Culver – Page 57 – Easterday Construction Co., Inc.

Christmas Vigilantes

December 9, 2013December 4, 2013 by Kevin Berger

Image borrowed from Zazzle.com I first heard of the Christmas Vigilantes last year. If you haven’t been struck by the Christmas Vigilantes yet, here’s the scoop: One local family has created a tradition that they have been practicing for the last few years. They go out touring the local Christmas light displays and award written certificates of merit with positive critiques and occasional prizes.

To the best of my knowledge, as with most vigilante groups they are semi anonymous. If you want to send any pictures of light displays that you think merit acknowledgement, please feel free to send them here. If I like them as well as you, I’ll post them on the site. If you send the addresses to me, I’ll leave it under a rock at the designated drop site for the vigilantes to pick up. Possibly your submittal will receive a visit!

Seems like they should have a tag-line too, doesn’t it? Something like Superman’s “Up, Up and Away!!!” I’ll have to ask them. If you have suggestions for that, I’ll take them here too.

Net Zero Energy Walgreens in Evanston, Illinois

November 27, 2013 by Kevin Berger

Combining efficient energy use with wind and solar energy production, the new Evanston Walgreens will have net zero energy use. See the article here.

Too bad the new WECS ordinance being considered for Culver would stop a store like this from coming into Culver. (A Walgreens would best fit in a C-2 Zoning District which does allow for the use of a WECS, but the further restriction that no WECS maybe located within 1500 feet of an R-1 Zoning District would make it virtually impossible to place such a store within Culver’s Town Limits.)

Evanston is north of Chicago which generally would put it in a latitude where solar energy collection has diminished returns. It’s proximity to Lake Michigan does make it likely to receive fairly consistent winds.

Warning Sign

November 7, 2013 by Kevin Berger

We have started work replacing restrooms at Saint Mary of the Lake Church in Culver. The start of work basically took the restrooms out of service. This is the sign that the Church put up to inform parishioners:

More WECS’s

December 11, 2013November 6, 2013 by Kevin Berger

Definition of a WECS per the Culver Zoning Ordinance – 2010-007:

Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) – Equipment that converts and then stores or transfers energy from the wind into usable forms of energy and includes any base, blade, foundation, generator, nacelle, rotor, wind tower, transformer, turbine, vane, wind farm collection system, wire, or other component used in the system.

Below are some WECS’s that are not traditional wind farm turbines that could fall under a WECS ban.

Culver: Nice Scientists Not Welcome

October 27, 2013October 25, 2013 by Kevin Berger

At the October Plan Commission meeting, the discussion on WECS’s continued. (Previously discussed here.) The Commission could not come to enough of a consensus to formulate a new Ordinance but they did take a series of votes that defined several of the issues. It would appear that proponents of banning WECS’s are achieving most of their goals. If they proceed along their current path, Culver residents would not be allowed to have a WECS that produces more than .5 kilowatts in the lake district, park district, and R1 residential district as well as within 1/4 mile of any of those districts.

I would still contend that the proponents of the ban are too focused on their distaste for the aesthetics of current wind turbine technology and fail to consider the advantages that could come from advances in the field.