NY mayor envisages city powered by wind

By Daniel Pimlott in New York
Published: August 21 2008 03:00

Michael Bloomberg, New York mayor, hopes to put windmills on top of Manhattan's skyscrapers and bridges and build windfarms in the Atlantic as part of an effort to cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions.
"I think it would be a thing of beauty if, when [the Statue of Liberty] looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean windfarm," said Mr Bloomberg at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Building offshore windfarms far out in the Atlantic Ocean could generate as much as 10 per cent of the city's energy needs within a decade, the mayor said.
The city is now asking companies to come forward with proposals to build on public and private property.
Mr Bloomberg said he had spoken to the oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens - a prominent wind evangelist - about his plan.
Mr Pickens and others have been touting the potential of wind power in the US as energy prices have risen to record highs. In a report published earlier this year the Department of Energy found wind could provide 20 per cent of the country's electricity by the year 2030.
Mr Bloomberg also lambasted presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain for their energy policies, attacking Mr Obama's recent support for offshore oil drilling and Mr McCain's advocacy of giving taxes on petrol a summer holiday. "We ought to be getting a real debate on our energy future from our major presidential candidates," he said. "Instead, sadly, they're treating us to a political silly season."
It is doubtful that the Empire State building's spire will have a windmill affixed to it any time soon - even Mr Bloomberg called turbines on skyscrapers "relatively unlikely".
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008