In more and more communities across Massachusetts, local officials and community activists are looking into money-saving wind turbines to accommodate their power needs.Large wind turbines can generate hundreds of kilowatts of electricity and provide substantial savings on utility costs. However, some communities such as those along Nantucket Sound, have objected to the turbines because of their size and effect on local views of the water.
The cost of the turbines is another factor that has kept them from catching on. A single turbine can be more than $1 million, but the state does award credits to some property owners who construct the turbines.
"The time for talking about this issue is over. We need action. We need hands-on learning," Medford's mayor, Michael J. McGlynn tells The Boston Globe. "But, obviously, the money is significant, too. Any time you're saving $25,000 or $30,000 a year, you're saving somebody's job."
In addition, if a particular turbine’s electrical production exceeds its demand, the owner can sell that power back to a local utility company. As a result, one turbine can provide cleaner energy to surrounding community. By harnessing the green electricity generated by the turbine, a utility company such as NSTAR could sell more kilowatts of wind power to its customers.
Since wind power could be the direction the electricity industry is moving, developers and entrepreneurs are sprouting up around Massachusetts. Kevin Schulte, for example, founded Sustainable Energy Developments Inc in New York to expand wind power throughout the region.
"It seems to be peppered all over society right now: green, green, green. Well, this is green. This is clean energy,” he said to The Globe. “This is 20 years of energy with no emissions. Twenty years of energy with no pollution you have to bury in the ground. I think that's all right."
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--Bridget O'Sullivan
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