Driving back from Vermont last week I saw something similar, built out of lumber. I get there are pros and cons compared to an aluminum or steel commercial rack. Much smarter than roof top solar at least on rural land as you can orient and angle the panels closer to ideal plus much safer in case of fire and much easier to maintain - and you're not drilling holes through your roof that can or maybe will leak.
Samuel Insull brought the world Commonwealth Edison of the greater Chicago area and the concept that monopolies were acceptable as long as they were regulated for the public good.
Commonwealth Edison made its profits two ways – by constant growth and by expanding the size of the generating plants so they could produce more electricity at a lower price per unit. After all, many of the costs of a generating plant are fixed – a larger facility can often put out more energy more efficiently.
With Commonwealth Edison and most large utility monopolies, prices are regulated by the government regulating agency on a cost plus basis. Capital projects like new generating facilities or additional lines are approved by the government, with the costs of construction directly paid by rate payers. Insull embraced this as it guaranteed his business would be profitable with little risk to himself.
The problem with this model is it shuns market forces to keep efficiency up and prices down. Regulators work to protect consumers but there is little incentive to economize or innovative in the grid. Why should a power company take a risk when they know they will get paid building the preferred government technology of choice?
I believe competitive markets are always a better idea than government monopolies. While everybody agrees that there has to be one owner of the physical wires that deliver power, there can be multiple companies that sell power and multiple companies that sell services to consumers. Competition can help hold prices down and give consumers the option to switch providers that meet their needs.
Climate change action is important but let’s be cognizant of the environmental impacts of renewables
Burning fossil fuels has largely known and well documented impacts. From the much touted carbon emissions to air pollution and acid rain to acid mine discharge from coal mines and scarred landscapes from mountain top removal and strip mines to drilling cuttings, fracking chemicals and produced water to cracked casings and oil spills the impacts of fossil fuels are well documented and somewhat regulated and controlled but probably not to ideal levels as production and low cost is often emphasized over safety and environmental protection.
But what is much less discussed and documented is renewable energy impacts. It must be green so there is no environmental impacts or the impacts are de minimus. But that’s far from the truth. Renewable energy consumes enormous amounts of land, it in future years has a real possibility of urbanizing enormous parts of countryside, paving over farm land and forest, producing enormous amounts of toxic waste like wind turbine blades and discarded, broken solar panels to impacting watersheds and fisheries alike, reducing scenic beauty and take land out of other uses. Things that deserve serious consideration and environmental analysis.
To be sure we do need to build more renewable energy but we have to always thinking about the consequences of our choices, not blindly building it because renewables are good and climate change is really bad and scary. Being aware of the environmental impacts of renewables doesn’t mean you’re pro fossil fuels, it means that you are a thinking society, trying to avoid negative environmental problems down the road.
We need to take a serious look before we leap – is the solar plant or wind farm appropriate for the place we are sitting it
We need to mitigate like planting pollinators friendly or native grasses around solar farms
We need to look at building more renewables in cities – be it mandatory solar panels on buildings, over highways or in urban waste lands like old garbage dumps, highway medians, or contaminated industrial sites
Why build a solar farm over green farm fields or forests when you can build over Love Canal?
This interactive map shows the Utility Service Territories in New York State, including that of National Grid, Rochester Gas and Electric, NYS Electric and Gas, Central Hudson Gas and Electric, Orange and Rockland Utilities, Long Island Power Authority, Consolidated Edison and municipal utilities.
This interactive map shows the Utility Service Territories in New York State, including that of National Grid, Rochester Gas and Electric, NYS Electric and Gas, Central Hudson Gas and Electric, Orange and Rockland Utilities, Long Island Power Authority, Consolidated Edison and municipal utilities.
