Wind

Posted on behalf of Sierra Club volunteer, Marvin Woll:

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There has been a great deal of discussion concerning the development of alternative energy. Now we must begin to take action on those ideas. Why not begin by developing wind turbines off the North Carolina Coast?

Recently Delaware and Rhode Island entered into contracts to build wind turbines off their coasts. Now New Jersey has signed a contract to build a wind farm 10 or more miles off its coast, where it cannot be seen by the people on the beaches. Another benefit to that distant offshore location is that the wind currents are stronger there. These projects will be good investments and will povide considerable energy to the people of those states.

State Senate Bill 3 mandates a 12.5 percent increase in the use of alternative fuels for North Carolina. It also calls on the legislature to study plans from other states and determine if they could be utilized here. I wonder whether the state, Progress Energy, or Duke Power have begun serious consideration of developing wind power off our coast. If not, it would certainly seem like the correct time to consider using our abundant wind resources to provide clean and efficient energy.