Well ...Good Morning Populace of The World. First the good news.....my (S) key is working again, I know that just makes your day. On to the real important issue of the day. ENERGY!
Let us start our journey with our Federal Governments Energy Policy....... hold on just a minute,... I'm still looking for it?... Seems I am unable to find it... It must be in some committee waiting for further clearafacation?........No!....I found it..........It is in the Vice Presidents Pocket...He won't let us see it though because of "Natural Security Concerns" and the "War On Terror" thing, and after all how can he do his job if everyone knows everything!.....Hmmm, I'm going to have to think on that one.
OK, on to the State of Confusion, I mean Massachusetts. Seems their policy changes with the wind,... (I put that in for the professor, :~) ) Anyway at the present time they seem to want to turbineize the State with windmills, but not where any self-important persons, like Senators, can see them. It is not a good thing to ruin the beauty of the view, you know? (White man speak with forked tong)(White man has two faces) etc....
Locally how can we lower our energy costs? Notice I didn't say energy needs! We live in an energy demanding and consuming world so for (Them, the energy producing and supplying corporations) telling me to conserve as a way to energy independence, is kind of an oxymoron of sorts. Again I would like to ask why we can't put our water power back into service? Instead of tearing down the dams, why can't we fix um up and power up the hydro generators? I don't think that there was even a feasibility study done to see if it would be cost effective. You don't need an outside expensive private enterprise to do the preliminary work. Hell... send out the City Engineer and have him make few measurements and make some calculations. He is after all on the City payroll and he is an Engineer! Dam...even if we just power up the municipal needs it would be a big savings for the City. What do you think? Wind power or water power?
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23 comments:
Water power in the flood chute is impossible.The elevation drop from Beaver St to Brown St is only 15 feet.
Hydro power using the Eclipse Dam was considered by the City years ago-----we had a grant to hire a consultant----he(they) thought it was feasable-----however, state regs- forbade the same company that did the feasability study from bidding on the contract--- and we had no takers-- as I recall Dave Carver was interested--but he would have had to do a second feasability study-- and the project bacame cost prohibitive---now this was some years ago-- but it was explored---as far as the Clarksburg Dam being useful for hydro--- I doubt it-- and besides that's C'Burg--and not NA---- windmills suck-- chbpod
Actually the elevation drop from Beaver St. to Brown St. is 250 feet, and from Beaver St. to where the flood control shoot starts is 120 feet drop in elevation.....I guess you were never a Boy Scout?
chpbod...so it is something that is workable with monitary backing. Mybe some sort of grant, federal or state would defer the cost? (I love Grants) I really don't get these feasability study shit. If one is done then it should be good for many years or unless the land changes drasticly? Is the study at City Hall on record and available for the public? It isn't another Top Secret, war on terror, naional defence eyes only document,...is it? :~)
I have no idea---if it's still there-- it might not be of much use as I'm sure the technology has changed---I trying to remember when this transpired---I know I attended some meetings in City Hall with the consultant----as a City Councilor (I think) could have been the Lamb administration-- maybe early Barrett----the proposal called for the installation of an in ground turbine just below the Eclipse Dam---the water would go through the turbine and generate electricity---I can't remember the amount--probably not enough to supply Al Gore's mansion-- it would be sold to the Grid---I wanted it to somehow connect to East (Sullivan) School-- so that it would have some municipal benefit-----but that wasn't possible---chbpod
It is good soul food for me to know that at least it was considered. There is hope after all! Thanks!
Southview, I was told by my grandfather who was around before cars came to NA, that there is/was a large sluce from Fish Pond that comes out some where near the FYP, not sure if its still there, but could be a candidate for revival.
Maybe the two ends of the state could make a trade off. We put up some windmills and they install water turbines that are spun from the motion of the waves.
There is also a project planned for the East river where they are going to install windmill looking generators on the river bottom and feed the grid in Manhattan I believe.
da snoop...That was the hydro source ( the fish pond ) for the Hunter Machine Shop. A mill that stood where the City Hall now stands.
