http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/enrlp/2009/12/09/visibility-public-consciousness-and-nimbyism/ Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:59:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/enrlp/2009/12/09/visibility-public-consciousness-and-nimbyism/comment-page-1/#comment-74 John Nagle Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:22:23 +0000 http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/enrlp/?p=58#comment-74 The NIMBY idea that seeing how energy is produced could affect how we want to produce it builds upon a lot of the recent writing about food production, and thus holds some promise. My experience at Notre Dame, though, raises some questions. Our coal-fired power plant is right on the edge of campus, and while that has made students and faculty alert to minimizing the pollution from the plant, I haven't heard any suggestions that it prompts people to want to switch from coal altogether. In fact, proximity to energy production sources may backfire against renewable energy, for wind farms and solar projects are provoking lots of aesthetic complaints from neighbors throughout the country. The NIMBY idea that seeing how energy is produced could affect how we want to produce it builds upon a lot of the recent writing about food production, and thus holds some promise. My experience at Notre Dame, though, raises some questions. Our coal-fired power plant is right on the edge of campus, and while that has made students and faculty alert to minimizing the pollution from the plant, I haven’t heard any suggestions that it prompts people to want to switch from coal altogether. In fact, proximity to energy production sources may backfire against renewable energy, for wind farms and solar projects are provoking lots of aesthetic complaints from neighbors throughout the country.

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