The tidal turbine arrived at Race Rocks only in 2007, before the island had many different sources of energy. At the beginning Great Race Rock was supplied in energy by oil. In 200O the 7 oil tanks that had been brought on the island in the 1970’s were taken off the island and their cement base had been remove to allows grass and vegetation to grow up again. Also, the island mainly depended on Diesel to provide energy to the lighthouse and the few buildings of Great Race Rock. The use of such a fuel is quite damageable for the environment. First of all, there is a high risk for realising fuel into the ocean, especially in a harsh environment such as the coast of the island. Also, the emission of CO2 is quite important according to the Race Rocks official website: “Assuming 50,000L/year marine grade diesel combustion (rough average requirement for CCG lightstations) the diesel system contributes about 133,500 kg/year CO2 emissions (Carbon coefficient for distillate fuel (fuel oil): 161.44 pounds of CO2 per million BTU, or 22.29 pounds per gallon, or 2.67 kg/L. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1999. U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1997.)) ”.And this is not accounting the transformation process, the transportation and the release of gas in the atmosphere after burning, basically it’s really polluting the environment around it, and as an ecological reserve it’s really not appropriate. Finally, the exhaust of that gas contains several chemical components that we don’t know the effects on the environment yet.
*www.racerocks.com
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