Northern Maine Helps Lead the Way in Green Energy

Oakfield Maine- Usually when people think of Northern Maine they do not think forefront of technology. This mindset may be changed in the eyes of environmental activists in the coming years. Aroostook County already has one operational wind farm set in Marshill, and three others in different stages of production. Oakfield Maine homes the next wind farm scheduled for completion.

Upon completion the wind farm in Oakfield Maine will make Aroostook County the leading provider of wind powered energy in the state with 93 mega watts of green power. Aroostook will also be ranked with Washington as the only state with two active windmill sites. The Oakfield wind farm is scheduled to have 34, 1.5 mega watt windmills producing 51 mega watts of power in total. This power output is enough to supply 20,000 homes with power, almost a third of the population of Aroostook County and not everyone lives alone.

Oakfield will also be the first town in the state to enact guidelines regulating the impacts of windmills on the environment and community. The consulting fees for these guidlines cost the town $90,000. They cover noise production from both construction and use of the windmills. First Wind is required to warn homeowners 3 weeks in advance of blasting. Considerations were also made to, ice thrown, birds and bats, wetlands, property values, recreational and public access concerns, and shadow flicker, a strobe light effect caused by windmill blades blocking the sun. The town does not consider ice throw to be much of a threat as the nearest home to the windmills is 2,500 feet. Ecological damage to birds and bats is expected to be limited as the site is not located in a significant migratory path. Wetlands do not appear to be much of a concern for the actual placement of the windmills however road ways for the construction site may have to pass through or near some regulated regions.

Maine is doing a great job of leading the environmental push our economy is based highly in tourism of our beautiful state. Many critics of windmill claim that windmills contrast with the natural beauty of the wilderness, however if we do not make an effort to save our planet their will not be any natural beauty left to enjoy. Oakfield is leading the way by making responsible decisions for its residents as well as the environment.

References
http://www.nrcm.org/maine_wind_projects.asp
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/99335.html

Community Development Committee paper

Orono- The Community Development Committee Meeting held on Wednesday April 21 began with discussion of the Deep Cove, LLC Draft Option Agreement which is scheduled to become obsolete on June 30. A third generation action agreement is in discussion, and is almost completed. The committee is hoping to have this agreement completed by June 30 in time with the closing of the Options Agreement.

David Lloyd an architect known around the state headed the discussion with the panel for the design for the new condos. He feels the condos could be more efficiently made by tearing down the old mill, and constructing a new condominium in its place. The mill was not designed to be a condominium, and many of the structural features would not be well of efficiently adaptable for the new specifications. First the plumbing and wiring would not be stacked. In apartment buildings bathrooms and sinks are place in line so as to use fewer materials, and to make maintenance and installation easier. This would not be the case with the mill as it is designed to independent specifications for each room. The old mill design would not allow for double loaded corridors, think hotel. This greatly reduces the efficiency of building in terms of available space for rooms. The mill was also not designed with the landscape in mind. With the current structure the condos would receive a great view of the parking lot instead of the river.

The new design would have two styles of condos one being a more inexpensive option. The difference in the apartments is based on living space and the views. The more expensive condos feature 1500 square feet while the cheaper units offer 900. The more expensive units also feature two sides with views as they are located on the corners of the complex while the efficiencies are located in the middle offering only one side with a view. Both style condos will feature a porch and two bedrooms. The complex is designed to offer twenty-four suites. Sixteen of which will be the more costly units while eight are planned to be of the efficiency style.

Constructing these condominiums will help to clean up a hazardous brown field, and bring money into Orono in the long run. The initial construction of the complex will be costly however the money will be made back.

