Get Your Ugly Solar Panel Off My Pristine Utility Pole!

[marmar]

from the Infrastructurist:



The general public is all for renewable energy — in theory, anyway. But recent renewable projects have raised hackles because of their alleged conflicts with wildlife, damage to Indian spiritual sites, and elevated earthquake risk. And now, objections to green energy based on their, well, ugliness are popping up in New Jersey and Nevada.

Residents and politicians in Ridgewood, Wyckoff, and several other posh suburban towns just outside New York City are attacking local utility company PSE&G for putting up solar panels. Specifically, in an attempt to double the Garden State’s solar capacity, the company has been installing 3-foot-by-5-foot solar modules on utility poles. And the reactions are less than positive: “It’s just horrible,” said Ridgewood’s Deputy Mayor Tom Riche, according to an article in The Record, of Bergen County, N.J. on Sunday.

PSE&G wants to add 40 megawatts of solar capacity to the energy mix by 2013 as part of its Solar4All program, and the company is putting 180,000 solar panels on utility poles, schools, and other structures at a cost of more than half a billion dollars. Among the objections (followed by the utility’s responses):

* Crews install the panels without any warning. (PSE&G owns the poles.)

* Residents gripe that the panels are “crammed” onto some blocks while some blocks have none at all. (Poles must have southern exposure and meet other criteria.)

* Town officials are worried about liability caused by falling ice and snow. (Liability is actually PSE&G’s problem.)

Jerseyans aren’t the only ones raining on solar’s parade with an “ugliness” charge. A Carson City, Nevada state assemblyman has recently introduced a bill, AB122, that would allow local communities to restrict wind turbines and solar installations based on location and appearance. For their part, renewable energy advocates have pushed back, saying that the law will hurt the green energy economy. The bill has gone to committee. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/03/29/get-your-ugly-solar-panel-off-my-pristine-utility-pole/

[Atman]

1. Before electricity, utility poles were "ugly."

Fuck these assholes. In a month you'll forget they're even there.

.

[LaurenG]

3. My sentiments exactly

wth is wrong with people?

[Brother Buzz]

11. I'm reminded of R. Crumb's 'A short history of America'

[originalpckelly]

14. They're still fucking ugly.

Why do you think people bury power lines in new developments?

[geardaddy]

19. You said it.

[originalpckelly]

2. It's not a good idea to do this this way.

Solar energy is the way forward, but it cannot be terrestrial or else we'll crap up the environment that way.

[Rage for Order]

4. Reminds me of when Ted Kennedy griped about the windmills destroying his view

Classic NIMBY-ism. People want renewable energy as long as they don't have to see it. Rich people think power generation should be done only in poor neighborhoods.

:eyes:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/26/sunday/main560595.shtml

Jim Gordon has an idea that's shaking things up in these New England communities. He's a developer who wants to use wind power to replace electric power plants and the pollution they cause. "Wind mills are an icon on the Cape and islands," he says. "So, what we're doing is kind of going back to the future and addressing the present day problems that we have now, such as global warming and climate change, by building a clean, green, renewable energy project."

"The problem is that they're going to be visible. And they're going to be visible at night and they're going to be visible during the day and they're going to be lit up," says (State Sen. Rob) O'Leary. "It's a big problem. Nantucket Sound is a unique place. It's why a quarter of a million people live here on Cape Cod and why people come here by the millions. It's a precious resource. I think this project is just too big and it's in the wrong place."

The campaign to stop the wind farms was started by Cape Cod merchants and wealthy landowners. It's also opposed by almost every town government. Sen. Ted Kennedy, who has a home overlooking the proposed wind farm, also opposes the project. So does one of Martha's Vineyard most famous residents, former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.

Conservation Law Foundation's Seth Kaplan says the wind farm shouldn't be stopped just because it's in the back yard of the wealthy.

[hedgehog]

16. Are they really going to be lit at night? It seems all they would need

is navigation lights.

[Rage for Order]

30. I'm sure being "lit at night" means....

Having lights on them so ships don't run into them in the dark. It seems illogical that the windmills would be illuminated with spotlights or something similar.

