SF TO BUILD CITY WIND

San Francisco tilts toward wind power
Heather Knight, September 29, 2009 (SF Chronicle)

"The two famous windmills in Golden Gate Park could soon have a lot of company as a broad array of city officials, business leaders and environmentalists push for streamlined, modern versions to spring up…at Twin Peaks, Treasure Island, the Civic Center, Ocean Beach, the San Francisco Zoo, city parks and the airport as demonstration sites for how urban wind farms could help power San Francisco [and educate city residents about rooftop wind]…

"The ideas proposed in [a new] San Francisco [task force] study are intended to help the city reach its goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. While turbines are typically associated with farms and rural areas, cities like San Francisco are increasingly interested in using what is considered a cleaner energy generator…Boston's Logan Airport has turbines, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has talked of installing them on skyscrapers. But task force members said they aren't aware of another city that's studied the idea in such detail."

Airtricity utility-scale turbines in a parking lot on the outskirts of London. Why not? (click to enlarge)

"…San Francisco has just a few turbines now, but the 44-member task force - composed of leaders in the wind industry, environmentalists, business representatives and others - envisions a lot more…[It] wants the city to develop a wind map of San Francisco to show where the wind's velocity, pressure, direction and turbulence would work best for installing turbines.

"In addition, the group recommended the city partially offset the permitting costs for installing wind turbines, offer incentive programs for wind startups based in San Francisco, revise its green building codes to require that future buildings have space for turbines, and look at revising zoning rules that govern height limits for the turbines. [Mayor Gavin] Newsom plans to move forward quickly with many of the report's recommendations, some of which can be done through executive order…"

Aerovironment's Architectural Wind at Boston's Logan Airport. (click to enlarge)

"Newsom, who has made his environmental initiatives as mayor a centerpiece of his run for governor, has often been criticized for his green ideas that sound intriguing, but are impractical…But the urban wind idea seems to have more across-the-board acceptance…

"...[The] president of Blue Green Pacific, which manufactures wind turbines in the Bayview, served on the task force…[and] said there's a long way to go in making the technology worthwhile for the average homeowner; right now, devices small enough to be installed on a home don't capture enough wind power to make the cost of roughly $3,000 worthwhile…[The general manager of] the W Hotel…served on the task force and is trying to get funding to help the hotel pay to install two or three rooftop turbines. He envisions leading tours for other businesses…"