My buddy bought a car wash a few years ago. The place was a certifiable shithole when he bought it. There was no sewer connection and wastewater drained directly into a local stream. The place was run down and disgusting.
My friend decided to take this shithole of a car wash and turn it into a model for environmentally-friendly businesses. And he’s done a kick-ass job of it.
He connected to the sewer system. To further lessen the impact of the business on the water supply, he mandated biodegradable soaps and put in a recovery system to treat wastewater. Solar panels went up on the roof. Special furnaces were installed to take the waste oil from oil changes and burn it to heat the facility.
Most of these improvements take a while to pay off. It will take years to realize the investment on the solar system, for instance. But my buddy wanted to do the right thing. Sure enough, he was recognized with the NJ Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award.
Then he got the idea for the windmill…
A wind turbine would provide only about 15% of the electricity that powers the facility. But hey - my buddy was willing to make the investment to install one and take advantage of some rebates from the government. Really, it’s part of his mission to show people that businesses can cost-effectively take advantage of green technologies that will pay off in the long haul.
I don’t think he anticipated the NIMBYism.
There’s more background here on his blog , but the net-net is that certain township politicians and neighbors have objected strongly to the idea of putting a wind turbine on his property. They objected primarily due to aesthetics, but since then have been waging a war by fearmongering.
They post videos to message boards showing exploding turbines, implying that the thing will one day simply explode and shower debris all over the place. (See post #3214, which I can’t directly link to.)
They invent ridiculous claims that kids at a day care center next door are going to be hit by ice chunks from the windmill’s blades.
They object on grounds that the windmill will decrease property values by spoiling the view at a number of homes up the hill from the car wash. (Currently, the view from these homes consists of - well, the back of a car wash.)
They speculate that turning blades will distract drivers on the highway and cause them to get into accidents.
My ass.
My buddy has been really accommodating. He’s funded studies to address concerns about noise and about killing birds. He’s hired people to make sure he’s in compliance with all sorts of ordinances concerning noise. He’s already spent $25K over two years trying to cut through the red tape.
Meanwhile, local politicians are eager to take credit for supporting clean energy, while fighting my buddy’s efforts at the same time. It’s hypocritical as hell.
We’re talking about putting a windmill at a car wash on a busy highway, not in the middle of a nature preserve. NIMBYism has run amuck. And I fear that my buddy’s only recourse is to either abandon the effort and suck up the $25K loss, or proceed with a smaller turbine that wouldn’t require a variance. Of course, the smaller turbine wouldn’t generate anything close to the 15% of the facility’s energy like the larger one would. But I think he’s prepared to go with the smaller one if his efforts to install the larger one are thwarted.
It just really bugs me that there’s so much that already stands in the way of investing in green technologies. These systems are expensive, and they take a while to produce a reasonable return on investment. I think folks should embrace it when someone like my buddy comes along and wants to make these investments.
Customers already tell him that the reason they go to his car wash is because he’s making an effort to be environmentally friendly. So he is making headway in terms of being recognized locally as a business that cares about the environment. I just think it’s a shame that NIMBYists reject his good intentions in favor of the status quo. It makes me wonder when people are going to wake up with respect to the energy issues we face in the U.S.