St. John as a Clinton energy experiment?
St John has plenty of two things: sun and wind. And if you’d like to get off the grid, write to Bill Clinton. The former president (pictured above, talking energy with the wife on St. Thomas, 1997) has a brilliant idea for an energy experiment, and St. John is actually very close to being on his radar for it.
He suggests taking an entire state, or an entire territory, and using it as an alternative energy testing ground. Solar, wind, cow farts, etc, etc. (St. John has cows too.) He says Puerto Rico would be a great testing ground. We think he should think smaller. St. John. A world without WAPA.
Only problem is wind turbines are the size of high rises. Where’s an unobtrusive place to put them? The North Shore gets lots of wind. Good. Settled then.
You can read Clinton’s “rock the world” ideas here.
August 21st, 2008 00:25
No, the windiest place on the island is Concordia. Maybe Ram Head would make a good wind farm.
August 21st, 2008 06:48
You know, it’s that “not in my back yard” mentality that put us in the spot we’re in today.
Not that I want giant wind generators on the north shore, but it’s the same thing as the above ground electric lines - ugly but necessary.
Or, we could just keep on truckin’ down our same old path. At least he’s trying to come up with ideas.
August 21st, 2008 07:11
I will do my best to support the farting cows.
August 21st, 2008 07:17
I had to laugh when I saw the picture you guys created because it was strikingly close to what St. John actually looked like in the 1800’s. Windmills were not all that uncommon on plantations, maybe the new power generating ones could be built in the forms of the old ones still standing and they could be historical and new age!
-Josh
August 21st, 2008 07:17
It’s always a tough call, but something’s got to happen.
In a generation, people would never know that there was a time when there weren’t wind turbines at any given location.
Think of it this way: I don’t know a St John without Grand Bay or Sirenusa. Peter Bay’s always been insanely developed.
None of that ruins my vacation experience.
They’ve said the same thing about turbines here in NC on the Outer Banks and coast. Lots of wind out there that could conceivably be harnessed.
Also…what fred said.
August 21st, 2008 07:23
Just what I wanted to see while drinking my morning coffee and dreaming about my next trip to STJ,,,Bill and Hillary half dressed and looking all googly eyed at each other. It’s gonna take a few rum punches to erase that vision from my mind. At the very least, couldn’t he have had the modesty to wear his coconut bra? So unsophisticated.
August 21st, 2008 07:43
What about underwater turbines?
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12519-underwater-turbines-set-to-generate-record-power.html
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=f6cffc1f901deba558100815692cc497f9b18f84
Looks like they’re still in the testing stages..but it might be a viable alternative as well… I’m not a St. John expert but seems like there ought to be some strong currents out there somewhere….
August 21st, 2008 08:50
Does anybody know what the source of electricity is on STJ?
Wind farms are very expensive and can’t operate without HUGE subsidies from the government…I wonder if someday they will go unused and just sit there being ugly?
Then there’s Wind Turbine Syndrome…
See: http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news/1218250522129010.xml&coll=7
August 21st, 2008 08:53
Ugh, those two half naked.
August 21st, 2008 09:02
How much of more of an eyesore could wind turbines be than Grand Bay or Sirenusa?
August 21st, 2008 09:17
Hey guys! These are not your grandmothers wind turbines– there are now lower profile turbines that can be placed on top of homes that look elegant and generate power. Some boats use them.
See this site (probably not the best but I think it demonstrates the point):
http://cleantechnica.com/2008/03/21/the-five-best-micro-wind-turbines/
August 21st, 2008 09:25
Go Bill!
August 21st, 2008 09:46
I attended the National Clean Energy Summit here in Las Vegas and heard Pres. Clinton speak on this topic. While I’m not a huge Clinton fan for moral reasons, I was definitely pulled in by his clear knowledge of the topic at hand.
He spoke for nearly an hour with no notes in sight, all while quoting a few meaningful statistics. The same stats were often heard later in the conference, lending them a certain truth I suppose.
I think his larger message was that by choosing a place like PR or STJ, and establishing an energy-independent area, we can be an example to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, I think St. John is too tied to St. Thomas as far as energy resources are concerned to be a good candidate for this. But PR would stand a good chance!
August 21st, 2008 09:51
I had actually forgotten about that picture and now you have to bring it back to my cognitively dissonant brain. Yeach. My take on this whole hullabaloo about windmills is, that if it isn’t good enough for Ted Kennedy, it isn’t good enough for St John.