April 20-2010
Orono, Maine- Taylor Lewis brings the University of Maine baseball team to a 7-2 win over Bates at the Mahaney, Diamond Orono Maine with the first score of the game the triple base hits and a triple R.B.I. in the sixth inning. The game began at 5 p.m. Tuesday with a run time of two hours and thirty minutes. The game brings the University of Maine to a 20-16 win lose record for the season.
The game started out slow with no hits in the first inning for either team, Bates came in extremely sluggish with its first three players striking out. The game remained at this pointless standstill until the third inning where Joe Mercurio was run in by Taylor Lewis’s triple to left center.
Bates retaliated with a single run of their own in the beginning of the fourth inning; Gordy Webb ran Chris Burke home with a single to right field.
The stalemate continued between the teams with no runs again until the fifth inning where Umaine advances with a single run again by Joe Mercurio hit in by Taylor Lewis with a triple.
UMaine breaks away with a crushing 5 runs in the beginning of the sixth inning. Matt Howard started the push after being walked to base and stealing home on a wild pitch. Michael Fransoso ran Mykie Lugbauer in with a single. Taylor Lewis sets the match with another triple bringing in the loaded bases.
The game went out the same way it came in slow and relatively pointless. Bates struggles in the eighth inning and manages to get a score, Pat Murphy , after a string of walked players.
All in all this game came down to the one inning for the University of Maine Bears, the sixth where they managed to get 5 runs. Taylor Lewis , a Sophomore and labeled Maine Scholar Athlete “ Rising Star”, dominated the field with his three triples and 4 RBI’s. He is truly living up to the expectations put on him.


For More Information

Umaine Baseball web page:
http://goblackbears.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/main-m-basebl-body.html

Natural Resource Council of Maine

News releases; multimedia, including maps; testimonies

http://www.nrcm.org/maine_wind_projects.asp

US Department of Energy

Additional websites multimedia and news releases

http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/astate_template.asp?stateab=me

Oddles of government information

http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/windpower/

List of Maine’s finest lakes, and the requirements to be a finest lake. Will windmills take lakes off of this list?

http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/windpower/pubs/pdf/Maine%27s%20Finest%20Lakes.pd

Maine Pushing for Wind-power Plan

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090908-NEWS-909080384

Wikipedia it’s reviewed and has nice links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Maine

Industrial Wind Action Group

They have a few interesting articles

http://www.windaction.org/documents/10319

Union of Concerned Scienctists

basic background stuffs

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/

Redington Wind Farm Application for Development Document

http://www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/projects/redington/Click_to_Start.htm

Govenor’s Task Force on Wind Power

Tons of handouts tons

http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/windpower/summaries.shtml

Twitter and other social networking sites are quickly becoming the fastest way for information to travel. With more and more people using social networking sites, and visiting them more frequently information travels around the world quicker than it used to get across town. Information about natural disasters traveling across networks such as Twitter and Facebook has become a major news story topic. Twitter is able to gain information faster than the online news websites.
Social networking sites are able to post so much information quickly largely because the information comes directly from first hand sources. These witnesses post their thoughts, and observations about the incident to be read usually by family and friends. Because the information comes directly from the witnesses there are positive and negative aspects. The information is unbiased in the way that it has not been edited. No one external to the incident has chosen what is important information. However, this lack of editing brings in personal biases and allows for extreme misinformation. One needs to be a more critical reader when using information gathered from a social media site than a reputable news site. The information gathered from social networking sites requires searching for it will not be presented in a neat clean format as found on a news site. News gathered from social networking sites also tends to be more personalized than news sites. One receives threads from family members and friends who usually live nearby. This means that the information will most likely be relevant to you either geographically or socially.
Twitter has been credited with having the first reports for many natural disasters. One of which is the Southern California earthquake that struck on July 29, 2008. The first post on the subject is credited a one Caroline (Vixy) who posted “earthquake.” Other posts followed on several sites. Posts from TaffUpTopPro, “Did anyone else feel the 2.9 earthquake in Fountaion Valley & Costa Mesa Earthquake r cool as long as they Dnt wake me up at 6am. “Elener posted, “RT @extratv:Celebs Tweet: 6.9 Earthquake Hits Baja Californian http://su.pr/1h8PB2." These tweets and posts do inform people about natural disasters, however, as they are not edited they can not be held as completely reliable. Social Networking sites can be used to gather data, but one should be careful about how much credit and faith they put on posts.

