NY Times by Elisabeth Rosenthal
Rosenthal reports on Tocca Da Casauria, Italy, a small town of 2700 inhabitants, that recently invested in renewable energy in the form of wind turbines. Although Italy is often criticized as a whole by the EU for falling behind on mandated stipulations of ensuring 17% of their energy is from renewable sources by 2020, local communities have taken action. With the 4 wind turbines installed, Tocca now produces more energy than it consumes. A private company operates the turbines and then sells the produced energy to the national government. Because they lease the land from Tocca and also give Tocca a portion of the revenue income from energy sales, the little town no longer taxes its residents for services, such as trash pick-up. The town's motivation for switching to renewable energy was the extremely high electricity rates. Now the minuscule community, in which the largest event is the olive harvest, represents a new age relying on sustainable sources for its power, denoting independency and responsibility.
I thought the article was educational, informative, and inspirational. It is easy to become depressed about our meek future that is foreshadowed by many authors pleading with society to change their ways. While Rosenthal acknowledges that only 7% of Italy's energy comes from renewable sources, she remains optimistic about the future. The grassroots movement represented by this bottom-up approach to starting a movement is a reminder that it all starts with individuals speaking up for the betterment of their community. I thought it was really that after one change, the community saw how much it improved their town, and went on to install solar lighting in their cemetery. Tocca represents the small changes we need to see happen everywhere. I am interested to know if the residents are disturbed by the noise or appearance of the turbines, as in America that seems to have been the reasoning for some resistance. That, and U.S. citizens have cheap access to electricity, and have little motivation to change simply because Mother Earth would thank them. One thing is obvious, we cannot stay on this track forever. Change must occur. For towns like Tocca that recognize this, the future looks good, but for those of us ignoring the signs, we're in for a rude awakening as oil prices continue to rise, and nonrenewable resources are depleted.
I found the hyperlink--don't know why it's white!
ReplyDeleteThere is much discussion about wind power off-shore of Va. and much controversy.
This article was very interesting. It provides hope because of what this small town in the mounts of Italy did; integrated efficient ways to produce energy that is also green. One thing that stood out to me was that it seemed like the town had been able to use these energy efficient practices without compromising its historical background or identity as a whole. It makes me very hopeful that soon whole countries will be run on green energy like the town. It takes small steps to reach what should be the ultimate goal of sustainability, and this town took a large step forward. We could all learn from them.
ReplyDeleteThis article was really very interesting and quite surprising as well. I have not really heard of any hugely successful projects with wind turbines in the United States, and it is very surprising to see that such a small Italian town has been able to be so successful with the wind turbines. I think it certainly gives hope to other countries and provides a great example of success with wind turbines, even in such a small and less wealthy area. I also think it is great that they have been able to develop more efficient and quiet wind turbines, because I know that noise has been a large complaint in the past. Maybe the Sun Chips bag will also be able to move past its initial noise issue as well.
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