Last week, a deal was struck that will push forward an eight-turbine offshore wind project near Block Island, R.I. That project has received strong support from the local island community. Two weeks ago, the residents of Cuttyhunk told state officials that they would be willing to host a wind farm within Massachusetts territorial waters. Several islands off the coast of Maine are also considering offshore wind turbines.

What is the common thread? None of these islands have undersea cables connecting to the mainland. All of these communities currently generate electricity from diesel fuel that is shipped from the mainland and burned on-island.

For most of us, electricity is invisible. We flip a switch and expect the lights to come on but we give little thought to the enormous efforts behind that illumination. When you live on a small island that burns diesel to keep the lights on, you can’t hide from the real costs of electricity.

On Martha’s Vineyard, some people would like to frame the offshore wind debate as a question of wind turbines versus no wind turbines. But the real question is, wind turbines versus something else.

In the last decade, New England has added thousands of megawatts of electricity generation. Our lifestyles and population growth demand that we add more capacity every year. The increased power could come in many forms, but in recent years it has been from fossil fuel-fired plants. Offshore wind will probably not retire a fossil fuel plant, but it could prevent another one from being built.

Because of the undersea cables that connect us to the mainland, we have the luxury of drawing our power from a fossil fuel plant somewhere else. But we can no longer live with this out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach. We must acknowledge the true costs of our energy use and make our decisions based on those costs.

In their letter to the state, the Cuttyhunk selectmen discussed the need to “take responsibility for our lifestyle, which includes the use of electricity.” The Vineyard Energy Project is proposing that we do exactly the same thing here. We have developed Vineyard Power, a cooperative that will develop community-owned offshore wind turbines to power our Island.

This is not to say that the Island should roll over and accept an unsatisfactory proposal or plan. We have, I believe, every right to shape offshore wind development. But there are some who will oppose offshore wind power no matter what.

And to those dead set in opposition, are you willing to accept another fossil fuel plant somewhere else instead of wind turbines here?

David McGlinchey is executive director of the Vineyard Energy Project.