no, it’s not a real picture!!! but the real thing is “awaiting maintainence”
It’s no secret the Point Lookout Wind Turbine, at the Town of Hempstead Energy Park is not working. Best I can tell it stopped working the second week of January(?)
There’s been some inquiries here from people wanting to know what’s up, including Gayle and Tara who posted.
I spoke with Town of Hempstead officials yesterday who confirmed it is “awaiting maintenance”. The windsmiths needed to fix it are from out of state and I was told they’re coming as soon as they can.
so.. yep, dang thing’s broken!
As answered before, it auto shuts down every time the power on the local grid goes out, which has been often here in Point Lookout, especially since Sandy.
I do believe its “breaking” did coincide with one of these power outages, as their other small turbine stopped working simultaneously. That one’s been back up and running since shortly after that time.
thanks for your inquiries…it’s good to know other people have been silently admiring it, and miss it working, too!
Gayle posed a great question.. is it named? and what would we name it?
Marking the first anniversary of our local “landmark to energy independence!” Congratulations to the town!
I just wanted to wish congratulations to Supervisor Kate Murray, Commissioner of Conservation and Waterways’ Ron Masters and everyone else involved in the successful first year of operation of the Town of Hempstead’s Point Lookout Energy Park wind turbine.
Obviously, I love it, and I enjoy seeing it every day! I really do feel it is a “landmark to energy independence” and I’m proud its in my own hometown.
thank you!
on a personal note… Some thoughts and comments.
Reliability. If I see it stopped… I know the grid has failed and power has gone out in town, not the other way around.
Everybody lived. Within a few months at the March civic meeting no one even complained. In fact many voiced approval generally the airing of the grievances happened prior to that meeting. Fear met reality and reality won.
misplaced comments – I love the people who don’t know me and make some kind of comment about it-which I’ve been a little remiss at putting up on the comments board. It’s not a wall of shame,(right?) after all!
I do amuse myself when I can look at them funny and leave a little dead air silence for them to hear back what they just said…
I find their attitude is more saying a joke like you would say about the opposite sex, a president (ah, “you know men/women”, wink wink) – not really so heartfelt, just banter.
I think it is them feeling out what other people think and I think that’s good.
Tim Daniels of Deepwater Wind showed the current New York Offshore Energy Planning Map
On Tuesday Night, community leaders, environmental and Renewable Energy organizations and members of the general public met to discuss Renewable Energy Solutions for Long Island At the LI Clean Energy Forum: Navigating NY’s Energy Crossroads
Ms. Dix said “it’s time for the Long Island Power Authority to move away from plans to lock Long Islanders into dirty fossil fuel energy contracts, instead of investing in clean, safe renewable energy from wind and solar. We need both Gov. Cuomo and LIPA to act now to protect our clean energy programs and fast-track our transition to a clean energy future for New York”.
The importance of this meeting was to bring to the public what their role is in helping transition Long Island and the world at large into more renewable energy.
“We are stuck doing the same things because we have a fossil fuel based economy”. Of LIPA board’s recent decision not (necessarily) to buy into offshore wind she said
“change just got a 15 year jail sentence”.
Explaining our problem, she said “The job of LIPA is to provide affordable, reliable power- not renewable energy… the decision-making structure is wrong. These institutions are not elected but they’re making our decisions and may not have any energy or utility experience. We don’t have leadership that the people can rely upon.
She went on to add, “we need a new movement to move Long Island energy into the new millennium. “Silence is not golden – we need everyone’s voices to be heard”
She spoke of the dangers, destruction and pollution of Fracking and natural gas drilling. She said livestock is ingesting these FrackIng wastes and our food chain is threatened right now. She explained pipelines are proving difficult to stop because they are not approved on the local level, but on the federal level by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Thus, pipelines like the one being completed under the devastated Rockaways are happening against residents wishes, and continuing to be installed PRIOR to court proceedings to stop them.
Fracking Water use statistics from Grassroots Environmental Education
She says the best way to keep Fracking out is make sure we have plenty of renewable energy powering our state that we don’t need it.
Peter Olmstead of the Vote Solar Initiative spoke. He explained the US could easily reach 80% renewable energy by the year 2050.
“we need to attract investment and provide access to renewable energy”.
