Where are the alternative energy solutions? The answer, my friend … BY KATHY KAHN

Where are the alternative energy solutions?
The answer, my friend …
BY KATHY KAHN

Bob Dylan once counseled, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Perhaps new U.S. Rep. and former Orleans singer John Hall feels the 1960s’ standard should be revamped a bit.

Hall organized a panel of experts for a forum in Beacon last week to tout the benefits of renewable energy. Joining him April 9 were Paul Curran, BQ Energy L.L.C.; Peter Barton, owner of Barton Orchards, Dutchess County; Marion Trieste, GEOS Inc.; Patrice Courtney Strong, coordinator for Mid-Hudson Energy Smart Communities/NYSERDA; and Keith Christiansen, EarthKind Energy.

While wind turbines may not be as aesthetically pleasing as Holland’s famous windmills, eight of these structures can produce enough electricity to supply 6,000 homes with power.

“That’s just a sampling,” said Curran (www.bqenergy.com). And, he said, there’s enough wind blowing in the Northwest portions of the state to generate at least 25 percent of the electric needs of New Yorkers.

Wind power has been welcomed by a large contingent in western New York, where the “Steel Winds” project built on a brownfield site is viewed by many as a jump-start for new jobs in an economically depressed region and a new source of energy for the entire state.

Comparing New York to other areas’ use of wind power as a source of energy, Curran said the Empire State lags far behind its European counterparts.

Curran has found a champion in Hall, who has been using wind energy in his own Dover Plains house for months. (Hall signed up for the wind energy through Central Hudson and his supplier is located in Atlantic City, N.J.) Hall is converting his home-heating fuel to bio-diesel to further cut costs and reduce pollution, he said.

What the event’s organizers say is blowing in the wind now is the chance to hook alternative-fuel developers and get them to build wind farms in New York before they decide to blow town and go to Pennsylvania or points beyond, said Marion Trieste of Green Energy Outlook Services (www.triesteassociates.com). “There are as many opponents to the concepts as there are supporters. We need to educate the public.”

Farmers in particular, Trieste said, are looking at wind farms as a way to sustain their business and to generate the electricity needed to keep their utility expenses to a minimum.

Peter Barton, owner of Barton Orchards (www.bartonorchards.com) with two locations in Poughquag and Fishkill, said the agricultural community is at the forefront of wind-farm advocacy. When it comes to the future of farming, “it is becoming a bigger variable … we have to take climate change into serious consideration … take into account that the crops we are now raising may not be sustainable in the future,” Barton said.

“Farms in the valley might really be able to capitalize on this as a way to offset our costs by generating revenue through wind farms.”

Whether they’re raising corn or turbines, neighbors may raise Cain when it comes to erecting a 300- to 400-foot pole with steel blades in their backyards. That’s why Hall is promoting awareness on wind power as a source of renewable energy and taking the renewable energy show on the road in the 19th Congressional District. Congress is reviewing the Clean Energy Act of 2006, and Hall is bringing a new bill to the floor of the House to promote the use of wind energy.

Trieste said government relies on wind power to make sure they stay up and running during a power outage, including at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay military site. West Point is also looking at incorporating it into its energy supply. She urged members in the audience to write to the media and express support for wind farms and urged opponents to weigh the pros and cons. Trieste even directed attendees to Tom Golisano’s Web site, www.saveupstateny.com , the consummate opposition’s stance. “Our former gubernatorial candidate is very outspoken on the subject. We’re not hiding anything, and I’m not Darth Vader,” Trieste said. “Opposition is in my face all the time. This technology is new and people are not used to seeing the turbines at work. Our upstate farms are dying out. This could truly become a ‘windfall’ for them and ultimately for all of us.”

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