Jon Corzine would have won last night if he had listened to me. Four years ago, when the world was young and Jon Corzine was running for office I wrote an open letter to his web log in which I urged him to announce his intention of, upon becoming governor, initiating an Energy Race in the state of New Jersey along the lines of John Kennedy's Space Race.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday awarded five leases to four companies who want to develop windmills along the Outer Continental Shelf. The leases allow the companies to build meteorological towers to gather information about the wind six to 18 miles offshore.
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The exploratory leases, the first of their kind ever issued by the federal government, went to Bluewater Wind New Jersey Energy; Fishermen's Energy of New Jersey; Deepwater Wind, which is doing two projects; and Bluewater Wind Delaware.
"New Jersey's Outer Continental Shelf is a resource that holds great promise for our energy independence and should be considered a haven for the clean, renewable and environmentally friendly energy that wind power provides," Gov. Jon Corzine said.
And Jeff Tittel didn't miss the opportuinty to deliver a one liner:
"We see this as a positive change from the Bush administration's energy plan," said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "We are moving from drill baby, drill, to wind baby, wind."
Here's video from the press conference announcing the leases:The article says they hope to have the first meteorological tower up and running off the coast next summer. We may want to get Secretary Salazar a place to stay with all his visits to the state.
Mount Laurel, for instance, says it budgeted $360,000 for electricity in
its municipal buildings this year, up 28 percent from the previous year.
[...]
Evesham, Burlington County's most populous town, budgeted $330,000 for utilities this year, an 18 percent increase from 2007, and anticipates spending $343,000 next year
Audits completed according to the program requirements, first of all, are eligible to receive rebates of up to 75 percent of the cost of the audit. After that, if your local government goes on to actually implement recommendations from the energy audit and the work exceeds 25 percent of the cost of the audit, then you can qualify for an additional rebate of that 25 percent. In effect, your energy audit would be free. And upgrades in lighting, installing timers and motion sensing devices, more energy efficient copiers or hvac systems?all of these can translate into lower energy use and lower or more stable energy costs.
In order to participate, towns just need to pass a resolution enabling the town to submit the application and they even provide a sample resolution for an extra hand. 96 local governments have already applied for the audit program. If your town isn't participating, they can get the application to get the ball rolling.
By February, solar panels will be up at two schools. A geothermal system will heat and cool the Police Department by the fall. And by the end of next year, work will be complete on a natural-gas-fired cogeneration plant that will provide power, heating and cooling to township buildings and nearby schools.
Immediate savings have come from RecycleBank, the recycling initiative that began township-wide on July 1. The program triggered increased recycling participation and lowered landfill fees by $200,000 in the current fiscal budget, said Deborah Campbell, Cherry Hill's chief financial officer.
The economy may cause towns to hold back on making some of these green investments in new technologies, but I don't see much of a down side to participating if the audit because the town will be reimbursed for the majority if not all of the costs for the audit and then reap the savings of the changes made.
Or think about the car-wash owner on Hamburg Pike in Wayne who was told by then-Mayor Scott Rumana a windmill there -- against a backdrop of strip malls and by-the-highway retailers -- might skew local aesthetics or be noisily unsafe.
Yes, you read that right boys and girls. The problem is not the traffic, noise and energy used by the strip malls and highway retailers, it would be the noise and look of a horrible windmill. God forbid. I have no problem with the strip malls as this is New Jersey, but I don't see how a windmill skews the aesthetics. Wayne isn't alone shunning alternative energy sources:
Take sea-swept Long Beach Township on Long Beach Island. Renewable energy stock, such as windmills, are banned there.
Think about that for a second, renewable energy stock, such as windmills are banned. What sense does that make. We have elected officials and candidates for office at every level of government screaming about becoming energy independent while at the same time NJ towns not only pass on the chance, but ban the possibility of making that happen.
Later this week, Governor Jon Corzine is expected to announce New Jersey's choice to receive a $19 million grant to develop a 350 megawatt, ocean-wind pilot project. If the project demonstrates that wind energy can succeed without significant environment damage, the state likely will ramp up its demand for ocean-wind power to as much as 3,000 megawatts.
This is a big step forward, but apparently there are going to be many more hurdles along the way including local control. Let's hope they can be overcome so that the energy rhetoric is not stifled by outdated local regulations.
I feel like the current energy debate gets us no where productive slowly. Now we're talking about who's fault it is that there's no comprehensive energy policy. The true fault probably lies with everyone involved, but rather than complaining about what hasn't been done, maybe we should examine some of the successes that could help the NJ energy and economic situation.