Another major item of interest he spoke of that “if your house isn’t good for solar maybe you could have a few panels on a community system elsewhere”. You know we here at All Our Energy love the Virtual Metering scenario! Why should you have to own a roof to have solar- 8 million New York City residents (and any other urban dwellers) would at least have access to solar empowerment!
He said getting competition into solar to create lower costs would be a key ingredient to more widespread solar usage, and is already happening.
Tim Daniels from Deepwater Wind, the company proposing the offshore Wind farm LIPA ignored, spoke next.
He said
“Wind could have been providing Long Island 10% of its energy had LIPA gone with their plan.”
In his view, New York had taken some steps towards renewable energy 10 years ago but since has stagnated and failed to follow through.
He said locally offshore wind could easily support 3000 MW of power for our area.
We met Ed Laborde of Power Up Communities, a new green energy campaign to help owners make their homes energy-efficient and more comfortable while generating good paying jobs and community benefits.
Ed Laborde of Power Up Communities.
Definitely check out their website!
Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island presented about their 100% Long Island Clean Electricity Vision (CEV) study.
Their study shows that by 2020 it is technically feasible to meet 100% of Long Island’s residential electricity needs with Renewable Energy. It further shows by 2030 we could have 100 percent renewable and zero carbon electricity supply for all of Long Island. He said the only thing missing to make the transition is the political will. Read about it here:
Mr. Raacke has a great outlook on the situation when he says “it’s an exciting time to be alive when we can make the change to renewable energy”
I understand what he says: We have the power – you, I, we- can do it and we must do it together. He reminds us that the price of sunshine is still zero…
Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy LI:”it’s an exciting time to be alive when we can make the change to renewable energy”
A great Q and A session followed questions included
whether Superstorm Sandy would have had any effect on offshore Wind Farm. Tim Daniels’ answer was no – offshore turbines are designed for North Sea storms which are category three winds. The Siemens turbines available to Deepwater wind withstand 120 MPH sustained winds and 150 Mph gusts.
Another question was about the environmental impacts of an offshore wind Farm. Adrienne Esposito replied “when thinking about environmental impacts you must think not about Wind Farm versus nothing, but Wind Farm versus dirty energy plant. No matter what, there’s going to be impacts. The clean energy impacts are so much less plus they dramatically reduce the pollution and climate change affecting the environment.
Another question was about the impending change in LIPA leadership. She said we should be poised to demand the right people are put in charge. We should also make sure they know we think they should not cut their renewable energy programs, and that they need to have more renewables in the mix. We need to let the LIPA Board of Trustees know we need to change.
There was some quiet speculation that LIPA may have left the door barely cracked open to revisit the issue and we should not give up yet.
A European immigrant living here said they’re shocked there is no policy against wasting energy.
Editors Note-
(This is an excellent point, as people in the US are under the assumption that “if they can pay for the electricity, it’s their business and that the ‘free market’ of prices will decide how much they use”. Unfortunately, they ARE NOT paying the actual costs of their usage when it comes to pollution, land destruction, and climate change- the “hidden costs” of dirty energy, which they are actually passing off to everyone else.)
They explained that in their home country, when you sell a house you must show the energy usage and efficiency that that house has, as just part of the process. hmmm…
Another attendee named John just made a statement that we must realize we are all addicted to fossil fuels and we need to change our own actions and attitudes.
After the proceedings, I was able to ask the representative from Deepwater Wind:
“If LIPA said “go” today, when would we have renewable energy?”
Answer: 2017- the same time as the new gas power plants would be coming online.
Gordian Raacke summed it up best: “if you think investing in renewable energy is important, then let your elected officials and LIPA know. Become involved! Let’s grab this chance to make it happen!”
I hope this email finds you well in the weeks following Superstorm Sandy. It is clear everyone’s focus is on rebuilding what was lost in the storm, but we can’t just build back what was here. We need to build back a better and more resilient Long Island. We have seen that our Island has a unique vulnerability to climate events so part of being more resilient will be building up clean energy infrastructure that won’t perpetuate this problem.
To learn more about Long Island’s clean energy future, please join the Sierra Club and the Green Sanctuary Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock at:
Long Island is at a major turning point when it comes to deciding how we are going to power our homes for the next several decades. Whether we continue down a path of dirty fossil fuels or move into the 21st century by investing in clean energy depends heavily on public participation from people like you.
