to implement but that other countries- and states- have started and Virginia is being left behind.

Below the jump, the transcript of Abbie and Governor McDonnell, since the video quality was poor.
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