Today we discussed Silver Lake in Goshen, Vermont, and the low-impact hydroelectric project there.
The Sugar Hill reservoir covers 74 acres and is impounded by the Goshen Dam. Although not an exact representation of what happens at Silver Lake, the picture to the right may give you a general understanding of how hydroelectricity is produced. Water is released from the Sugar Hill reservoir through a 232-foot long, 4-foot square conduit outlet structure equipped with steel gate valves, and is then discharged to the Sucker Brook diversion dam. Sugar Brook is located about 2.6 miles downstream of the Goshen Dam. The intake structure at Sugar Brook dam is equipped with a wooden headgate and trashracks. The reservoir discharges into a 7,000 foot long penstock. From there, water discharges into a concrete raceway which extends 380 feet to Silver Lake. Water then enters the powerhouse at Silver Lake, which contains one 2.2 megawatt turbine generating unit. The powerhouse discharges into a 450 foot long tailrace that leads back to Sucker Brook. Power from the project is transmitted through a 6.9 kilovolt transmission cable that is connected to the regional grid.
The most intriguing part of the Silver Lake Project is that no water is wasted through out the process. The water that is originally taken in will discharge to the Sucker Brook dam, about 450 yards upstream of where the brook enters Lake Dunmore. The water is returned to its natural flow and none of it is wasted! However, this project is very small when compared to others, which is why it is considered low impact. Low impact meaning that is has little impact on the environment. This project only produces 2.2 megawatts of electricity, while the project at Niagara Falls produces 498 megawatts. That does not make the project a waste. It still supplies 820 households with electricity annually. Also, when wind energy is in excess, it is stored on the grid at Silver Lake and expedited when needed. Although small, the hydropower project at Silver Lake should not go unappreciated.
After leaving Silver Lake, we headed for the Walmart of Rutland, Vermont. Usually, Walmart stores are built miles away from a town's center. Business is then dragged away from the local downtown stores and concentrated in the Walmart area. The towns small businesses are then destined for failure, leaving behind vacated buildings and unemployed towns people. When Walmart expressed interest in building a store in Rutland, the city took action. They knew the threat Walmart posed to their town and decided to take a different path, with similarities to new urbanism. Rutland incorporated the Walmart into their downtown by making it their anchor retail store. This Walmart does not add to sprawl and, rather then developing virgin land, used existing buildings in its formation. Instead of a super-sized Walmart, this one is sized at a suitable magnitude for the site location and the community. In addition, this Walmart appears to have no unfavorable impacts on natural resources.
The Rutland Walmart is certainly a success story. The city avoided what could have been complete devastation of its downtown and the small businesses that reside there. This certainly set an example for how other cities can welcome companies like Walmart while still keeping their downtowns in tact. It seemed as though Rutland was trying to implement some aspects of new urbanism with this Walmart. However, the downtown area still seemed a bit run down. The area was no where near as lively as Burlington. Still, the city of Rutland handled the Walmart situation with consideration for their towns economy and also the environment. Cities should follow their lead on projects similar to this one.
Leaving Rutland, we headed to Fair Haven, Vermont to see Daniel's maple syrup operation. Daniel has a quant maple syrup operation going in the woods located right next to his house. He has 200 taps in place, and collects about 20 gallons of syrup on a good year. The best kind of weather for collecting sap is when the days are warm and nights are cold. The month of March through April or May is the average time of year for making maple syrup.
The picture above was not taken at Daniel's operation, but is similar to what he had in place. Daniel's system is gravity fed, which means the trees he taps are on a slope so all their syrup flows downward into a common container. Daniel explained that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. He prefers to tap Sugar Maples rather than Red Maples because their sap has a higher sugar content. Since originally tapping the maple trees five years ago, Daniel has not seen any significant change in the trees. They appear to be as healthy as they were when he started tapping them. What makes Vermont maple syrup the best? Daniel says its the rich soil and healthy trees. Making maple syrup is a common hobby in Fair Haven which made it easy for Daniel to pick up on it. He talked with fellow maple syrup makers and observed their systems in order to know what he was doing.
Visiting Daniel's operation was nice because I got to see the work that goes into making maple syrup. Daniel made it seem simple, but it is still work. Seeing someone similar to my age practicing such a craft was inspiring. If more people had small operations like Daniel, maybe the need for large scale maple syrup would go down. I would rather purchase maple syrup, rather all my food products, from someone like Daniel over a big company.
Tonight we are camping off of Lake Bomoseen, which is Native American for clear water. We enjoyed a refreshing swim in the Lake and a fun game of volleyball.
Citations used in this post:
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Niagara_Falls
http://www.lowimpacthydro.org/silver-lake-project.html
After leaving Silver Lake, we headed for the Walmart of Rutland, Vermont. Usually, Walmart stores are built miles away from a town's center. Business is then dragged away from the local downtown stores and concentrated in the Walmart area. The towns small businesses are then destined for failure, leaving behind vacated buildings and unemployed towns people. When Walmart expressed interest in building a store in Rutland, the city took action. They knew the threat Walmart posed to their town and decided to take a different path, with similarities to new urbanism. Rutland incorporated the Walmart into their downtown by making it their anchor retail store. This Walmart does not add to sprawl and, rather then developing virgin land, used existing buildings in its formation. Instead of a super-sized Walmart, this one is sized at a suitable magnitude for the site location and the community. In addition, this Walmart appears to have no unfavorable impacts on natural resources.
The Rutland Walmart is certainly a success story. The city avoided what could have been complete devastation of its downtown and the small businesses that reside there. This certainly set an example for how other cities can welcome companies like Walmart while still keeping their downtowns in tact. It seemed as though Rutland was trying to implement some aspects of new urbanism with this Walmart. However, the downtown area still seemed a bit run down. The area was no where near as lively as Burlington. Still, the city of Rutland handled the Walmart situation with consideration for their towns economy and also the environment. Cities should follow their lead on projects similar to this one.
Leaving Rutland, we headed to Fair Haven, Vermont to see Daniel's maple syrup operation. Daniel has a quant maple syrup operation going in the woods located right next to his house. He has 200 taps in place, and collects about 20 gallons of syrup on a good year. The best kind of weather for collecting sap is when the days are warm and nights are cold. The month of March through April or May is the average time of year for making maple syrup.
Visiting Daniel's operation was nice because I got to see the work that goes into making maple syrup. Daniel made it seem simple, but it is still work. Seeing someone similar to my age practicing such a craft was inspiring. If more people had small operations like Daniel, maybe the need for large scale maple syrup would go down. I would rather purchase maple syrup, rather all my food products, from someone like Daniel over a big company.
Tonight we are camping off of Lake Bomoseen, which is Native American for clear water. We enjoyed a refreshing swim in the Lake and a fun game of volleyball.
Citations used in this post:
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Niagara_Falls
http://www.lowimpacthydro.org/silver-lake-project.html
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