I would point out that now with the panels adjusted at the Kingsbury
Farm I know of no installations completed or planned which are impacting
prime ag potential in our area. The four panels at the Knoll Farm we
sited along a high tree line at the edge of a pasture and appear a
string of jewels from the distant views. At our office in East Warren we
have located two trackers between our hayfield and parking area with
little impact and great delight. The solar panels we planned on the
grounds of the Burling residence in East Warren are well integrated in
an increasingly abundant permaculture landscape, and the panels in
Waitsfield village at Maclay Architects are proof these can be fit into
tight and limited sites in interesting ways.
The planned installation at Yestermorrow of seven trackers right along
Route 100 will likely raise the most interest. We have worked hard to
locate these in a manner which maximizes performance, minimizes impact
on the best most useful areas of the site, and is certainly not in our
potential prime ag lands (which was long ago stripped of its topsoil and
which we plan to restore). The installation will be visually
challenging to many and a joy to others. We discussed and debated this
broadly internally and decided that Yestermorrow has a commitment on our
principles to try and reduce our demands through conservation, and to
produce as much of our energy in as local, sustainable and non-polluting
manner as possible. This will be in our front yard, not in someone
else's backyard. We plan and hope to focus some classes on ways to make
this installation as artful and integrated as possible. We will explore
color, screening, multiple uses and various plantings as parts of this
commitment.
As I drive along this stretch of Route 100, I cannot help but make a
connection between the thousands of small white memorial flags in the
field to the south and the seven large flags we are about to plant just
to the north of them. I trust and pray they will reduce the need for
more small ones in the future, and I hope we can find ways over the
coming years to celebrate and make beautiful this gathering of abundant
energy from the sun to power the school.
Schoellkopf is a principal of The Design Group of Warren, a member of
the Warren DRB, a board member of Yestermorrow and chair of the school's
Building and Grounds Committee.
