Is Hartford Really New England's Rising Star?

Is Hartford Really New England's Rising Star? This question has lingered in my mind for quite some time now. As Hartford wraps up the major revitalization projects pursued over the last decade, those six pillars of progress, I wonder, how do they support the capitol’s somewhat haughty declaration?

While I’m a big fan of our capitol, its neighborhoods, educational institutions and its cultural and historical assets, it does feel like it’s missing something from its skyline.

The other day while driving on the freeway through Worchester, MA I spotted a wind turbine. While it was not the first wind turbine I’ve ever seen, the mere site of it was invigorating. The Worchester wind turbine stands as a testament that renewable energy technologies are real and that they can be incorporated into our urban, suburban and rural communities.

So what’s missing from Hartford’s skyline; surely not the recently retired landfill that stands as tall as our capitols slogan “Hartford, New England's Rising Star” To earn that recognition requires a lot of work; perhaps the kind that requires a Green Collar?

My proposal is as follows; Employ the researchers necessary to conduct a fast track, cut the red tape, feasibility study for using the 80 acre Hartford landfill property as a wind and solar farm.

Hartford doesn’t have the wind resources necessary you say; Check out http://www.awstruewind.com/files/CT_report.pdf page #4 where it talks about the wind speed at Brainard Airport (right across the river) at 13 meters, approximately 40 feet high at 3.7 meters per second or 8.7 miles per hour. I wonder what the data loggers would read at 80 feet or 150 feet?

Imagine the pride Connecticut residents would feel driving into the capitol city seeing a majestic renewable energy technology such as a wind turbine(s) creating clean, green, homegrown energy.

Two things I am sure of, are one, that when Adrian Block, the Dutch explorer first discovered the area now known as Hartford in 1614, I’m sure his ship harnessed a sail to assist him in making it up the tidal river and two, that being from the Netherlands, where wind turbines had already been in use for over 200 hundred years, the same natural resource that powered exploration and innovation then is still present now and capable of being employed to solve the problems inherent in todays Energy and Climate Era.