WIND TURBINE ECONOMICS - HIGH EXPECTATIONS

A 1.5 megawatt wind turbine built by the town of Portsmouth cost $2.3 million.

The first year’s return on investment (after maintenance costs) was $488,000. Am I hearing this right? Private investors, are you listening?

Some quick calculations, just for scale: 32 of the large Portsmouth wind generators would provide the equivalent of all the residential electric use in South Kingstown. The density would be one wind turbine for every 1,142 acres. Total price tag would be about 2/3 of what was spent on rebuilding the Ocean House in Westerly. By a private investor.

Advantages. Once built, the cost of electricity doesn’t go up with the price of fuel. And the air is just a little cleaner. The planet is just a little cooler. Lower energy costs attract business. And there is less need to send dollars to the Middle East to buy oil. Not to mention real jobs in the construction industry for decades to come. So what are we waiting for?

The answer is leadership. Germany has done it. Denmark has done it. Rhode Island can do it. What we need is a framework of policies that will pave the way for this incredible opportunity. Send me to Providence as your Representative and, one by one, I will make sure every legislator understands the facts about wind power. We have waited long enough. It’s time to get started. The primary on Sept. 14 is your chance to set some new things in motion. Please vote.

- Spencer

originally published 9/9/2010 in the South County Independent

FUNDING FOR THE GREAT RESEARCH UNIVERSITY - HIGHER EXPECTATIONS

There are some great URI success stories. American Power Conversion was brought to this state and built into what it is by a man who is Rhode Island’s most successful industrialist of our time. His father was a professor at URI. Without URI, there would be no APC. Or how about URI graduate Tom Ryan. Without Tom Ryan, would CVS be what it is? Would it be headquartered here?

Measured by inflation-adjusted dollars, the state appropriation to URI has gone down from $105 million in 2002 to just $55 million in the current fiscal year. That’s a drop of 48%. In the last three years alone, state funding has been cut by over 30%. Does that make sense to you? Are you satisfied that’s the best use of your tax dollar?

Well, I’m not satisfied. I believe the time has come to reverse the trend of disinvesting in the very economic engine that has driven our economy. Send me to Providence as your Representative, and I will carry your message. One by one, I will make sure the other legislators know these stories. One by one, I will make sure they understand the connection between investing in URI and the future prosperity of this state. It’s your children’s future. They deserve nothing less.

- Spencer


originally published 9/2/2010 in the South County Independent

THE REGISTRY – HIGH EXPECTATIONS

It is the front office of state government. You have to miss a half a day’s work and wait two or three hours for a simple transaction. And now it’s not even open on Saturday mornings. Is that okay with you?

How about this: A consultant moves his business to Rhode Island. But he’s lived in New York for some years and let his home state license lapse. So he goes to the registry and they tell him he’s got a four-month wait for a road test. Is that good for business? Is that okay with you?

And now you read that they spent millions on building renovations and nothing is different? Is that okay?

Well, it’s not okay with me. There are good, hard-working, people at every level of state government who are just as frustrated as you are. The Registry is the tip of the iceberg. I know people in government today who could turn these problems around.

They just need to be turned loose. Send me to Providence as your Representative. I will bring your message of higher expectations. I will start that process. You’re paying for it and you deserve nothing less.

-Spencer

originally published 8/19/2010 in the South County Independent