News from the Friends of the Blue Hills
The Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, which manages the Reservation on behalf of its public owners, is exploring options for financing and operating wind turbines in the Blue Hills.A preliminary analysis by the Renewable Energy Research Lab at UMASS/Amherst shows that the only sites in the Reservation likely to have enough wind to ensure a positive return on development are its two highest points, the summits of Blue and Chickatawbut Hills.
At a meeting convened by DCR and the town of Milton at Trailside last Tuesday, Sally Wright of UMASS said that the next step is to erect one or two thin cable-stayed masts approximately 150 feet high at the proposed sites. These masts would collect data on wind speeds aloft and provide for solid estimates of the amount of the electricity one or two turbines could produce. That in turn would allow DCR to decide whether to prepare a full-scale proposal.
Wright said that the turbines would consist of freestanding stanchions approximately 150 feet high bearing three-bladed rotors, bringing their total height to something between 350 and 400 feet, comparable to the new turbine in Hull. The existing WGBH tower on Blue Hill is 150 feet high.
One turbine on Blue Hill could supply all the power needs of the Blue Hill Observatory and Trailside Museum in average conditions. The surplus would be fed into the local grid.
Don McCasland of the Observatory said that during certain storms the arms of the rotor would likely spin rain into the weather station's instrument enclosure and compromise the data collected there. Any turbine placed on Blue Hill would probably go on the north or Milton side of the summit in order to minimize impacts on the Observatory. Although it would not be fenced off, access would be restricted during icing conditions, and this closure might or might not affect the ski area.
Norman Smith of Trailside Museum stated that birds, bats, and insects migrate through the Blue Hills and that he was concerned about impacts on wildlife and whether a turbine owned and operated by DCR would be properly maintained. Milton selectman Kathy Fagan mentioned that some turbines are shut down during peak migration periods.
Tom Palmer of Friends of the Blue Hills remarked that although good reasons exist to develop wind power, there is no denying that large engineered structures like the proposed turbines clash with the purpose for which the Reservation was acquired 110 years ago: to preserve natural scenery for public use and enjoyment.
Wright said that she would complete her review of existing information in a month or so and would make a positive recommendation to DCR if the sites appeared to justify a feasibility study involving placement of masts for testing.
Friends of the Blue Hills is very much aware that the proposed turbines have the potential to transform the appearance of the Blue Hills, which are an icon in our landscape. We believe that the public owners and users of the Reservation should be the ultimate arbiters of any proposed development. We have many questions about the proposal and will do our best to provide our members with complete information.
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11 comments:
This is a terrible idea! The Blue Hills should be preserved, not turned into a public-relations "emblem" for industrial wind power developers.
Read the facts about wind power at National Wind Watch (wind-watch.org).
Those who are truly friends of nature and the Blue Hills should nip this ill-considered proposal in the bud.
I am a former resident of Quincy, MA who enjoyed hiking and biking in the blue hills. Please protect the Blue Hills from these Venture Capitalists masquerading as environmentalists. I have been fighting commercial wind development in VT for 5 years. This is an intermittent source of unreliable power; a massive rip off of consumers and rate payers. The benefits are greatly exaggerated, in the end we all loose except for the wind developers.
Gosh, it says it's Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, and UMass, not venture capitalists.... Wind turbines look cool, (I love the one further up on 128) they are great teaching tools about wind, nature, and electricity, and demonstrate a whole new (and the inevitably next) paradigm of sustainable engineering. We obviously must begin breaking our dependency on oil. For ecological reasons. Why not start here and now at home? Rather than living in denial of the facts that are showing us our current way living will not last through our children's generation.... Why not say, if this is viable, here is some little thing that we can do to help our planet lighten the burden we so thrust upon it every time we start up our low mileage vehicles or lazily leave those extra house lights on.... If we can look up and say look something is actually happening to lower the 25,629,838 short tons of co2 that our great Commonwealth of Massachusetts puts out every year. (http://www.statemaster.com/graph/ene_ele_pow_ind_emi_co2-electric-power-industry-emissions-co2) Wouldn't that also be a great feeling? Also if it helps to support the trailside museum, and the ski lodge, and the other Blue Hills institutions which, speaking from direct experience are truly awesome, much needed, highly valuable centers in the community.... I suppose it is somewhat ironic, that the ski center had a difficult year last year (not unlike slopes around the world), directly because of the warm weather....hmmm. Also, why shoot the idea down in it's earliest conception for fear of capitalist exploitation? Don't we spend our hard earned time and money electing officials we can trust to regulate this kind of thing? Don't we take advantage of public meetings to go and get informed of how this is really going to work, and then speak directly to the facts of the choice at hand? Well, thanks for chance to speak up. -victor
I agree with Victor. I think that we need to be open to alternate energy sources in this day and age and I think a turbine on top of Big Blue would look really cool. My kids love them, and my husband and I support this kind of development. We are way behind the times in this country when it comes to clean energy and we need to embrace this clean source of power. From what I have read it sounds like there are only 2 places where a turbine could be placed in the Blue Hills, and I don't think we need to fear that there will be a "wind farm" (where there are many turbines) in the Blue Hills. I urge others to listen to the plans before making a snap decision about this . . .
It's obvious that we have to explore alternative methods for creating power that we cannot live without. But I'm also very fond of the small natural resource that we have in the Blue Hills. Not too keen on a 300 foot tower on top of Big Blue. On the other hand, if it really will power the Museum, Observatory, and the ski area, I think we may need to at least explore the effects and impacts a windmill would have on the environment and aesthetics of our Hill. Show us what it would look like( sorry, coolness shouldn't be a factor).Prove that it would work.
Show us how it would be designed to lessen impacts on wildlife. Prove to us that it's not just the capitalists who would benefit.And give us some other alternative energy options.....And do this on your dime, not the taxpayer's.
All that aside, WHY isn't Quarry Hills a great place for wind power? Has this been explored? Or is it that since we have given all that open space to private enterprise, it would be easier for them to say no, than it would be for US to be able to say no to GBH?( think about MWRA and the Reservoir--their guise as a state agency is a joke )
Just some thoughts and ideas......
SteveC
I think this is great. I work in the shadow of Blue Hills. It's great to hear about progress for green energy . . . especially in a state that's working so hard to prevent wind energy from being on Cape Cod.
Wind turbines on some of the hills, especially in the old Nike site, are probably a good idea. The real problem is, we don't have an overall plan for achieving the greenhouse emissions reductions that we need, and without such a plan there is no good way to evaluate individual proposals. We can't say whether any particular proposal is needed, despite any adverse effects on the scenery, because without a plan we don't know what total effort is needed, and whether that effort can be achieved without this particular project.
wind turbines are awseome. i want one so supa dupa bad
Yo I thinkz that wind turbines r da bomm. dude go green!
I agree that the wind turbines could cause problems. I'd see them from my house and think of the money wasted on them. Just joking. I think that they would be totally awesome and I think that everyone should invest in these things. Go green or go away!
i agree w/ anonymous i wanna wind turbine supa badd
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