Queen Anne Island
As the earth warms, the waters rise and our world becomes a very different place, we need to start making the changes to our cities, towns and neighborhoods that will allow us to move seamlessly into new realities. Locavorism will be less a fashion and more a necessity as we confront the realities of the cost of transportation, declining resources and a changed climate. Rather than despairing, I propose four new businesses that will serve my own neighborhood in Seattle, Washington as it becomes less a hilltop enclave and more of an actual island in the coming years. Interbay Windfarm As great as the massive windfarm projects are in Eastern Washington state, we should be generating some of our power right here, avoiding the inevitable line loss and accepting energy infrastructure as part of the urban landscape. Interbay, as a tight valley that naturally channels the prevailing weather coming from the southwest, is a perfect location for a windfarm. A cluster of turbines, far from cluttering up the landscape, would be elegant and graceful, drawing attention away from the freight yards and parking lots that now occupy most of this part of town. Queen Anne Parking Strip Truckfarm Parking strips throughout the neighborhood offer accessible micro- farmlands to entrepreneurial urban sharecroppers. Ubiquitous and largely ignored, this enormous amount of arable land offers widely varied soil and sun conditions, potentially supporting many different food crops. When used as individual garden space, each parking strip is really just a hobby, providing only a handful of vegetables to the gardener each year. Farmed collectively, each parking strip could host its own crop and increase yields throughout the neighborhood. Kurt Kiefer . Seattle, Washington .
kkiefer@speakeasy.net . www.kurtkiefer.net All images and text © 2011 Kurt Kiefer South Slope Solar Array Operating in concert with Interbay Windfarm, the South Slope Solar Array would take advantage of the many empty, unused and south-facing roofs on the southern slope of Queen Anne Hill. By aggragating the collective square footage of these roofs, the Array would produce a large portion of the electricity needed by the neighborhood, offsetting the city’s growing demand on other regional sources of energy. South Slope Solar Array would purchase, install and maintain the photovoltaic cells (PVCs), paying a percentage of the proceeds generated by the electrical production to their roof owner partners, keeping the rest as profit and to use for the expansion of the array. Third Avenue Hydro Taking advantage of the neighborhoods sandy dome to absorb the region’s abundant rainwater, the Third Avenue Hydro project will collect and store that water in the enormous ravine on the north slope of the hill. With a total capacity of more than 20 cubic acres, the project’s reservoir will store enough water to supply the neighborhood with most of its drinking water, reducing pressures on the regional water system and ensuring a safe, localized supply. Additionally, a system of micro-hydroelectric turbines will be incorporated into the reservoir’s spillway, supplementing the electrical generation capacities of the dam’s sister projects, the South Slope Solar Array and the Interbay Windfarm.
Queen Anne Island
As the earth warms, the waters rise and our world becomes a very different place, we need to start making the changes to our cities, towns and neighborhoods that will allow us to move seamlessly into new realities. Locavorism will be less a fashion and more a necessity as we confront the realities of the cost of transportation, declining resources and a changed climate. Rather than despairing, I propose four new businesses that will serve my own neighborhood in Seattle, Washington as it becomes less a hilltop enclave and more of an actual island in the coming years. Interbay Windfarm As great as the massive windfarm projects are in Eastern Washington state, we should be generating some of our power right here, avoiding the inevitable line loss and accepting energy infrastructure as part of the urban landscape. Interbay, as a tight valley that naturally channels the prevailing weather coming from the southwest, is a perfect location for a windfarm. A cluster of turbines, far from cluttering up the landscape, would be elegant and graceful, drawing attention away from the freight yards and parking lots that now occupy most of this part of town. Queen Anne Parking Strip Truckfarm Parking strips throughout the neighborhood offer accessible micro- farmlands to entrepreneurial urban sharecroppers. Ubiquitous and largely ignored, this enormous amount of arable land offers widely varied soil and sun conditions, potentially supporting many different food crops. When used as individual garden space, each parking strip is really just a hobby, providing only a handful of vegetables to the gardener each year. Farmed collectively, each parking strip could host its own crop and increase yields throughout the neighborhood. Kurt Kiefer . Seattle, Washington .
kkiefer@speakeasy.net . www.kurtkiefer.net All images and text © 2011 Kurt Kiefer South Slope Solar Array Operating in concert with Interbay Windfarm, the South Slope Solar Array would take advantage of the many empty, unused and south-facing roofs on the southern slope of Queen Anne Hill. By aggragating the collective square footage of these roofs, the Array would produce a large portion of the electricity needed by the neighborhood, offsetting the city’s growing demand on other regional sources of energy. South Slope Solar Array would purchase, install and maintain the photovoltaic cells (PVCs), paying a percentage of the proceeds generated by the electrical production to their roof owner partners, keeping the rest as profit and to use for the expansion of the array. Third Avenue Hydro Taking advantage of the neighborhoods sandy dome to absorb the region’s abundant rainwater, the Third Avenue Hydro project will collect and store that water in the enormous ravine on the north slope of the hill. With a total capacity of more than 20 cubic acres, the project’s reservoir will store enough water to supply the neighborhood with most of its drinking water, reducing pressures on the regional water system and ensuring a safe, localized supply. Additionally, a system of micro-hydroelectric turbines will be incorporated into the reservoir’s spillway, supplementing the electrical generation capacities of the dam’s sister projects, the South Slope Solar Array and the Interbay Windfarm.