Archive: Opinions

When the Lansing Star was barley a gleam in my eye the editor of the previous Lansing newspaper, the Lansing Community News gave me this advice: local news is all about water.  Municipal water, sewer, storm water...  That turned out to be largely true.  But increasingly electricity news has become hugely important in Lansing.  The huge controversy over whether the Cayuga Power Plant should be repowered.  An enormous solar array owned by Cornell University is located in Lansing behind the airport.  A number of other proposed solar arrays, including at the Power Plant, possibly the salt mine, and now to power the Lansing schools and possibly town buildings.  Not to mention the grass-roots homeowner and small business coalitions like Solar Tompkins that have found ways to make solar power more affordable to the average Joe and Jane.

So it was not really surprising to learn that New York is the most energy-efficient state in the union.  The analysis ranked state on home energy efficiency as well as automobile energy efficiency.  I would have guessed California, especially on car energy efficiency, but it actually ranks #5 behind New York's #4 in that category.  And California ranks #8 in overall energy efficiency.  Believe it or not, New York City is the greenest in another analysis of the 100 most populated U.S. cities.

This is good news for the planet.  It shows that renewable energy is starting to be doable on a small scale.  It is not affrodable for large scale energy production yet.  In that sense it has an uncanny parallel situation to sewer.  As Lansing found out after at least three major attempts to bring sewer to all or part of the town, it just wasn't affordable.  But smaller local sewer plants called package plants make denser development possible in some cases.

The three developers who wanted to build the beginnings of a town center across from our Town Hall had a plan to construct a package plant that would allow them to build on smaller lots, as well as to accommodate a three or four story senior housing facility.  The juvenile detention facilities just next door already use a package plant.  And at least two developers that I know of proposed package plants for projects in Lansing.

The problem with package plants is that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) doesn't seem to like to approve them.  They favor municipal sewer, and rightly so.  But that doesn't help municipalities like Lansing that just can't afford sewer and may never be able to.  The result in our town was that one project was significantly scaled back, because each house would require its own septic system, and that means at least an acre per plot of land.

But the State is taking the opposite approach with small power plants.  It is making so many concessions and tax incentives for small renewable energy power plants that it becomes affordable for at least some local residents.  As you drive around town you see more and more solar panels.

Recently I visited the home of Chuck and Andra Benson -- I was there to interview Andra because she is running for Town Board -- and I noticed that their already energy-efficient retirement home had two giant solar panels.  I hadn't been there in a half dozen years, and this was new.  Even back then they were using solar for heating and hot water, a hillside for insulation and sunlight through carefully placed windows to maintain the environment in their home.  Andra told me they pay nothing for power any more -- their house is completely self-sufficient.

That this is possible today is impressive.  It is certainly not affordable for everyone, but it is beginning to be affordable on a small scale because New York is so renewable-energy-friendly.  This is not going to replace power plants any time soon.  But it is more than a start on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

That is going to be great for America.  It is no secret that we pay billions of dollars to our enemies because they have oil for sale.  And that money goes to weapons and God knows what else that are used against us and our allies.  I love the idea of not needing gasoline or heating oil.  I have seen a few maps that show how much land mass it would take to power the entire world with solar panels.  According to Elon Musk, you would need just a bit more land than the state of California.  And only a few Texas counties to power the whole United States.

That's still a heck of a lot of solar panels, and let's face it -- they're not the most beautiful objects in the world.  And there is an environmental cost to manufacturing them.  And if we filled up the State of California with nothing but solar panels they would probably be obsolete before we finished paying for them.  So repowering our local plant with natural gas is probably a good interim idea to insure we have the power we need.

For now.

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