Friday, March 26, 2010

Going green in Palm Springs, California. See it through the Pentax K-7.

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Hi Pentaxian friends.

We spent five days in Palm Springs this past week. We used to live there and I never realized how much there was in that desert city until we moved out. For this post, I  concentrate on how the area was going green long before we were talking about it.

The Palm Springs area is at the forefront of wind generated electricity. The San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm is a wind farm located on the eastern slope of the San Gorgonio Pass, just east of White Water, California, United States. It is one of three major wind farms in California, along with the Altamont Pass Wind Farm and the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm. I posted about the Tehachapi wind farm  last year, read it here. The pass is one of the windiest places in Southern California and marks the gateway into the Coachella Valley. The farm consists of 3,218 units delivering 615 megawatts.

In my view, there is a certain beauty to these giant wind mills. You don't realize how big they are until you get close.  When at a short distance from them, you can clearly hear the sound of the propellers cutting into the wind.

I thought of sharing these photos with you. These are an example of how we could reduce the dependency on foreign oil.

Thanks for reading,

Yvon Bourque

9 comments:

Marisa said...

I love those windmills. You know you're almost in Palm Springs when you see them. They really are humongous!

Suecae Sounds said...

Great series of photographies. As a european I agree with your sentiments. But whether the oil is domestic or foreign, its prime function is reducing dependencie on fossil fuels - which today should be considered a thing of the past.

Unknown said...

Suecae Sounds,

I agree with you for the term fossil fuels instead or foreign oil. It should be considered a thing of the past.

Unknown said...

nice photos. Its good to see clean energy start to take hold. I don't understand how anybody in the US could think that clean coal is a good idea. I'm glad California isn't still stuck in the dark ages.

Paul said...

Does anyone know how to access to this beautiful location? I'm thinking of doing a high fashion shoot at this location. Just don't know how to access to this locations. Thanks in advance.

Brian said...

I too love windmills but there are problems with these massive farms of wind machines too. There is evidence that they are drying out the land that they are on and affecting the water tables. Also, very large farms potentially may influence wind currents. We need to be careful to not assume that they are as green as we first think. Kind of like the Prius with it landfill unfriendly batteries and short lifespan, or the biofuels debacle.

Anonymous said...

Brian,

That's call the law of unintended consequence. The Law of Unintended Consequences or unintended consequences is an adage or epigram that can be defined as follows: "Any intervention in a complex system may or may not have the intended result, but will inevitably create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes. In common usage, it is a wry or humorous expression warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them. It is used in variety of different contexts in different fields of study, including Philosophy, Economics, History, and Social Sciences.

Now, we often believe that whatever scientisis or the media tells us are "Facts" but a fact is something that can be proved beyond any doubt. In your comments about the water table and wind current, I don't think they are facts.

But hey...this blog is really about photography, not ecology.:)

Brian said...

I agree Yvon, I hope that you don't feel I was trying to cause trouble. That was not my intention.

Unknown said...

Brian,

No trouble caused. I always liked the "Law of Unintended Consequences" as it is very true, but I rarely get to use it. You gave me that opportunity. :)