The Green Vision for Vermont: We Can't Be Rural

The Bureaucratic Goal

For the past two posts, I have been down in the weeds trying to make sense of the Vermont Public Service Department (PSD) request for comments on the 2015 Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan. This plan describes the methodology for forcing Vermont energy to become 90% renewable, in all sectors, by 2050.

90% renewable can't  actually be achieved in Vermont. However, the PSD has attempted to hide that simple fact by generating hundreds of pages of prose, and tens of pages of requests for feedback.  

As I say, I was down in the weeds reviewing this endless prose.  What a waste of time.

The New Vermont? No ten-acre lots here.
Wikipedia picture of NYC,
with note of population density
approx 28K people per square mile

The Vision Goal

The real question is: What is the goal of this draconian plan?  What is the vision?  What is Vermont's future supposed to look like?

While I was parsing bureaucratic rambling,   Bruce Parker of Vermont Watchdog reviewed the visionary goals of the plan.

Parker's recent article describes the Green Vision for the Future of Vermont, as expounded by David Blittersdorf. Blittersdorf is the president of All Earth Renewables in Vermont, and a strong supporter (some would say "crony") of Governor Shumlin. Blittersdorf supports the Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan, and frankly, stands to profit by it. Blittersdorf gave a presentation to the Addison County Democrats: Parker reviewed it.

Here are some quotes from the Blittersdorf vision for  Vermont.

“The car has been our No. 1 reason we consume so much energy. Suburbia is built around the car; our highway system is heavily subsidized around the car….In Vermont, people like to live 10, 20, 30 miles from work. That’s going to disappear. The 10-acre lot way out in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road is not going to be working anymore. "

Please read Parker's article at Watchdog:  Green Energy CEO: Vermonters Must Abandon the Car, Embrace Renewable Energy Future.  It is illustrated with fine picture of Governor Peter Shumlin stepping out of his Suburban to attend a rally. Click on the link and read it. Look at the comments, too.

Choice or Mandate, in my opinion 

Yes. Living in cities is more energy-efficient.  This is true. World-wide, more people are choosing to live in cities.

However, I believe in choice. In choosing to live in cities, or choosing not to live in cities. I want  inexpensive energy so people can make choices.

Vermont is mandating only-renewable-energy, no nuclear, no fossil…. and therefore energy will be expensive, cars will be unavailable, and everyone-will-have-to-move. No ten-acre lots out in the country, not for Vermont anymore!  Is New York City the model for Vermonters?

This is not environmentalism  This is coercion and arrogance.

Meanwhile, the lords and masters can still drive their Suburbans?

Supplementary Information:

Blittersdorf presentation to the Addison County Democrats on June 8, 2015, Youtube.

My down-in-the-weeds post about the renewable energy plan.

My down-in-the-weeds post about commenting on the renewable energy plan.

Update on Energy Safari: The Solar Farm

In the picture above, Andrew Savage of All Earth Renewables explains the Williston solar farm to our ILEAD class, Energy Safari. The All Earth Renewables website includes real-time energy production, showing excellent honesty and transparency.

For a more complete explanation, including notes on capacity factors and so forth, I recommend Robert Hargraves post on the class blog. I don't have too much to add.

I'll just make a short list of things that surprised me:

• Somehow, I didn't expect the solar farm to be in a suburban neighborhood. I don't know why not, I just didn't expect it. You get to the installation on a lane off a typical suburban cul-de-sac.
• The sun trackers are quite intricate, and they move every ten minutes or so. The slight noise of the movement is the only sound. This is the quietest power plant I have ever visited!
• Most of the parts of the suntrackers (the things that hold and move the panels) are made in Vermont. The panels themselves are made in China, but the panels are less than half the cost of the installations.
• People walk their dogs around the edges of the solar field. It is still very much "part of the neighborhood."
• Each suntracker has an anemometer on it (easily visible in this picture of a suntracker panel in the horizontal position for an on-going test.) When the wind speed is above 30 mph, the panels are placed in a horizontal position to avoid damage. As Andrew Savage noted, however, high wind speeds are associated with storms and clouds. Therefore, moving the panels flat during high-wind incidents does not affect their long-range performance very much.

We are grateful to All Earth Renewables for hosting us, and also for their complete transparency on energy production.