At this forum, you will hear from a panel of well-respected individuals in the clean energy field, including Adrienne Esposito of Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, Peter Olmsted of the Vote Solar Initiative, Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island, as well as a representative from the offshore wind company Deepwater Wind.
RSVP using the link below to let us know you can make it and if you can bring a friend:
Come to The Long Island Clean Energy Forum: Navigating NY’s Energy Crossroads. Tuesday December 4th 7:00 to 9:00 PM. This is what Long Island’s energy future should look like.
Come ready to learn your role in the push for clean energy…
So, what’s everybody doing next Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 7PM?
“At this forum, you will hear from a panel of well-respected individuals in the clean energy field, including Adrienne Esposito of Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, Peter Olmsted of the Vote Solar Initiative, Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island, as well as a representative from the offshore wind company Deepwater Wind.” –
Please join the Sierra Club and the Green Sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock on the evening of Tuesday, December 4th, 7 to 9 pm for a discussion on Long Island’s clean energy future. The forum will be held in the Social Hall of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock at 48 Shelter Rock Rd, Manhasset, NY 11030. You can find directions here: http://www.uucsr.org/find.asp
The Clean Energy Forum will provide a great opportunity to learn more about the current turning point in our energy policy and which path we need to take to achieve the future we want to see. This will be an action oriented discussion so
come ready to learn your role in the push for clean energy.
Find all the information and attendee registration here:
Industry-sponsored “Frackademia”, on grounds of a state school (geez!) is ended amidst a ridiculously outlandish fake study, with fake “peer” review.
Although, if you are the fracking industry, and you put out a fake study, and further fracking industry people do the review, then I guess, technically, that would be “peer review”.
Thankfully someone has a backbone and integrity! Our hats are off to SUNY Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi, who this week shut down SUNY Buffalo’s “Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI)”.
Their hydraulic fracturing (fracking) “study” (ostensibly to open up New York State resources against public outcry because our politicians put off decisions by saying we need studies) was just a fully funded front for the fracking industry.
“(From) its “shill gas study,” the first paper published by SRSI. All of the co-authors of this paper had direct ties to the oil and gas industry, as did four out of five of its peer reviewers.”
The head of SUNY Buffalo said:
“It is imperative that our faculty members adhere to rigorous standards of academic integrity, intellectual honesty, transparency, and the highest ethical conduct in their work. Because of these collective concerns, I have decided to close the Shale Resources and Society Institute.”
if you like fresh water to come out of your faucet, you need to know about this.
“This is the most serious problem in the city’s history”- Harvey Weisenberg, Long Beach, NY State Assemblyman.
A major environmental issue you should know about of related interest to our local followers.
if you want drinkable water to keep coming out of your faucet, you need to see the story- click here at my personal local blog Making My Point-Point Lookout NY Blog.
Looking down the road: A new poll shows the overwhelming majority of Long Islanders want Renewable Energy for their electricity needs.
In light of LIPA’s looming (and hopefully not “dooming”) decisions on what they are going to do about generating our electricity in the future, some important answers emerge about what Long Islanders – LIPA’s customers – think and want.
The questions show an overwhelming majority of Long Islanders, in the 77-90% range depending on the question, are on board with changing over to renewable energy.
The Poll By the Numbers:
87%- believe New York State should honor it’s commitment to using 30% renewable Energy by 2015 (we’re way behind!)
85% support offshore wind power 12 to 15 miles off the coast of Long Island
78% prefer that New York utilities build new renewable energy infrastructure instead of additional fossil fuel plants
78% think the Cuomo Administration should prioritize clean, renewable energy resources ahead of fossil fuels
79% the majority want it, even if it costs more-only 16% wouldnt pay more!
89% – say we should meet our renewable energy goals using clean energy from projects built in New York State – (as opposed to “outsourcing” our renewable energy opportunities to another state to develop, deliver and profit from.)
You can find the poll and results for yourself here:
National Grid has had an accident, spilling 1100 gallons of mostly oil, with gas and other chemicals that are mixed with natural gas into Jamaica Bay, NY as they repaired/fixed an old gas main. (?)
According to officials, this happened at 1:30 am Saturday Morning, but some reports are saying Thursday night/Friday Morning, which means this was going on for over 24 hours? whats the real story?
that brings up some great questions…
Is 1:30am on a Friday night/Saturday morning the “preferred” time to be doing this work? or was it
an emergency?
a secret?
something else?
