Tuesday, November 25, 2008

This Is Not The Time To Slow Wind Power Down

The "free market" aggravates me sometimes. O.K., well most of the time would be more accurate. Specifically with clean energy and our responsibility to the planet, the market is showing itself again that self-interest in making a profit isn't good enough to transform our outdated petro-economy into a healthy, green one. Coal and oil are making a comeback worldwide due to lowered prices and new wind farms in our state are running into roadblocks.

From Newsday:

The nationwide financial crisis has put the brakes on a wind farm under construction in northern New York and another developer has aborted possible projects in eastern and central New York after trouble securing land. And wind energy companies are now being asked to abide by a code of ethics by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo _ the upshot of his investigation into allegations of corrupt practices by developers.

Wind is still alive in New York and new turbines are still being planned for blustery parts of the state. But the last few tumultuous months have been tough for the industry nationwide and New York in particular.

"Obviously, it doesn't make it easy for the wind industry, like every other industry, to get financing," said Carol Murphy, executive director of Alliance for Clean Energy New York, which represents renewable energy companies. "But I have not heard of any of my members who've run into a brick wall ... There are still a lot of hedge funds and folks who are investing in green energy."
There is still certainly interest in wind power and not all projects are coming to a halt. Newsday's article goes into detail about a few, though they also note the problems with others. Demand simply hasn't been great enough to make the transformation of our economy feasible. The wind power plants are more of a token to environmentalism than true change. The market is going to go for the most cost-efficient energy and with a slumping economy, fossil fuels are making a comeback. The only problem is, the Earth doesn't care about supply and demand.