Wind As Productive Energy

Nasa Picture
Today as the unaffected rest of us in the United States go about our workaday lives, about a million harried and displaced residents in the Southern part of California, specifically San Diego County, are caught in the vise-like grip of fear and uncertainty caused by fearsome conflagrations unabatedly fueled by fierce winds popularly referred to by natives as the gusty Santa Ana winds. This added deadly factor has made possible the indiscriminate razing of hundreds of thousand of acres dotted with many precious residences, in spite of having the best fire-fighting technology and people in the world. Many separate fires that now may have been purposely started by loathsome arsonists.

We no doubt fully understand the destructive powers of wind energy in deadly combination with other factors, such as dry as tinderbox conditions in certain wooded or grass areas whether accidentally or purposely combusted with the introduction of sparks or fire.

And overly cautious people that we are, I and the wife wondered whether such an unwanted calamity could happen in our very neck of the woods, Tracy, in Northern California. We see hills and mountains to the west, openly bald-headed and coated brown by dead flora. And we have the added ingredient of gusty winds, too. The Altamont Pass being home to thousands of wind turbines that rely on steady streams of winds to turn them on.

And of course, it could happen. As a matter of fact, it has happened in the recent past and we used to see unmistakable signs of their aftermath as evidenced by easily distinguishable blackened spots while driving through the pass after reading or hearing about them.

While cognizant of its gale-force destructive powers, we like to think of the wind in more benign, soothing and constructive ways. The wind as fatherly image blowing on lifeless sails of ships carrying homeward-bound sailors to familiar ports, or so our early children’s books used to fancifully regale us with.


The Altamont Pass which actually knifes through a range of stretched-out hills of comparative height and ominously called Diablo Range, is precisely one such location where wind energy has been harnessed to provide an alternate source to electrify our homes, our businesses and industries. The pass and several other locations in the state proudly define the area’s worthy contributions to the country’s resolve to tap other sources of energy to satiate our ever-growing needs for power. A commendable drive toward possibly independence from foreign energy sources such as oil.

Geographically the pass could be considered a defining landmark for Tracy because it separates it from its western neighbors. Like the daring riding adventures in the Western movies of the past, the narrow mountain pass with its maze of winding uphill and downhill grade have to be carefully negotiated to arrive in Tracy from the west. And would be the only straight and direct way to Tracy, of course, discounting the other surface roads and the original Altamont Pass Road which can be taken as alternate routes when not using Interstate 580.

But beyond this romanticized depiction of the pass, the Altamont Pass is stellar because of the pivotal role it plays in the generation of wind energy for the state.

According to the California Energy Commission, the pass is one of several major wind energy resource areas in the state, the rest are: Solano, Pacheco Pass, Tehachapi Ranges, and San Gorgonio Pass.

On this list two are located in Northern California, namely Solano and Altamont.

Three sites on the list, namely Altamont, San Gorgonio Pass and Tehachapi Ranges, comprise 95 percent of the commercial wind energy generated in the state. And to understand the global impact of this production, this represents 11% of the world’s wind- generated energy.

And to reduce further to terms we can more readily relate to:

“With an average California household using 6,500 kWh of electricity per year, 3.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of annual electricity generation from wind resource in the state provides electricity sufficient to power over 530,000 homes.”

Altamont alone generates 1.071 gWh from 4,788 wind turbines (2003 figures), making it the world’s largest wind farm in terms of number of turbines. These turbines are spread out on hilltops stretching some 15 kilometers in diameter, many of them visible from the highway.

So gusty winds are not necessarily bad all the time. At the very least like most fortuitous events in nature, they are indifferent.

And loosely speaking if it is any consolation, Southern California’s ongoing wind-caused losses may somehow be offset by Northern California’s benefits from wind-generated energy resources.

Credits for Altamont panoramic picture.

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Tracy, CA: Is it Biker-Friendly?

Lately I have had ample opportunity to look into the bicycles that have been sitting idly in the storage sheds at the back, slowly collecting dust and becoming hapless victims to rust.

They have been cleaned, greased, re-aligned, tires pumped, and finally checked off as roadworthy. So now I am the grateful user of three bikes of different sizes and configurations. One is a full-sized menacing Fuji racer left behind some years back by my twins when they finally left the house for good. The other two while of similar stance and profile have different uses, one having balloon tires and intended off-road, while the other has racer tires and looks like the typical wimpy road bike. The hulky off-roader was left by my daughter who moved to another house, and the wimpy one I believe was left behind by a girlfriend of one of the twins and never reclaimed


So now the late autumn afternoons have seen me exploring the immediate environs of our development, treading faithfully along bike/pedestrian lanes which fortunately encircle the entire grid bounded by Lammers to the West, Corral Hollow to the South, and Byron Road and 11th St., North and South respectively. Stretching maybe close to three miles circumferentially, it makes for a good afternoon workout.

The few leisurely driving jaunts that we have taken around the city, going through the new and not- so- new residential housing developments around the city made us aware of their ample provision for bike lanes along inside roads and around the outside perimeters. Thus, one has been encouraged to plan for extended ventures farther out of the comforting familiarity of home and to boldly explore the many storied nooks and crannies of the city of Tracy.

Driving around one cannot miss the many bike lanes around city streets. And a little Googling even informs us that the city is ever vigilant about providing bike lanes, when it can and has the opportunity. Thus, a bike lane(s) with no parking allowed will stretch along Grant Line from Corral Hollow to Tracy Boulevard. Has this particular ordinance been passed and implemented? Will try to see the next time I get the chance to drive over in that area.

