Academic

VIRGINIA POSTREL: The Allure Of Techno-Glamour. ?In those glamour shots, wind power seems clean, f?

By Glenn Reynolds

VIRGINIA POSTREL: The Allure Of Techno-Glamour. “In those glamour shots, wind power seems clean, free and infinitely abundant. Turbines spin silently and sometimes appear barely taller than a child. The wind blows constantly and in exactly the right amount?never so much that it piles up unwanted power and never so little that it requires backup supply. The sky is unfailingly photogenic, a backdrop of either puffy clouds or a brilliant sunset; the landscape is both empty and beautiful; and there are no transmission lines anywhere. . . . The problems come, of course, in the things glamour omits, including all those annoyingly practical concerns the policy wonks insist on debating. Neither trains nor wind farms are as effortlessly liberating as their photos suggest. Neither really offers an escape from the world of compromises and constraints. The same is true, of course, of evening gowns, dream kitchens and tropical vacations. But at least the people who enjoy that sort of glamour pay their own way.”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on November 20, 2010 (boomark / email).