Richard Kessel explained how LIPA has cut rates three times in the last two years, but it is hard to keep up with oil prices. “It’s deadly” for rates, he said.
But he doesn’t agree with new chief Kevin Law’s stance on the shuttered wind park in Babylon. He shared concerns about the costs, but he asked “find me a project that is renewable, and it’s cheaper.” Unfortunately, there is no place to put these windmills on land on Long Island.
All alternative energy projects will cost a lot up front and pay off over time, that’s the problem. Bills would rise to
cover the up-front costs, he said. And as for the windmills, Kessel swore there is no cheaper way. “In the end the wind project is going to look pretty good when oil hits $100.”
As for solar power on the per-house level, it takes a lot of time to install solar panels and if you spend the same money on them as the wind farm would have cost, you’d generate less electricity.
The bottom line is, alternative energy costs more. If we don’t want to pay, then “stick with oil and see what happens.”
A big step would be to get everybody to switch “only one bulb” to an energy efficient bulb, you’d save enough energy to power 7,000 homes.
And, for Christopher’s sake, buy Energy Star appliances, it saves money in the long run. Sage advice from our former energy captain.
[...] Remember, be nice. Kessel was a great host to LI Biz Blog this morning. [...]
I hear what Kessel is saying about renewables, but his argument about the wind farm falls neatly into the “We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.” category of argument.
If the only way to do wind power here is to spend ridiculous amounts of money, then maybe wind power isn’t appropriate for Long Island and we’ll need to thing of something else.
[...] Diner in Merrick, N.Y. It’s mostly a chat about his personal plans, but Kessel did speak out on behalf of an offshore wind energy project that the new LIPA CEO opposes: He shared concerns [...]
[...] 29th, 2007 by Henry E. Powderly II Richard Kessel might be right, oil is heading fast for $100 a barrel. Just this morning it crossed the $93 mark, and gasoline [...]
[...] 1st, 2007 by Henry E. Powderly II At our last Freshly Squeezed breakfast with former Long Island Power Authority chief Richard Kessel, LI Biz Blog left out a little bit of info the energy guru shared about compact fluorescent bulbs. [...]
Something I find slightly comical is how so many people will say that it isn’t worth it to add
solar energy to your home because it takes too long for the system to “pay itself off”. If you
save up the money and have a system installed you suddenly have a tiny utility bill, if any
bill at all. To me it’s a simple cash-flow equation.
[...] 3, 2008 by Henry E. Powderly II It has been four months since LI Biz Blog had breakfast with former Long Island Power Authority chairman Richard Kessel, though something he told us needs repeating today. “In the end the wind project is going to look [...]