On Tuesday morning, National Public Radio's Morning Edition program ran a report describing the installation of a small wind turbine on the campus of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne, Mass. “Small” turbine is a relative term. At 83 feet high, it is substantial, but tiny compared to the monstrous turbines proposed for the Nantucket Sound right off the coast of Cape Cod.
    According to this report, the U.S. government has proposed 20 percent of our energy consumption should come from wind within two decades. Much of the radio report focused on the fact that all those turbines will need experts to service them– expertise the students at the school are learning by constructing and operating the turbine.
    Could such a program be feasible in South Portland?
    Southern Maine Community College may have shifted its focus, but it's traditional technical curriculum remains strong. The industrial waterfront to the north of the school could provide opportunities for erecting such machines.
    That industrial waterfront, as necessary as it is to the region's energy supplies, is not exactly the most appealing section of Maine's vast coastline, especially when viewed from the site of the future Ocean Gateway on the opposite side of the harbor. Could turbines be used as a sort of shield or veil to obscure the oil depots and storage tanks. It would be hard to see how such a project could devalue the blighted view.
    If such a proposal was explored it could have far reaching benefits. Giving students a head start in a high demand field, contribute to energy independence and possibly increase the aesthetic value of a highly visible part of the city.
    What do you think?
                –Ward Peck