I wanted to thank you for your column “If not here, where?” (HCN, 12/24/12). In mid-October, a 12-panel solar array came online in my backyard. It turns out I love to generate my own power! But there was one problem. The best place for locating the array was in the middle of my backyard — disrupting a wonderful view of the Rattlesnake Valley.
My need to generate my own power began last summer. When I grudgingly went to turn on my air conditioner, it hit me how ridiculous it was that in the midst of global warming, I was going to spew out still more carbon — carbon that would be around for decades, just so I could cool off for part of an afternoon! I now feed excess power directly into the grid and use grid power when I can’t generate. This seems completely environmentally “fair” to me.
As for the fun of generating my own power, when I paid for electricity, the cost and even my environmental concern was never enough to make me hang my wash outside instead of using my dryer. Then one day, I watched how fast the electric meter ran in the wrong direction when I was using the dryer. Now, I dry my clothes 10 minutes or less, then hang them. One doesn’t generate a lot of power on dark December days, but even a small amount is produced all day. An expression related to the fight over apartheid comes to mind: “Your efforts are a drop in the ocean; but the ocean is made up of drops!”
Still, what I did to my view bothered me. It was beautiful, and it was mine, and I hurt it. And then I read your column about understanding the issue I created and now face: “Are some places too special to drill?” My own back yard, and my own view, would both be “those places,” and yet, I’d “drilled” there. As you wrote: “If it’s not in my backyard, whose is it gonna be in?”
Now I understand why what I did was a good and proper and communal thing to do. I need to see the “the machinery of my energy appetite” from my bedroom window.
William Clarke
Missoula, Montana
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A room with a view.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
