Originally published November 4 2005
New York towns turn to wind power as an alternative energy source
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The town of Ramapo, NY, agreed to purchase 5% of its yearly energy expenditure from Community Energy Inc. in the form of wind power, an increasingly common alternative energy source that many communities in New York now use as a portion of their energy budget.
The Ramapo Town Board this week approved a measure to purchase wind power as a renewable alternative energy source.
The board unanimously voted Wednesday to contract with Pennsylvania-based Community Energy Inc. to buy $4,583, or 5 percent of the town's total energy expenditure, worth of wind power.
Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said the one-year contract would be used by the energy company to purchase wind turbines like those on farmland in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and increase the amount of wind that powers the electric grid in the state.
The wind-power electricity is added to the electrical grid remotely and becomes part of the mix.
The town follows the lead of the county and Rockland Community College, which both agreed to one-year contracts with the company earlier this year at 5 and 10 percent respectively.
In saying the town may increase its purchase amount in the future, St. Lawrence noted some Lower Hudson Valley communities like New Castle, North Castle, Croton-on-Hudson and Woodstock had each bought 29 percent of their energy expenditures through wind power.
Paul Copleman, a spokesman for Community Energy, said since the company's creation in 1999 more than 40 municipalities in the state had purchased wind power.
Although Ramapo was the first town in the county to purchase wind power, Orangetown Town Supervisor Thom Kleiner said the Town Board would continue to look into how wind power could offset energy costs as well as the purchase of hybrid vehicles, like Ramapo has.
Nathan Oberman, Ramapo's receiver of taxes, said the purchase of the wind power would cost the town about a penny more per kilowatt hour.
The town will pay 2.35 cents per kilowatt hour on top of the 6.43 cents per kilowatt hour it pays to Hudson Energy Services, the town's energy provider.
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