I’ll Drink To That
Thursday 19 June 2014 • 4:22 PM
When energy companies summarily dismiss the risks their technologies pose to water contamination, I’m reminded of the classic scene from Monty Python’s Life Of Brian which asks, incredulously, “What have the Romans ever done for us?” In this case, the Romans are reservoirs of fresh water, while John Cleese and company represent the cynics, snidely questioning: “Aside from manufacturing, building, cooling, washing, bathing, farming, cooking and drinking, what has fresh water ever done for us?”
Hardly a laughing matter, the Charleston, West Virginia chemical spill of late has brought the threat and consequence of water contamination to the fore. As the people of Pavillion, Wyoming, Marshall, Tennessee, and Mayflower, Arkansas will attest, though, this pattern is frustratingly familiar. Only in the aftermath of disaster, does the public demand implementation of environmental safeguards– a demand which all too quickly recedes into complacency and inaction. Fortunately, enacting sensible energy policies can help break this destructive cycle.
Meeting the world’s energy demands solely from renewables is no longer an environmentalist’s fantasy. In fact, the energy residing in upper-level winds alone is enough to power the planet 100 times over. Recognizing this potential, installed wind power increased steadily between 2010 and 2012, and in 2012, claimed the top spot for newly installed capacity. Per a Department of Energy study, this trajectory matches that needed to generate 20% of the country’s electricity from wind by 2030. The production tax credit (PTC), a temporary subsidy on which the industry depends, boasts advocates of both political persuasions. Its renewal at the start of 2013 resulted in a significant uptick in wind energy projects late last year. And although the PTC expired January 1, 2014, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, plans to reinstate it and several other lapsed tax credits. All told, wind power generates almost 3.5% of the country’s electricity, a figure that’s been rising since 2002.
Among the most under touted advantages of wind energy is its minimal use of water. Compared to hydraulic fracturing, oil and gas drilling, nuclear and even solar and biofuels, wind energy’s water consumption occurs only at its inception: turbine manufacture and transportation. Once installed, you can think of a wind turbine as a 175 foot tall cactus– a cactus that can generate upwards of 5 megawatts of power.
Safe drinking water is an easily understood subject, championed by all. Contrastingly, centurial climate forecasts predicting a 0.5 to 1 m surge in sea level or a 2º to 11.5º C rise in global temperature are difficult for the layman to comprehend and appreciate (doubly so because they’re in metric). In an era where lightbulbs and even toilets are politicized, reliable access to clean water remains one of the few wholeheartedly supported, nonpartisan issues. Were I a betting man, I would wager that even the most ardent climate change skeptics take hot showers and cook farm-grown food. Thus, wind energy development, within the context of water conservation, provides the best incentive for a domestic energy revolution.
Fundamentally, these issues are two sides of the same coin. Weening the country off fossil fuels mitigates the dangers they pose to the water supply. Supported by scientists and politicians alike, these are no longer unattainable goals. Wind energy already lowers consumer electric bills. By Department of Energy estimates, the industry will become self sustaining around 2017, eliminating its need for the PTC. Surely wind energy’s benefits outweigh its (oft misquoted) ecological and aesthetic counterarguments. (At their advent, I bet power lines, for their purported unsightliness, fell victim to public contempt and derision). Equipped with tangible means for energy reform, the country can begin minimizing the unnecessary risks it takes with its water supply. Eventually, Americans will be guaranteed, unequivocally, clean air, clean water, and when they flip on a light switch, a clean conscious.