Rethinking Our Relationships

I was in North Carolina for three days of holiday over the weekend. Since the weather was sunny and warm, we decided to take a day-trip to the Outer Banks. This long strip of inter-connected islands is a summertime resort paradise. Endless miles of sand beaches and ocean surf provide plenty of opportunities for families to play beachside.

Unfortunately, a good many of the hurricanes that wash ashore in NC scrub the islands which make up the Outer Banks. Between high winds and rain, this area gets devastated on an regular basis. You see the effects in terms of the local architecture - all of the beachside properties are built on stilts ! The only thing on the ground floor is the storage for boogie-boards and beach chairs !

One of the casualties in Nag's Head, NC was a monument called Jennette's Pier. It extends a thousand feet out from the shore, and provides opportunities for sight-seeing and fishing. When a hurricane washed ashore in 2003, hurricane Isabel slammed the coast of North Carolina. The pier was washed out to sea - completely destroyed ! In 2009, a rebuilding effort was commenced.

The pier has been completely rebuilt. Some 300+ new concrete pilings were sunk into the seabed, built to withstand the forces of nature. On top of these pilings was built what can best be described as an ecological laboratory. You see, Jennette's Pier is under examination for Leeds Platinum certification.

A quick look at the pier shows off the three horizontal-access wind turbines, generating much of the piers requirements for energy. And one of the shade pavillions on the pier is covered with photo-voltaic cells for solar generation. But the use of renewable energy doesn't end there ! Next there are some eighty wells dug for use by the geothermal HVAC system. Finally, there are also a number wave-actuated generators, situated on the seafloor. As the surf comes in & out, these generators wave back & forth, generating up to 300 W of energy every minute !

Being a public facility, and funded solely by voluntary $2 donations, any opportunity to recycle is welcome. Most interesting to me is the sign in the public washroom, which depicts the toilet and reads "Please don't drink or bathe from this facility. This water is 100% reclaimed !". The same is true of the fish-cleaning stations along the side of the pier. Rainwater is collected in lage cisterns, and re-used for cleaning fish, deck-washing, vehicle washing, and yes - flushing the toilets !

While the pier was originally built to support local anglers, when it was rebuilt it was to become an educational facility. The effort to rebuild the prier provided an opportunity to "re-think" the pier, and it's relationship with the ocean and beach around it. Personally, I was delighted to see all of the green technology in use and described for the visitors.