I understand the The Obama was on St Croix. Anyone get any pictures of him and Michelle.
August 21st, 2008 10:11
Hey if they can make towers that look like trees, they can make a windmill look like the old wooden ones. Artistic and pretty. I am all for it, although I have heard they make a lot of noise. So do roosters though. Anything to move forward with energy.
August 21st, 2008 10:39
I am all in favor of alternative sorces of power. We have a large group of windmills in West Texas. However Rockefeller had the great wisdom and foresight to set aside and protect the majority of St John, we should have the wisdom to protect what natural beauty remains. I have no issues with a windmill in my back yard, I just would prefer we do not infringe on the natural beauty of St John. And I do understand those parts of St John not in the park system might very well have one.
August 21st, 2008 11:24
Well, the Danes had all the good spots picked out at one time. There were a slew of windmills working all the time, back in the day. They should just discover where they were, probably gobbled up by buildings now, and put the new kind up in their place.
Although, I wonder how much hurricane insurance would cost to cover one of those wind turbines???
-Bert
August 21st, 2008 12:10
WAPA generates electricity by burning Venezuelan bunker crude oil—unsustainable from almost any point of view.
St. Croix is actually the logical choice if you were looking to use wind or solar on a large scale here–flatness and cheap land are both bonuses. In the plantation era, St. John actually had a total of only 5 windmills versus over 100 on Crucian ground–granted this had a lot more to do with the productivity of their sugar land than anything else.
A major issue with tall turbines here is hurricanes…not too practical to take those babies down.
I could certainly learn to love a turbine or two, compared to a Sirenusa, the big difference being that the condo developments benefit no one here except those politicians who got their pockets lined. More jobs just means more people moving here.
August 21st, 2008 13:53
That picture, that picture (of Hill and Bill).
One month later the world learned about a certain intern.
August 21st, 2008 18:04
Need wind–I suggest Drunk Bay.
August 21st, 2008 20:35
He just can’t get away from things that blow.
Good idea, wrong place.
August 22nd, 2008 06:52
That article on “Wind Turbine Syndrome” is hilarious. What a joke!
August 22nd, 2008 10:17
Wind Turbine Syndrome is no joke…I know people who started suffering from it after wind farms were installed close to their homes. It doesn’t affect everyone, but it makes some poeple miserable.
August 22nd, 2008 10:33
What no one knows about the Clinton picture is that Monica took it.
August 22nd, 2008 12:06
TK,
Please do not take this personally, but Wind Turbine Syndrome is a huge joke! Just ask anyone who has ever lived near an airport, over a subway or even slept with a fan next to their bed. I would be willing to bet the symptoms described in the article are more likely caused by “Not in My Backyard” Syndrome NIMBYS) - a highly contagious social pandemic affecting millions of misinformed and/or malintended Americans worldwide.
PS Just like all fossil fuel energy products, Govt subsidies ARE required to viably provide large scale power production. Perhaps with less focus on vague, unsubstantiated critiques of new technologies that will change. .
August 22nd, 2008 13:25
ShooooPP
ShooooPP
ShooooPP
Do you want to go down to
the beach and catch a little
ShooooPP
What?
ShooooPP
Do you want to go down to
the beach and catch a little
ShooooPP
What? Forget it, lets go
throw rocks at the noisy
ShooooPP
What?
ShooooPP
Cheers, RickG
August 22nd, 2008 15:34
Well, don’t take this personally Parker, but I think your assessment of Wind Turbine Syndrome is a joke!
How can you definitively state something is a joke without doing a lot of research? Time and more research will tell on this one. Just like time will tell if low dose microwave radiation from cell phones causes cancer. We just don’t know yet.
A few years ago I suffered from certain symptoms and was told by a supposed expert in his field physician that my symptoms were a joke and that it was all in my head. Then a better doctor found a tumor that was causing my symptoms and I had to have surgery to remove it; it wasn’t until the tumor was removed that they were able to look at it under a microscope and be sure that it wasn’t cancer. So even though I was lucky, other people with cancerous tumors could have been told by my first doctor that their symptoms were a joke and they’d be dead now.
So just because you think their supposed symptoms are a joke doesn’t mean they are.
August 25th, 2008 15:23
Ok, guess it is personal with you. Sorry to make light of such a serious issue. Good luck with your struggle against Wind Turbine Syndrome. Let me know when the research foundation forms and I’ll send a check. This will probably become one of the great medical challenges of our lifetime - right up there with paper cuts and brain freezes!