What is it with billionaires and wind farms?
Famous oil magnate T. Boone Pickens has received equal parts praise and ridicule for suggesting that a giant wind farm in the Texas panhandle is part of the answer to the country's energy woes.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg now has a similar proposal, except he thinks the windfarm should be in Manhattan. Bloomberg wants to festoon the city's skyscrapers and bridges with wind turbines as part of a broader effort to turn the Big Apple green. CBS:
The mayor's "windmill power plan" is the boldest environmental proposal yet from the billionaire independent, who has been trying to make energy efficiency a legacy of his administration.
Speaking at a major conference on alternative energy Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Bloomberg proposed putting windmills on top of city bridges, and skyscrapers, and turbines in the Hudson and East Rivers.
"When it takes to producing clean power, we're determined to make New York the number one city in the nation," said Bloomberg.
Think Bloomberg is bluffing? Think again. The mayor is apparently so serious about the idea that he met with the wind god himself:
...the mayor had lunch with T. Boone Pickens - the oil baron trying to build the world's largest wind farm in Texas - to talk about possibilities for such technology in New York City. Bloomberg gave companies until September 19 to submit innovative proposals to make the city "greener" by 2030:
"It would be a thing of beauty if when "Lady Liberty" looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants to our shores but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean wind farm," the mayor said.
Maybe, but as New York taxpayers, we do wonder how much these exotic systems are going to cost. Sure, it would be great if Lady Liberty were powered by a wind farm, or hamster wheel, or a giant potato battery, but not if it means a substantial increase to city tax rates which are already extortionary.