[buddysmellgood]

5. I don't think solar panels on utility poles make much sense.

To maintain them, you need to drive a truck with a lift to each one. That's expensive. It makes more sense to gang them up on roof tops. Putting them on light poles is more of a PR move.

[Rage for Order]

6. The utility company can only put them on property they own or lease

They own the utility poles so they don't incur any additional cost by placing solar panels on those poles

[buddysmellgood]

10. And they should. They should lease rooftop etc. and aggressively install

solar in ways that will generate meaningful quantities of power. These tiny panels on each pole are silly.

[Rage for Order]

12. Solar farms are needed

However, the smaller panels can be useful. Here in my area solar panels are used to generate the power needed to operate the flashing lights on the school zone signs. The panels are mounted on the same poles as the lights and signs. Every little bit helps.

[Thunderstruck]

13. "These tiny panels on each pole are silly."

First of all, this not some bullshit pilot project. This is serious business and can be characterized as anything buy "tiny".

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/nyregion/10solar.html

...cut...

Public Service Electric and Gas, New Jersey’s largest utility, said it would unveil a five-year, one-of-a-kind plan on Tuesday to install solar panels on 200,000 utility poles in its service territory.

The project, which the utility must first present to state regulators for approval, would also include putting solar panels on schools and municipal buildings, low-income housing and areas like closed garbage dumps.

The utility expects to spend $773 million on the project, which it said would generate 120 megawatts of electricity, one-third of which should come from the panels on utility poles. That amounts to barely 1 percent of the power consumed in the state, but is about 7 percent of the state’s goal of power generated from renewable energy sources by 2020.

By then, 22.5 percent of the state’s electricity is supposed to come from renewable sources, according to New Jersey’s energy master plan.

...cut...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/nyregion/10solar.html


That's one HELL of a project with substantial goals.

[buddysmellgood]

31. It would be much more cost effective to spend that money

installing panels on a solar farm.

[jeff47]

24. Then you have a distribution problem.

By putting the panels on the poles, you don't.

[Auntie Bush]

7. I remember thinking TV antenna's on roofs were an absolute eye sore

Over time we never noticed them. They just became part of the environment...so will solar panels.

[Snotcicles]

8. Like the utility poles they are attached to are things of beauty. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. CA Solar Rights Act is the opposite of what the NV bubba wants to do

It specifically over rides HOA and other restrictions on the placement of solar arrays. A good think in my opinion

[kestrel91316]

15. They'd rather have all those beautiful gray transformers?

[RC]

21. Especially when they hang 3 in a pleasing geometric pattern.

[hedgehog]

17. Find the ugly wind turbines in these pictures:

Trick question - I think they're all pretty good looking!

[marmar]

20. They're awesome......I loved zipping past them on the ICE train in Germany.

nt

[CrispyQ]

25. That top pic looks like something out of a sci fi horror film.

;)

I think these vertical Windspires look kind of cool.







Shame on rich people who think they are so special their view shouldn't include these.

[hedgehog]

28. Is the second photo of turbines or a public art installation?

I believe well designed wind turbines are more attractive than most public art!

[hedgehog]

18. As opposed to:

or

[CrispyQ]

22. No words.

Great post.

[hedgehog]

23. I flew out of DC a while back - you could see the mountain top removal operations

if you knew what you were looking at. Scary.

[Javaman]

26. Morons on parade. nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

27. It's just an excuse. They look at a solar panel and think "LIBERAL THING HAPPENING!"

"MUST STOP AT ALL COSTS!"

[hedgehog]

29. Boy Howdy - are you right about that! A high school classmate on Facebook

and her family give me a window into the mind of the Tea Party - it's not pretty.

[Shagbark Hickory]

32. There's nothing ugly about that. Ugly is a nuke explosion.

[csziggy]

33. They should learn lessons from the cell tower people

Now many cell towers are camouflaged to make them less obnoxious:
http://www.utilitycamo.com/sites.html

But frankly, IMP utilities should work with local home and building owners and use all those acres of rooftops for the panels.

[marions ghost]

34. they can live here

http://www.thenewecologist.com/2011/03/tianjin-eco-city/

solar everything...