As a side note of intrest to the history buffs.....My Great Grand Father and his three sons all worked at the Hunter Machine Shop when they migrated from Kamouraska, Quebec, Canada in 1898. After working there for a year, one of my Great Uncles said "Screw This" and went back to Canada to Homested in Alberta, Canada. The rest settled into NA. Hence...Here I Be....
How do you figure a 250b drop from Beaver St. to Brown St Mr. boy scout? I measured it with an altimiter and it barely showed a drop...
anonymous...Your altimiter is brokin! Buy a real one this time at an electronics store, not at Wally Worlds Discount Dollar Bin...or you could just look at a topo map, if you can read one?
You have one hell of a way of talking to people. Are you one of those people that is no good in the morning before your first pint of whiskey ?
So his grand father was a immigrant, his father was a migrant and he is a vagrant....ha ha ha eat my shorts you bum...
I THINK-- therefore I could be in error--- but I think that Windsor Lake(Fishpond) suppied water to the Arnold Print Works -where Mass MoCA is now-- not Hunter Machine---the need for a water supply would be greater for the textile mill more so that a machine shop-- wouldn't it???? chbpod
You are both wrong.Fish Pond was for the Windsor Print Works on Union St.It now drains into the flood chute and once a long time ago the city tried to draw down Fish Pond in the winter and someone forgot to shut the valve off and nearly drained the pond which messed up fishing there for several years.
Windsor Print is right----I guess that explains why fishpond was not officially named Lake Arnold---chbpod
The Arnold Print now Mass MOCA got its water from the Tunnel Brook dam near the Hoosac Tunnel.Sprague used it for years and drained it for cleaning every so often back before tree huggers cried about such things.This dam is cement lined and quite deep at 25 feet or so but is now silted in. Sprague used it for the wash rooms and industrial purposes.
Anyone know who owns it now?
Maybe the City owns it-- but it's possible that it's on Guilford RR property---chbpod
See how much I really thought I new but didn't? I should join FAUX NEWS! So which mill did it (fishpond) feed? The union street mill would have been tough to feed, given that the elevation of the lake is much lower than the surrounding topagraphy and it is all ledge in the direction of the mill. I'l "ASK THE LIBRARIAN" or someone check the City Hall old records so we can all get back to being SMART again!
I doubt that the city or the railroad ownes the Tunnel Brook dam.Dams are a giant liability and if you don't have a need you don't own it.It was the property of Sprague Electric and maybe still is ???? But I still have to wonder who does own it ?
American Annuity may well be the owner.As I said it is silted in and from time to time beavers block it off and it refills. An interesting thing about this pond is that there are two brooks that feed in to it.One is Tunnel Brook and the other has no name.The no name brook is only a few hundred feet long and it never freezes.Also it gushes out of a pool and is always full of silt. I have often wondered if it is drainage from Hoosac Tunnel or a warm water spring.To bad the Tunnel Brook is full of chemicals from another brook that runs through the dump and into Tunnel Brook and into this dam.
Sprague Electric used to own a lot of real estate in the area of the old dam. I was told that it was all sold and privatly owned, the dam included. Small scale hydro has great potential, and despite the propoganda, it is one of the fastest growing sources of renewalable energy world wide. There are many small dams on the rivers in new england, but no subsidies in this state. Must be they don't make people feel good!
We all know that the cost of electricity continues to rise and will in the forseable future. Every little hydro generator we have running, where ever, can add to the grid and in the long run bring a substancial savings to the city. Sometimes a lot of little something is better than one big something. Not counting the big dams we already have, we have many many brooks that are premo spots for small hydro stations. These are usually very friendly to the enviroment, so the tree huggers should be happy, (that is if they are ever happy with development) They create many jobs during construction, and after construction in the way of maintenance personal. They are very green systems not adding any pollution to the water, and very easy to maintain. the payback would be almost instantious. So what is not to like...Or we could put up some Windmills insted? :~) I've thrown the ball in the air...now lets see if it can be caught?
What ever became of the small hydro on the Housatonic in the Glendale section Great Barrington that was up and running a few years ago? I believe a school teacher named Mary Heather spent a lot of money to get it going again after years of neglect.
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