Throughout the state public schools are working around budget cuts. Teachers are forced to make do with less while still passing increasingly loftier educational goals. Maine teachers are forced to wait longer to buy new reading material or classroom supplies. Educational budget cuts have even begun to take away jobs. With all this emphasis on money in education why is the town of Ashland, Maine building a multi-million dollar new school building funded primarily by the state?
The new school has many innovative and useful design features to bring to the small community. The two original school buildings will be consolidated into one Pre-K to Senior facility. The two story design will allow maximum separation of high school and elementary students with the younger children primarily on the first floor and older students concentrated on the second floor. A new wood and metal shop, regulation size gymnasium, and above ground cafeteria will be located on the ground floor. The second floor will house new science labs, distance learning rooms, and spare group work locations. The school is designed to modern standards of energy efficiency, and interior environment conditions.
This new facility with its great features does come at a price, roughly 22,000,000 dollars. Of this sum the Town of Ashland is only required to pay 1,720,000 dollars. The rest of the cost will be paid for by the state. The eighteen acres of land purchased for the new school's development is worth 275,000 dollars. 235,000 dollars of this will be paid by the state. This school project is a very large expenditure our state has sanctioned.
The construction of the new school facility worth this exuberant cost. The new facility will unit the two schools saving money through consolidation of resources. It will be more efficient to heat, transport students, and manage. Two entirely different and stand alone staffs were required to run the separate buildings this will be eliminated in the new structure. Custodians and other staff will not need to shift back and forth between the two structures wasting time, equipment, and gas. The new one building design will save on heating in not only presenting less surface area to the elements, but in its new better insulated design.
The older buildings were out-dated to the point of not complying with several regulations. The most prominent of these was the cafeteria in the elementary school located in the basement. Ordinances for public cafeterias require them to be above ground for fire safety reasons. The new gymnasium will also bring the school into compliance with a regulation size basket ball court, allowing the Ashland basketball teams will be able to compete in their own gym.
The education of future generations is the cornerstone of a civilization. Often when thinking about schooling we focus on books, computers, and other learning tools. It is easy to take the buildings that house and facilitate this accumulation of knowledge for granted.


Resources

Major capital school construction projects 2004-2005 project information. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.maine.gov/education/const/pr700.html

New msad #32 pre-k - 12 school. (2009, May 09). Retrieved from http://www.sad32.org/new-school-proposal.html

Acadia Trip Saturday All Invited

Lifeline will be sponsoring a hiking trip to Acadia National Park this Saturday. The trip will be for any University of Maine students who wish to participate. Limited numbers of seats are available on the bus, so participation slots are on a first come first serve basis. The trip will cost only five dollars, and students are advised to bring their own lunches.
Stephanie and Ryan Bethel will be hosting the trip. They take University of Maine students on outdoor recreation trips almost every week. Their expeditions are supported by Lifeline allowing them to keep the costs low thus, making the trips more feasible for students. One anonymous participant in the pre-trip meeting stated, “For five dollars I couldn't reasonably pass up this trip.” Lifeline, a Christian organization with a chapter here on the University of Maine campus, encourages outdoor activities as a chance for students to grow. Their mission statement is as follows, “To use the outdoor experience to help students grow in relationship with God, in relationship with each other, in character and in leadership.”Even though the trip is hosted by a Christian organization people of all faith are encouraged to participate.
Those students adventurous enough for the trip are scheduled to hike Bubble and several Cadillac Mountain trails if time allows. These trails are not difficult to traverse offering little challenge to experienced climbers, but instead a chance for students to enjoy nature together in a fun and friendly atmosphere. From these trails students should get a wonderful view of Mount Desert Island and the Atlantic Ocean while being perfectly safe. All Lifeline trip leaders hold current CPR and Wilderness First Responder certifications in case of an accident.
If you are an outdoor enthusiast, bored, or in need of exercise for five dollars and a peanut butter sandwich you can cure those ailments.


Resources:
Campus Crusades for Life Lifeline, Retrieved February 19, 2010, Web Site: http://lifelinesministry.com/

University of Maine Firstclass-Announcements and Alerts-Explore Acadia National Park this Saturday only $5, 2/17/2010