Come on Connecticut; think innovation, think job growth, think green, THINK WIND!

On April 26th, 2006, the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority (CRRA) held a community meeting to discuss what the future held for the capitol city’s landfill. (See http://www.crra.org/documents/public_records/additional_communications/CRRA_hartford_landfill_future_use_presentation_4-12-2006.pdf) At an elevation of approximately 140 feet above sea level, could the property be turned into a park, offering unique perspectives of the Connecticut River, the capitol skyline and the less than aesthetic rush hour traffic jams?

What about a wind farm, one lone voice exclaimed from the shadows of the world wide web? Not enough wind said the naysayers! But the average wind speed at Brainard Airport right across the river from the landfill at approximately 15 feet above sea level has been recorded at 8 mph and the required cut-in-speed (minimum wind speed at which a wind turbine will generate usable energy) is between 7 and 10 mph. The landfill is habitat to unusual species of birds exclaimed the ornithologists as pigeons and seagulls majestically rose into the smog choked sky. Wind turbines generate noise claimed the community activist threatening to drown out the orchestral of Interstate 91.

Albert Einstein once said “If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it."

It is this eccentric optimism with which I pursue my current endeavor; Turn the Retired Hartford, CT Landfill into a Wind Farm! Think about it, with Pratt & Whitney and United Technologies literally a stones throw away, the manufacturing of the wind turbines for this site could serve as an experimental test run for say something like the Cape Wind project (See www.capewind.org). Who will get the contract to manufacture the 130 wind turbines at about $4.5 million a piece (totaling approximately $585 million) once the permitting is complete and manufacturing and construction is underway in 2010? This concept doesn’t seem so outlandish now does it?

Come on Connecticut; think innovation, think job growth, think green, THINK WIND!

To support this idea, please consider participating by;

Send an e-mail to landfill(at)crra.org with the subject heading “Turn the Retired Hartford, CT Landfill into a Wind Farm!” or Send a letter to: Hartford Landfill FutureConnecticut Resources Recovery Authority100 Constitution Plaza, 6th Floor, Hartford, CT, 06103 with the subject heading “Turn the Retired Hartford, CT Landfill into a Wind Farm!”