So from that scanty perspective one is predisposed to declare that Tracy appears to be biker-friendly enough. But the next few months will confirm or challenge that when I do get the chance to pedal my bike along the different areas. Till then.

From where I have been, I have seen many bare-headed bike riders. So bike crash helmets are not mandatory in Tracy? Google was not helpful in assisting me on this score.

Officer Sir, Mr. Policeman. Can you supply me with the answer to this question? It would be seriously appreciated.

What Differences Perspectives Make!

My blogmate Phil over at PhilippinesPhil ponders on certain observations acquired with living life large in the country of his Filipina wife. Certain life experiences that are judged unique or different enough to merit a comparative look to life in his old homeland, The United States. And since our family is on the same boat except that it has gone the opposite way, couldn’t help but be piqued with interest at his and his commenters observations.

So I thought I’d scribble a thing or two about it, this time from the perspective of the observee rather than the observer.

And I say what differences perspectives make! And stoutly glad to note that the observations are coming from transplanted residents in my old homeland, the Philippines.

Because we ex-pat Filipinos know too well that indeed during daytime and all through the night, Filipinos tend to congregate outside their houses and converse in audibly loud conversations among the neighbors. Children cavort on streets and are shooed indoors only when daylight has faded. And houses are so located and constructed such that neighbors invariably hear what the others are listening on radio, the kind of music being played, and even intimate conversations among family members. And even what the neighbors are cooking because the smells waft through and permeate the neighborhood from open windows and doors. And this even when tall fences separate the houses.

And city streets are almost always crammed with pedestrians walking about or simply loitering around. Even driving around or between towns can be hazardous given the propensity of residents, their pets and fowl, to walk in the middle of or cross over roads and highways unmindful of vehicular traffic.

People appear to be everywhere. And even people passing by your house look and stare at whoever they can find visible, whether outside or from open windows or doors.

This revealing difference almost always gets into my conversations with the wife during our trips back.

And we think that a good part of the reason for this is the hot and humid weather which carries over even into the dead of night. Thus, many males loitering outside are naked from the waist up, in shorts and slippers, or in sando (sleeveless T-shirts). Staying indoors, especially where accommodations are tight and crowded, can be quite challenging. Staying outdoors as long as practicable then becomes the practical alternative.

I confess I revert to this practice when I get back there, retracing childhood when going to our rooms was when it was time to sleep, no earlier and no later. Except when the rains come. But then it gets cool enough inside for comfort.

Of course, a happy part of the culture is also being gregarious, leading to a lot of fraternizing and exchanging tsismis (light banter) with the neighbors. Some would say, tending toward being busybodies.

And needless to state, many poor people in a third-world setting practically live outdoors anyway. Their abodes very crude and threadbare, their worldly possessions very minimal.

Small-Mindedness, Pettiness, And Unkindness

Qualities that easily come to mind when thinking about human interaction.

Though one is confident that we try to avoid exhibiting them in the countless situations where we have to interact with our fellow humans, whether on a personal face-to-face basis or remotely like when writing.

But be that as it may, we still find ourselves falling into that undesirable rut, manifesting signs of being small-minded, petty, and unkind. It can’t be helped all the time. We are naturally slanted toward paying attention to interminable details and minutiae in our everyday workaday lives. We tend to be blinded by our self-righteous views of our own selves, giving way to unmindful neglect of the delicate feelings of others.

Still, we have to take that extra effort, lest it also infects the broader aspects of our lives that require us to be more open and tolerant to the larger realities around us.

I fear that this situation is quite widespread in the newest medium which have opened for us limitless access to the most numbers of people around the world, through their creative works or writings in the virtual library which is the Internet.

We are not only gregarious but socially competitive. Scoring points with others gives the animus and impetus to feel good about ourselves. Feeling justified and satisfied. That we are smart and can compete and fare well with similarly-blest individuals. We must confess we get some “kicks” going this way. But in the process, do we have to bring others down, so we can promote ourselves and our ideas? Thus, is it necessary to, say, bring the United States down because we want to promote the idea the we are just as good as them, in the areas of social mores, intelligence, politics, or what have you? Or, to namecall other persons who we find espousing ideas or publicly acting when perceived to be inferior to ours?

I specifically point as example to a well-read Philippine blog, who will only introduce any subject about the US, if in the process the country can be disparaged and portrayed in a bad light. Thus, while entries like this are far and in between, one can almost be sure that when the occasional entry involves the US, it will be because it can be parlayed as a shill piece invariably having the US come out as the unlovable villian, with the possible exception of entries involving Hollywood movies, which of course are US originated. Is it simply a manifestation of visceral hatred or dislike? Does a person harbor such unrelenting disdain for such a huge and diverse entity? Does such a one wake up in the morning, feeling cheery, generous, loving, etc. but at the same time concurrently harboring, however latently, this long-running disdain for a country so that when the opportunity and occasion align, another fusillade will be forthcoming?

I am not saying that this happens uniquely to this one individual, because I also witness this in others, who typically come out as very passionate and oozing with love for country, family, honor, and all the good stuff.

Is it possible then for such two irreconcilable extremes to co-exist in one mind or personality? Love wildly, but hate wildly, too?

This continues to baffle me. Not because I see myself as this pristine and could do no wrong storehouse of virtues and grace. But because, if as a transgressor myself I can see the falsehood of certain of my actions and am impelled when discovered to resolve to rectify and make amends, aren’t these same epiphanies shared by all of humanity?

Or is it simply, the case of the “square peg in the round hole”?