Compass Points

For a while I have had an unanswered question. I was reluctant to address it, for fear of being criticized, or even my audacity in raising such a politically incorrect thought. However, since tomorrow belongs to no man, I will explain my serious concern to the reader. Once read, perhaps a light will shine in your mind, and you will be able to share that light with this writer.
The subject of concern is power generation.
To be specific, the renewed vigor to pursue a natural gas pipeline from Millville to Beesley’s Point has caught the heart and soul of First District legislators. They could not cross party lines, stand united and hold a joint news conference voicing support for the once-rejected (by the Pinelands Commission) project?
That’s was understandable long ago, but not now. D’s and R’s are like the Blue and the Gray in the Civil War. Seldom did they put down rifles long enough to quit fighting to bury the dead. Regardless, we see Sen. Jeff Van Drew and Assemblyman Samuel Fiocchi advocating for the pipeline. That’s good, but it’s not my point, but it is encouraging.
When we switch on the lights, when we decide to watch TV, when we expect the pump to work or the computer to energize, we expect electricity to be there. We don’t expect a dead outlet. We want electricity and we want it now. Forced to buy twisted light bulbs instead of the tungsten sort, we are not about energy conservation. It’s just not in us to save, like water conservation until the well runs dry. We want massive TV sets and every sort of gadget, all of which suck up electricity in great amounts.
On the other side of the equation are those opposed to any sort of upgrade to the B.L. England generation station. In their view, the thing ought to be dismantled and reinvented as a home for eagles and deer, or whatever lives around Great Egg Harbor Bay. Sounds nice, ecologically safe and all that, and it seems to be the wish of many. I’m unconvinced.
There are self-proclaimed experts who regard any power generation plant as being as near to hell as a person can get on this side of eternity. They certainly will not abide nuclear energy. Coal, while it is in great abundance, is the scourge of humanity in green eyes. We can’t use that, since it will spew poison to kill everyone and everything within 100 miles, just look at the messy air in China.
Natural gas generation is, to them, almost as bad if not worse than coal since it emits particulates into the atmosphere, which will cause diseases few can pronounce.
Thus, we are down to what has recently been termed, “renewable” energy. Unschooled as I am that means wind, wood and sun. While I’d like to believe, really believe, in those as the salvation of electricity users, I have serious doubts. But we must appease “the greens.” Here goes.
Recently, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities rejected a proposal by Fishermen’s Energy, a group based in Cape May County, funded by private dollars, to place a series of wind turbines off Atlantic City. It made a lot of sense to me, and obviously to the folks who were ready to lay down heavy cash to make it happen, but what did they know?
Not awfully long ago there was a “green” effort put forth by the Coast Guard that would have placed wind turbines on government ground at the Cape May Coast Guard base to generate electricity from wind (of which there is plenty). That sounded pretty good to me, too. It was everything a “green” advocate could want, right? Wrong. The idea was scrapped because it would have endangered migrating birds.
That sort of narrows the options doesn’t it? It leaves us with solar panels to generate power, or hydroelectric from a dam or from wood. While there are a few dams in South Jersey, none generates anything, so they are environmentally friendly. I’m sure if a plan surfaced to construct a dam that would produce electricity by water-powered turbines, it would encounter opposition from those dead set against to harming a lake or river.
A feature article in the Press of Atlantic City March 23 focused on the prospects of closing the Oyster Creek Nuclear generating plant as well as B.L. England, if the most recent bipartisan pipeline effort falls flat on its face. The article quoted a power expert who said neither plant’s demise would hurt the local power grid. That was pretty encouraging. Bring on the wrecking cranes. Then I wondered: If that is true, and the power Oyster Creek (spit when you say it) and B.L. England (like Pittsburgh’s old steel mills) generate doesn’t make a watt of difference, why is the electric utility urging energy conservation? Why it is advocating air conditioners on an automatic suspension system so that, when temperatures soar, and every fan and air conditioner in South Jersey is on, they will not teetering on the brink of brownout? If we are swimming in electricity, why worry about saving power in the crunch season?
Are we being told the truth and nothing but the truth?
At this point, I am anxious to hear “green” provisions to supply future energy needs in the quantities large enough to meet growing demand. We have heard a litany of “you can’t do that,” and “If you do, it’ll kill you and unborn generations.” What are viable alternatives? Here’s the chance.
Regardless of voices in opposition, where are sane recommendations for future power? I am truly eager to hear plans from the “green” side.
If every house had a wind turbine, surely birds would die. If every home had solar panels on its roof or in its yard, there would be complaints, as there was in Lower Township, of bright sun shining off the glass.
Is the answer renewable, as in burn wood to generate power? Consider what would at first seem a totally green way to heat a home and its water, wood-burning furnaces, have also found themselves on the nasty side of neighborhood arguments in Lower and Dennis townships. Neighbors say they stink up the community with lots of smoke. Owners burning wood are castigated as if they operated nuclear power plants in their backyard.
What am I missing in the future of power generation? Help me understand. I’m certain readers would be anxious to know what to do when all the “bad alternatives” are finally turned off. If that takes place, how bright will be the future?