I view the organizations that are putting up solar panels as leaders, who are not just talking about an alternative energy future but are actually doing something positive about it. We have been waiting for our own federal and state governments to take decisive action on the critical issues of climate and energy independence. The incentives that they have put in place to encourage individual installations are a small first step in this direction.
As individual families and businesses, many of us have traded our inefficient automobiles for hybrids, diesels and even bio-diesels. We've insulated our buildings, turned down our thermostats and changed our light bulbs to fluorescents. While all of these actions are helpful, particularly on a collective scale, there is still more that can and should be done.
NEXT STEP
I look at the solar panels on Route 100 and beyond as a very encouraging next step of energy independence and reduced carbon emissions. In fact, now when I drive down our main artery I see hope in the form of Valley organizations stepping up to reduce both their CO2 emissions and their load on the larger power grid.
These organizations that are making room on their own land for solar trackers that can benefit the planet are getting undeserved criticism from some in this community. Given that it is their private property, I cannot concur that they should have to undergo a lengthy review process, with the time commitment and potential legal fees that a review process implies.
In these pages, I have seen impassioned arguments against Vermont Yankee, against local wind installations and against solar trackers in plain site (where, incidentally the sun is). If I looked back far enough, I would also find letters against the development of Hydro-Quebec, defending the environment that would be reconfigured to generate power in mass quantities. When Vermont Yankee is decommissioned, I am sure that there will be letters against an increase in coal-fired CO2-emitting power sources being used to offset the power loss. Where does that leave The Valley in terms of their power needs?
MAKES SENSE
Don't get me wrong, I am not for rampant, unregulated development. But allowing people to harvest the sun on their own property to meet their own power needs just makes sense, especially if it is sited as conscientiously as at Lareau Farm. While we wait for elected officials to initiate larger scale change in the way we produce and distribute power, the least we can do is to allow private property owners to set a positive example for them to follow.
And so, to those that complain about the aesthetics of the solar installations (which is in the eye of the beholder) and the potential negative impact to tourist dollars (no studies that I know of have been commissioned), I would ask: How many of those tourists will still make the journey when our maples trees have given up their ghosts to the new warmer climate and our increasingly shortened and unpredictable ski seasons have threatened the existence of our ski resorts?
Baron lives in Warren.
