AIPC

Wind energy forum tackles rumors, facts

Wind energy forum tackles rumors, facts

By Joe Baker/Daily News staff

MIDDLETOWN -- Wind energy is no longer an idea proposed by longhaired people wearing tie-dye shirts.

"(Wind) is no longer an alternative energy source. It's gone mainstream," Sally Wright, an engineer for The Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, told a roomful of area residents Thursday night.

Wright was the featured speaker at a wind-energy forum hosted by the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission at the Atlantic Beach Club. More than 200 people crowded into the facility's upstairs banquet room to hear Wright and Erich Stephens, the founder and former executive director of People's Power & Light, a nonprofit energy alliance in Rhode Island.

There is ample wind in Newport County to support wind turbines, Wright said. But the biggest benefit may be environmental - wind turbines generate electricity without any of the harmful emissions given off by fossil-fuel plants, she said.

"Every kilowatt hour generated by wind is one less kilowatt hour generated by fossil fuels," Wright said.

She disputed many of the concerns commonly expressed about wind energy.

There is almost no noise, she said. "I could have a perfectly normal conversation with you directly under a wind turbine. A passing truck on the highway makes more noise."

A turbine does not produce vibrations that could damage foundations of neighboring houses, she said. "If you put your hand on the (base of a) tower you won't feel any vibrations."

No study has ever indicated wind turbines lower the property value of surrounding property, she said.

Turbines are not serial bird killers, she said. The blades of modern turbines rotate so slowly that birds have no problems navigating around them. A turbine the size of the one at the Portsmouth Abbey School might kill one bird a year, Wright said. Cars kill more birds per year than a turbine would, she said.

Visual problems are directly proportional to a person's support for wind power, she said. "If you like it, you think it's pretty."

To be successful, a wind-turbine project needs not only wind but also a site close to a user that would buy the energy, Stevens said. The Portsmouth Industrial Park and Portsmouth High School would be perfect sites for a turbine, he said.

Based on the production of the first seven months, the Portsmouth Abbey turbine is expected to provide roughly half of all the energy needed at the school, Brother Joseph Byron said Thursday.

Middletown resident Maggie Bulmer said she attended the forum to "separate rumor from fact" about wind power. She was impressed with the presentation.

"There's a lot to digest," she said.

Jamestown Town Council Vice President Julio DiGiando also attended the forum to soak up information. The Jamestown Town Council is expected to name a committee at its next meeting to study the feasibility of erecting a wind turbine on the island, he said.

"I would think there are some significant economic advantages (to wind energy)," DiGiando said. "But it's not just that. There's the environmental benefits, too."

By Joe Baker/Daily News staff

MIDDLETOWN -- Wind energy is no longer an idea proposed by longhaired people wearing tie-dye shirts.

"(Wind) is no longer an alternative energy source. It's gone mainstream," Sally Wright, an engineer for The Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, told a roomful of area residents Thursday night.

Wright was the featured speaker at a wind-energy forum hosted by the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission at the Atlantic Beach Club. More than 200 people crowded into the facility's upstairs banquet room to hear Wright and Erich Stephens, the founder and former executive director of People's Power & Light, a nonprofit energy alliance in Rhode Island.

There is ample wind in Newport County to support wind turbines, Wright said. But the biggest benefit may be environmental - wind turbines generate electricity without any of the harmful emissions given off by fossil-fuel plants, she said.

"Every kilowatt hour generated by wind is one less kilowatt hour generated by fossil fuels," Wright said.

She disputed many of the concerns commonly expressed about wind energy.

There is almost no noise, she said. "I could have a perfectly normal conversation with you directly under a wind turbine. A passing truck on the highway makes more noise."

A turbine does not produce vibrations that could damage foundations of neighboring houses, she said. "If you put your hand on the (base of a) tower you won't feel any vibrations."

No study has ever indicated wind turbines lower the property value of surrounding property, she said.

Turbines are not serial bird killers, she said. The blades of modern turbines rotate so slowly that birds have no problems navigating around them. A turbine the size of the one at the Portsmouth Abbey School might kill one bird a year, Wright said. Cars kill more birds per year than a turbine would, she said.

Visual problems are directly proportional to a person's support for wind power, she said. "If you like it, you think it's pretty."

To be successful, a wind-turbine project needs not only wind but also a site close to a user that would buy the energy, Stevens said. The Portsmouth Industrial Park and Portsmouth High School would be perfect sites for a turbine, he said.

Based on the production of the first seven months, the Portsmouth Abbey turbine is expected to provide roughly half of all the energy needed at the school, Brother Joseph Byron said Thursday.

Middletown resident Maggie Bulmer said she attended the forum to "separate rumor from fact" about wind power. She was impressed with the presentation.

"There's a lot to digest," she said.

Jamestown Town Council Vice President Julio DiGiando also attended the forum to soak up information. The Jamestown Town Council is expected to name a committee at its next meeting to study the feasibility of erecting a wind turbine on the island, he said.

"I would think there are some significant economic advantages (to wind energy)," DiGiando said. "But it's not just that. There's the environmental benefits, too."