California's Hills Are Haunted by the Ghosts of Wind Energy's Past
Brian Kahn
Saturday 11:05AM
Undead TechTechnology is constantly changing and sometimes things are left behind. This week we look at tech that's dying and tech that, for some reason, refuses to.
Interstate 580 runs from the California’s North Bay through to the Central Valley. Along the way, it goes over the crest of Altamont Pass and hills that turn golden in summer and lush green with the winter rains.
Take Exit 63 and you’ll end up Jess Ranch Rd., a nice place to park and take in the surrounding greenery, the whoosh of the freight trucks barreling over the highway, and towering wind turbines that spin lazily. The giants of Altamont are the modern wind turbines we’re familiar with, set on tall steel towers painted white and blades made of composite materials. Many of today’s modern wind farms there stand on the graves of wind farms past. Some of the older turbines are still scattered among the hills, the walking dead of a wind rush that happened in the early 1980s only to be undone by Reaganomics and the rise of climate denial. The story of Altamont is as much a story of what is as what could have been.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/californias-hills-are-haunted-by-the-ghosts-of-wind-ene-1845534109
