Windmills of your mind

Our Energy Systems class drove to the northern areas of the finger lakes today to see a wind farm. Although I had seen countless of wind turbines in Germany, it was my first time to be near one and I got really impressed by its shear size. Would you believe its propellers' end-to-end span is as long as a typical intercontinental Airbus?



Our professor making faces ...


We learned a lot of things today, but mostly about the intricacies of politics and how such a wonderful technology would never dominate the energy market (at least in the next few decades). Will we see more of this in the future? It depends on how we quickly wean ourselves away from oil and coal. The idealistic side of me hopes for oil prices to continue soaring in order for cleaner substitutes to be developed. However, just like anybody else, the prospect of making oil and coal luxury goods scares the hell out of me. I still dream of traveling around the world, and I believe this is one of the few perks I get for choosing the not-so-lucrative career path of an academic. Of course, traveling around the world means burning oil and expensive oil means expensive airfares. It's conflicting really. I have two dissonant ambitions: ending our fossil fuel addiction and seeing the world.

Windmills won't be able to create cheaper flights. I just hope that when that time comes, when we cannot afford to pay for airfares anymore, Yas and I are already living together in one place.