Wind is the New Solar

There’s a piece in yesterday’s Times on the growing interest in small wind turbines; these are wind powered devices that can be used by individual homes or businesses to generate a portion of their own energy.

 

That’s an exciting idea in principal, though in practice it seems roofs may not be the best place for this type of device:

 

But many experts caution that rooftops, while abundant, are usually poor places to harness the breeze. Not only are cities less windy than the countryside, but the air is choppier because of trees and the variation in heights in buildings. Turbulence can wear down a turbine and make it operate less efficiently…

 

“In an urban environment, more times than not you’re better off with a solar panel,” said Mr. Stimmel, of the wind industry association.

 

Another problem is that microturbines are not really cost-effective:

 

These tiny turbines generate so little electricity that some energy experts are not sure the economics will ever make sense.

…

“Rooftop wind economics are abysmal, since the resource just isn’t there,”…

 

OK, they kinda-sorta work and they’re unlikely to pay for themselves…so, what explains their popularity?

 

The spread of the big turbines and a general fascination with all things green are helping to spur interest in rooftop microturbines, creating a movement somewhere on the border between a hobby and an environmental fashion statement.

 

Ahhh, they’re cool and fashionable.

 

Sticking a designer wind turbine on your roof (if you an afford it) certainly makes a statement with your friends and neighbors (and it may actually generate a small amount of electricity), but it risks framing the very real need for personal environmental action in the language of fashion, which is a slippery slope to fad. The climate problem is way too huge and serious to be solved by a revolving door of “green” accessories.

 

Grassroots campaigns empowering people to make better personal choices are extremely important, but empowering government and industry to make those choices on a gargantuan scale is the only real hope for managing the climate crisis in the long term. This starts with people and communities certainly, and it’s fine if it starts on your roof…so long as you climb up there next to your sexy microturbine and demand better policies.

 

News in a Box

My first impression of the new Grimshaw designed bus shelters and newsstands popping up around the city has been an unqualified “meh”.

 

It seems the stainless and glass boxes would feel more at home in Toronto say, or some European second city, than on the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn; and it’s hard not to immediately imagine the gleaming boxes adorned with graffiti, broken glass, and the other scrapes and bruises of New York life. They look vulnerable and high maintenance.

 

The Times discusses another important aspect of the new stands: the implications to the newsstand operators. It sounds like they may be getting the short end of the city’s lucrative contract with Cemusa:

 

Before 2003, newsstand operators paid the city a licensing fee, but owned and paid for their newsstands and, under certain circumstances, could sell them. Now the newsstands are owned by Cemusa, and operators pay a two-year city license fee of $1,076.

 

Some 280 current operators are being given new newsstands, free of charge, and Cemusa is responsible for maintaining them. But the newsstand operators do not share in advertising revenues…

 

Michael Hajovsky, who has owned newsstands for two decades, runs a pre-Cemusa stand on 46th Street and Broadway… He is still angry that his two stands “were confiscated without any compensation by New York City,” he said. “In a couple of years I would like to retire,” Mr. Hajovsky, 66, said. “But now I’m no longer an owner, I am a renter, and my pension is very small.”  [Emphasis mine]

 

Disinvesting the operators from their stands seems like a terrible long term move. Couple that with questionable design (at least in terms of function and upkeep), and these designer boxes may end up being bad news.

 

Democratic Design Discipline

You know, I was wondering about the slightly odd “O8” graphic at the DNC… Now it all makes sense:

 

If you’ve been watching the Democratic National Convention this past week, you probably noticed the bold blue-and-white graphics, and especially the speaker’s podium, with its modern-looking wood trim and “O8″ logo: that’s the letter “O” and the number 8, as in “Obama in 2008.”

 

It hit my eye funny at first, but I kinda stopped noticing after a while. The campaign’s branding overall though has been outstanding. The link above also links to the team responsible for the Obama 08 website and logo.

 

Clever on Wheels

I am obsessively coveting this bike.