Peter's Comments

I think it's time for PV plant's in the Southwest on this scale. We must see what happen's to the panel's over time and environmental exposure. Flannery's Green Guide give's this project a five star rating.

Peter Flannery

I've been asked by GRO Solar and Borrego Solar to contact my states Senators Kennedy and Kerry. I have done this and would appreciate all of you to contact your senators and congressmen or women to insure they know that there is a strong support for ITC's.

Go Solar and Wind Power! Go energy efficiency! Go biofuels! Go carbon sequestration!

Great news from California. www.flannerysgreenguide.com has information on costs and paybacks for PV Solar systems and Solar Hot Water Systems in Mass.
The situation in California will be positive for Solar systems installations , I'm sure. The goverment their will make it work. This is a major moment in the fight to reduce global warming through alternative energy sources.
Thanks California and Arnold.

Best

Peter M. Flannery

This is great news. I hope my green guide can be a good source of information to those involved in energy conservation and renewables in Massachusetts. I think the Cape Wind project as it is designed today is worth a second look. There was a Windscape compitition to come up with worthy wind farm designs for the Cape Cod area. Their designs are amazing and should be reviewed for their possible replacement of the currently proposed 130 turbine project. The Windscape information is available through a Google search.

Best

Peter

I just offset my carbon foot print through NativeEnergy. For one ton of CO2 footprint
I only had to pay $12. This idea of being carbon nuetral is a great idea. Thanks to all who use NativeEnergy expecially the Dave Mathews Band.

We should have known better! We need to control forest fires and other grass fires. The ASHRAE Green Guide needs to be used as a source of conservation in new and existing buildings. We can even construct zero energy buildings. Wind resources need to be tapped
in smart locations. Cars need to be changed to electric and grid interconnectiing using alternatives to charge them during parking hours. Install PV canopies over parking areas.
Diversify energy resources until we can run on 100% renewables. Stop the CO 2 into the atmosphere as soon as possible. Lets do it with alternatives and modern design.

Dr Manwell and his staff at UMASS have provided wind power systems data which states that wind velocities increase in the afternoon and subside at night. Where does the wind blow at night? Remember air conditioning loads can be highest from 4pm till 6pm due to storage of heat during the day and release in the late afternoon. Make sure alternatives will match this load. Can UMASS Boston, a commuter school get this
type of system installed has a pilot project?
The wind resources are good but the FAA has to allow the towers to be installed within the 3 mile zone of no tower installations. There also is plenty of room for a PV systems to be installed over the parking lots ( a Canopy ).

Brian,

I think I was wrong about the turbines having the same total capacity of the current design. The e50 proposal also called for the reduction in electricity consumption for appliances and lighting.
The capacity for the turbines could then be lower based on the increase in effeciency of the appliances and lighting. ie they would have the same capacity to supply 70% of the Cape and Islands electricity consumption.

There was a conference at the Massachusetts State House on Wednesday
concerning the future of Wind Power inland and aound the Cape. I was so impressed by the winners of the Windscape Compitition. They redesigned the Capewind project and wow that winner called e50 really had a great idea of reducing the farm down to 50 wind turbines,put into a circle with a viewing ramp around they turbines. Each turbine would represent a state and visitors could get information on the states
renewable energy projects. Lets go with this redisign, the costs are less and the turbines are larger so the power output will be the same as the original design.

I wonder what Alan thinks about alternative energy sources. There is research going on at UMASS to come to a conclusion on whether or not these sources of energy are feasible. Lets not wait for the study to be completed, lets move into solar and wind power plant construction now!

I think wind farms are a great idea. The thing I don't get is why we are putting a wind farm in an area of good winds when we could put them in outstanding winds such as the Cape Wind Project. In addition the technology breakthroughs that are comming in the near future for better power production turbines should make us think about waiting or making sure we can retrofit the existing turbines.

Nice work Hillary!Maybe we should follow the Europeans and build a Pan American Wind Power Utility grid on the east coast. This project will tap into the outstanding wind energy reources off our coastline. Let the Cape Wind project be built first and then plan for more farms over a twenty five year period.

So do we follow the Europeans and link many Wind Farms to maintain the wind energy input or do we decentralize it?I hope this paper clears up this potential problem.

I checked out Integrating Wind into the Power Grid paper in todays issue and it appears that the issue of wind subsiding is not as big a problem as the Europeans beleive it will be.

I think, based on the Wind Resource map of the coast of Massachusetts the Wind Farms should be placed to the East of Cape Cod or to the West of Provincetown. In addition there is the qustion of back up power when the winds have died down. The Europeans are thinking of linking their Wind Farms over many miles to ensure that constant Wind Energy Resources are available at all times.
Maybe we should get organised for a megaproject seving the Northeast or the Eastern States. Think big. The more clean energy we can harness the sooner global warming will subside.