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California plan facing ‘NIABY’ foes (Not In Anyone’s Back Yard)
[UPDATE: I have added a list of the environmental groups that oppose Superlink below] A project being developed by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Stirling Energy is facing opposition from some environmentalists because the plan also calls for a 150-mile, high-voltage transmission line that would pass through 23 miles of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, a spot known for its hiking trails, wildflowers, palm groves, cacti and spectacular mountain views.
The proposed Sunrise Powerlink would carry energy produced from several wind, solar, and geothermal installations from the California’s Imperial Valley to San Diego. The entire route would be about 150 miles long with 554 towers from end to end. (But with a cheery name like Sunrise Powerlink, how could anyone oppose it?)
While federal and state officials put the brakes on new coal-fired power plants and as investors back out of others, the demand for more renewable energy will only grow stronger. And as it turns out, the spots with the best renewable resources also have the harshest and often least habitable climates - dry, hot, windy, barren, etc. - so the electricity then needs to be transmitted to areas where people have settled (i.e. cities). And that is where some problems are surfacing.
What price are you willing to pay to get the oil/coal/gas monkey off your back and switch your community to clean energy? Would you accept a long stretch of high-voltage power lines across your favorite scenic vista?
It’s a question I’ve taken on before in a post titled, “What Do I WIMBY (Want In My Backyard)?,” and it’s now cropped up in the news. The place: Southern California. The plan: San Diego Gas & Electric Company’s proposal to build one of the planet’s biggest solar power installations in the desert, along with wind and geothermal facilities. The opposition: environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity.
Why? Because the Sunrise Powerlink clean-energy project calls for 150 miles of high-voltage power lines, including spans through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the Cleveland National Forest and other protected parks and preserves. In fact, state and federal agencies analyzing seven potential routes for power lines ranked the path through Anza-Borrego as the second-worst in terms of potential environmental damage.
By Jennifer Lance •
March 31, 2008
Climate change is altering Pacific gray whales’ migration patterns. According to Rob Davis, “The whales’ fall migration south past San Diego is peaking five days later than it once did. Once they get to Baja, they’re staying two weeks less than they did in the late 1970s.”
Image source: Voices of San Diego
By Olga Orda •
January 10, 2008
Image source: www.greenpeace.org
Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.
The market for sustainable goods and services is gigantic – an estimated $209 billion or 35 million consumers in the U.S. alone, according to a Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) study.
Think jumping on the “environmental-Armageddon-is-upon-us-we-are-doing something-about-it-hear-me-roar” business bandwagon will be easy? Think again.
By Joshua S Hill •
October 26, 2007
A match made in heaven it surely isn’t, but global warming has definitely played its part in the recent tragic events hitting California. The wildfires sweeping across parts of California have forced half a million to flee their homes, left 400,000 acres of land a charred ruin, and reduced some 1,300 homes to rubble.
The terrifying part — if we hadn’t already seen it — is the prediction that firestorms (or bushfires)
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