Nearly a year ago, the U.S. Navy revealed that it was looking to trim its electricity bill at Naval Station Newport by 30 percent by 2015, while having renewable sources supplying one-quarter of the base’s electricity by 2030.
The effort is not just about saving money. Trimming energy costs will keep the station from being an energy outlier when it comes time in 2015 for the next round of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission decisions to be made.
The health of Naval Station Newport is no small matter. It pumps $1.5 billion into the region’s economy annually.
Thanks to recent determinations by the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission and the Preservation Society of Newport County, however, there is cause for concern.
According to the Newport Daily News, both bodies have told the Navy that the majority of the dozen potential sites identified for wind turbines in Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth would have negative effects on the visual integrity of many historical properties and could have a negative impact on cultural tourism.
It is true that Rhode Island’s history is one of its greatest assets. But as a state with much of its built environment at sea level, the rise in ocean levels caused by climate change is a real threat to its future.
Building wind turbines in Newport may be a small thing in the grand scheme of renewable energy (especially when compared to industrial-scale, wind-energy farms off the coast). But they would make a real difference in the state’s carbon footprint.
Viewing windmills from an old house on Newport’s historic waterfront is not a degradation of the waterfront’s integrity. Rather it is a sign that we care as much about the future as we do the past. •