Although 1100 gallons is not a “big” spill, it is devastating to the immediate area.
It also brings to the front questions about the pipleine National Grid are bringing through that area (amongst all the nationwide pipleine fights with leaky pipelines everywhere- Enbridge, and other tar sands fails!!) As well as the Long Beach Pipeline / Liquid Natural Gas(LNG) Port Pipeline that gets shot down annually.
Just another reason we need to tell LIPA and National Grid that although we believe they are trying to do the right thing, the “right thing” is Renewable Energy. The old days are done and we should know better by now!
They need to be leading and pursuing CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY NOW – it can easily be done, it’s just deciding they want to do it, instead of potential “disasters waiting to happen”.
Tuesday September 25, 2012: Point Lookout, NY. – Today Sierra Club partnered with Community Voices for Clean Energy at the Point Lookout Clean Energy Park to tell LIPA we need Renewable Energy, and not to lock us into fossil fuels for the next 30 years, as LIPA decide Long Island’s energy future.
Under watch of the 156 foot tall wind turbine, the speakers laid out why we all need to tell LIPA to invest, and heavily, in renewable energy as they decide what they are going to build and use for Long Island’s needed electricty generation-for the next 30-40 years!!!
At their upcoming October 2, 2012 board meeting, LIPA will be deciding how they are going to generate electricity, in many cases going out 20-30 years or more. The Sierra Club said:
“This show of support for clean energy comes at a critical juncture, as LIPA debates various sources of new power for Long Island homes.
All of the community members at this rally came out to express their concern about the current sources of energy generation and share their hope for Long Island’s energy future. Currently, both the State of New York and LIPA are failing to meet their renewable energy goals of 30% renewable sources by 2015 set by the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which LIPA voluntarily committed to. The current debate over new sources of energy generation presents the best opportunity for LIPA to keep their promise to Long Islanders.”
Speakers presented their thoughts:
Dan Sabia, president of Built Well Solar, explains, “LIPA has a big decision to make soon, to continue to support clean energy here on Long Island. [LIPA] has the opportunity to help solidify Long Island’s position as a leader in renewable energy by moving forward with … clean energy.”
Andre Robinson, engineering student at Farmingdale State said: “The Long Island I would like to see is leading the country in clean energy innovation because LIPA made the right decision to invest in clean energy now for our future. Because of this the Long Island I see has good job opportunities… jobs that pay well and promote healthy communities at the same time.”
“Speaking as a mother,” Bahar Zoghi said, “with [global warming, carbon dioxide emissions, pollution]… if we keep depending on fossil fuels, conditions will just get worse. I think it’s time we really think more clearly about that, not just for us but for our kids. We owe that to them and the next generation.”
Peter Gollon, Energy Chair of the Long Island Sierra Club, challenged LIPA to have the “courage” to make this necessary change. He said, “We are here to tell them to find the courage to actually lead us into the future of renewable energy, where we all know we have to go…Our children and grandchildren can’t wait”
We dont think we can wait either.
We are at a crossroads.
The way is pretty clear.
So what the HECK are we waiting for?
If the wrong decision is made, we will be stuck with dirty energy for a looooong time, and the future on Long Island will be delayed a generation.
TAKE ACTION: Click on this link> Tell LIPA- We need clean energy. follow the instructions to let LIPA know you want clean energy.
Questions: is the Point Lookout Wind Turbine Broken?
no, it’s not a real picture!!! but the real thing is “awaiting maintainence”
It’s no secret the Point Lookout Wind Turbine, at the Town of Hempstead Energy Park is not working. Best I can tell it stopped working the second week of January(?)
There’s been some inquiries here from people wanting to know what’s up, including Gayle and Tara who posted.
I spoke with Town of Hempstead officials yesterday who confirmed it is “awaiting maintenance”. The windsmiths needed to fix it are from out of state and I was told they’re coming as soon as they can.
so.. yep, dang thing’s broken!
As answered before, it auto shuts down every time the power on the local grid goes out, which has been often here in Point Lookout, especially since Sandy.
I do believe its “breaking” did coincide with one of these power outages, as their other small turbine stopped working simultaneously. That one’s been back up and running since shortly after that time.
thanks for your inquiries…it’s good to know other people have been silently admiring it, and miss it working, too!
Gayle posed a great question.. is it named? and what would we name it?
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