OntheWilderSide

Adrienne Esposito

Newsday OPINION: Look to renewables for LI’s future

by ADRIENNE ESPOSITO. AND KYLE RABIN /

Proactively creating our renewable energy future will create high-tech jobs, keep energy dollars in the local economy, improve our health and protect natural resources. Long Island is already home to highly skilled professional solar and wind-system installers who are ready to get to work constructing the region’s new energy future. We should aim to expand this sector with business incentives for manufacturers of solar cells and systems, wind turbine blades, generators and other manufactured parts.

The environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy are widely known and supported by policymakers, officials and residents on Long Island . We all benefit from improved air quality, reduced rates of respiratory ailments and fewer sick days and hospital visits. Phasing out our fossil-fuel power plants will also improve the health of coastal ecosystems that are damaged every day by the antiquated cooling intake systems currently used at National Grid’s power plants.

The transition to 100 percent renewable generation will, of course, take time. And there is the daunting dilemma of determining the future of the five National Grid power plants. Their ownership, repowering and operation need to be determined in the context of a plan that leads to their retirement – not a recommitment to using them for the next 30 years. Repowering these plants is the greatest idea of the 20th century. [emphasis added.] Now we need a plan for the 21st. Repowering shouldn’t take precedence over advancing renewable options.

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