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by KERRY ZIMMERMAN
Intern News Reporter
The largest wind turbine in North Carolina stands on Appalachian State University’s campus.
“When I see it, I see something beautiful,” Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock said.
Located behind the Broyhill Inn & Conference Center, the 154-foot tall, 100-kilowatt turbine produces about 150,000 kilowatt-hours annually, enough to power 10 typical Southeastern homes. This wind-generated energy feeds directly into New River Light & Power Co.
The $533,000
project was funded by New River Light & Power, Appalachian’s 2009
senior class and a $5 Renewable Energy Initiative (REI) fee students
pay each semester.
To Ged Moody, faculty advisor of REI, the turbine represents cutting-edge technology for renewable energy.
However, a bill passed this summer by the North Carolina Senate could take the wind right out of this movement.
In its
original form, Senate Bill 1068 outlined permit guidelines for the
responsible expansion of wind in North Carolina, keeping environmental
and ecological concerns of utmost importance. Yet amendments made to
the bill created an essential “ban on wind,” changing its former
intent, Moody said.
A 49-1
Senate vote in favor of the current version of the bill caused great
distress to those who supported its original language. They now wait
until May 2010 to fight the bill.
“If you like wind in the mountains, you don’t like this bill,” Moody said.
He said the effect the bill could have on Appalachian cannot be overlooked.
“We are
concerned that in its current form, the legislation could be limiting
to ASU’s academic and research missions,” Moody said.
Crystal
S. Simmons, Appalachian’s Office of Sustainability project manager,
said the wind turbine is safe from the current bill’s provisions, and
it would not have to be taken down.
To
illustrate the positive power of wind, Austin T. Hall, North Carolina
field organizer for Appalachian Voices, made a simple comparison with
two photographs. One shows community-scale wind turbines among trees on
a thriving mountain ridge. The other, an aerial view of the effects of
mountaintop removal coal mining, shows the top of a mountain leveled
into a dirt-covered plateau.
“We have
to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” Hall said, and not doing so
would be “morally reprehensible.” He suggested writing North Carolina
Senators with concerns about the bill.
Both Hall and Simmons agree the turbine is a symbol of the sustainable movement at Appalachian and in Boone.
“We’ve shown a community can get behind renewable energy,” Hall said.
Photo by Aubryn Gates | The Appalachian
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