Back in July 2021, our family set up on a road trip northward to Maine. Shortly after passing New York City, we were on I-95 heading north along the Rhode Island Coastline. My Dad, who is an engineer in the energy industry, pointed in the direction of the Atlantic, and said “if you look closely there lies the tiny Block Island and you may get to see the very first offshore wind farm in the US.” He went on to say something I still vaguely remember—that these towering offshore turbines are so gigantic that one spin can generate enough power to keep the needs met for one household.
Figure 1: Five General Electric Wind Turbines near Block Island, first in the nation
My mind back then dreamed about the unique landscape of Acadia National Park and all the trails I plan to hit during the upcoming vacation, so what my dad said did not quite register initially. Then, fast forward to August 2023, I run into an article published by Brown University, and read with some alarm that “by 2050, the New England Coastal region is likely to see between 1.1 and 1.8 feet of relative sea level rise and potentially 3 to 4.6 feet by 2100, inundating land and critical infrastructure.” This statement is shocking because that would mean that our favorite spot at Acadia, the low-tide sandbar that my brother and I spend almost the entire day on, would be wiped out by this “sea change” (literally)!
Figure 2: Family Trip to Acadia National Park, July 2021
I read on this article to lean that an NSF grant has set up the 3CRS—Community-driven Coastal Climate Research and Solutions—program to research the RI and ME coastal communities who may bear the blunt of impacts by sea level rise. It is interesting to think that the very same coastal communities are also on the forefront to address this climate change crisis. In the past seven years since the commercial operation of the Block Island Offshore Windfarm, a wave of windfarm projects developed in almost every New England state could bring in a hundred times more clean electricity than Block Island.
In the meantime, these projects are opposed by environmental groups, many of which are undoubtedly from the same coastal communities, such as whale and seabird protections groups who worry about habitat change. Then, there are fishermen who are concerned with yield loss due to the gigantic structures. It is a double-edged sword indeed.
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