Category Archives: economics

Why Buying Locally Could Save The Planet – Stupid uses of transportation

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Why buying your food locally is so important in so many ways. One of corporate capitalism’s goals is for people to lose their common sense. Some forms of food have been moved all over the planet for 20,000 years. Certain forms of food lend themselves to this process nicely. The commodity grains for example have been move by draft animals, boats and now trucks since their mass cultivation began. Even this can be moderated a bit. But to be shipping all manner of food all manner of places in all types of weather is just dumb.

I boil this down to a single sentence. Do I need to eat apples in Illinois in the winter? If I do should it come from Ecuador? (this is true) I have an apple tree in the back yard. Shouldn’t I just freeze some? But then irrational uses of our transportation system is a hallmark of the modern world. But there is more to consider. Local foods encourage carbon sequestration in the plants themselves, their reintroduction into the soil by composting, and the enhancement of your personal health. These are a few things to consider when you buy only food grown within a hundred miles of your house.

Then there is the ethics of factory farming of any living thing. Anyway planting a garden and harvesting local free stuff only makes sense.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/business/worldbusiness/26food.html

The Food Chain

Environmental Cost of Shipping Groceries Around the World

Massimo Sciacca for The New York Times

Kiwis grown in Italy are examined — and damaged fruit is discarded— before being shipped.

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Published: April 26, 2008

Correction Appended

Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, then shipped back to Norway for sale. Argentine lemons fill supermarket shelves on the Citrus Coast of Spain, as local lemons rot on the ground. Half of Europe’s peas are grown and packaged in Kenya.

In the United States, FreshDirect proclaims kiwi season has expanded to “All year!” now that Italy has become the world’s leading supplier of New Zealand’s national fruit, taking over in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.

Food has moved around the world since Europeans brought tea from China, but never at the speed or in the amounts it has over the last few years. Consumers in not only the richest nations but, increasingly, the developing world expect food whenever they crave it, with no concession to season or geography.

Increasingly efficient global transport networks make it practical to bring food before it spoils from distant places where labor costs are lower. And the penetration of mega-markets in nations from China to Mexico with supply and distribution chains that gird the globe — like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco — has accelerated the trend.

But the movable feast comes at a cost: pollution — especially carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas — from transporting the food.

Under longstanding trade agreements, fuel for international freight carried by sea and air is not taxed. Now, many economists, environmental advocates and politicians say it is time to make shippers and shoppers pay for the pollution, through taxes or other measures.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28/AR2008112801611.html

Want to Shrink Your Carbon Footprint? Think Food.

Transportation choices such as car vs. subway have a big effect on carbon footprint, but experts say food choices have nearly as much impact.

Transportation choices such as car vs. subway have a big effect on carbon footprint, but experts say food choices have nearly as much impact. (By Ramin Talaie — Bloomberg News)

By Katherine Salant

Saturday, November 29, 2008; Page F04

In moving for a year to New York City from Ann Arbor, Mich., a small Midwestern college town, the biggest change for me has not been the shift from a house to a high-rise and a living space that is only one-third as big.

It is the absence of a car.

The difference was apparent the first day. As in previous moves, settling in included many trips to the hardware store for this and that. But this time it was not a simple matter of getting directions and driving there. It was confronting a subway system with 26 different lines. And, after reaching Home Depot and making my purchases, I had to figure out how to get them home. (I learned that most stores in Manhattan offer delivery services for a fee.)

Even the most mundane details of daily life, including meal planning, have changed. In Michigan I had the luxury of “last-minute cuisine,” routinely making a dinner plan at 6 p.m., heading for the grocery store that is a three-minute drive from my house, grabbing a few things and returning home, all inside of 20 minutes. Here the grocery store is a 15-minute walk from our apartment building. The return trip is longer because I am lugging my purchases in a wire shopping cart. With each grocery outing taking at least 40 minutes, I plan ahead and shop for groceries only once or twice a week.

Traveling by subway has not proven to be a timesaver, but the time is allocated differently. On a 60-minute car trip you can while away the time by listening to the radio or music. On a subway you can read. The rush hour is still stressful, but the defensive maneuvers are different. Sandwiched into a subway car, you have to be watchful of backpack-wearing riders who never seem to realize how often their backpacks whack other passengers.

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If you want to calculate how much you save by buying locally:

http://www.foodcarbon.co.uk/

Home The food we consume contributes to climate change. The production, packaging and transportation of food all consumes energy and results in carbon emissions which threaten to raise average global surface temperatures.

However, not all foods are equal…

The Food Carbon Footprint Calculator (FCFC) provides the opportunity to calculate the resultant carbon dioxide from the food you eat, called your “Food Carbon Footprint”.

This website also offers personalised and practical ways to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet, reducing your impact on climate change.

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Kathleen Parker Saying Stupid Things About Energy – So far this year I have had to write posts about

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George Will and Walter Wolfman Williams because they weighed in on energy issues. George Will is a nonfiction baseball writer and Wolfman claims to be an economist, so neither one by definition knows anything about energy consumption except that they do a lot of it. But when Kathleen Parker weighs in on Cap and Trade the whole world must be …what waiting with baited breathe? I mean:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0720parkerjul20,0,3212727.column

Kathleen Parker

Bio

Kathleen Parker assesses the country’s mental health with a reporter’s gimlet eye combined with a sense of humor.

“My ambitious goal,” she says, “is to try to inject a little sanity into a world gone barking mad.”

She came to column-writing the old-fashioned way, working her way up journalism’s ladder from smaller papers to larger ones.

“I never set out to become a commentator – and do continue to resist the label ‘pundit’ – but I found that keeping my opinion out of my writing was impossible,” says Parker. “One can only stand watching from the sidelines for so long without finally having to say, ‘Um, excuse me, but you people are nuts.'”

Her writings in support of American troops, first-responders and other front-line participants in the war on terror were among the reasons The Week magazine named her as one of the country’s top five columnists in 2004 and 2005.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/biographies/kathleen-parker.html

Kathleen Parker

Kathleen Parker

» Columnist | Parker started her column in 1987 when she was a staff writer for The Orlando Sentinel. Her column was nationally syndicated in 1995 and she joined The Washington Post Writers Group in 2006. Along the way, she has contributed articles to The Weekly Standard, Time, Town & Country, Cosmopolitan and Fortune Small Business, and she serves on USA Today’s Board of Contributors and writes for that newspaper’s op-ed page. She is a regular guest on “The Chris Matthews Show” on NBC. Her book “Save the Males: Why Men Matter, Why Women Should Care” was published in 2008 by Random House.

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http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x1911310943/Kathleen-Parker-A-crude-reality-about-clean-energy-security

Kathleen Parker: A crude reality about clean energy, security

Washington Post Writers Group

Posted Aug 02, 2009 @ 11:31 PM

WASHINGTON — What’s in a name? A bit of deception when it comes to the American Clean Energy and Security Act.A more accurate title might be: the American Clean Energy and Less Security Act.To get to the bottom of what’s wrong with the 1,400-page energy bill passed by the House of Representatives, you have to dig deeper than Canada’s tar sands. And what you find there is just as sludgy — and taxing to process.Crudely refined: The greener we are, the less secure we’re likely to be.

Meaning, we either can be green or we can be less dependent on oil from terrorist-sponsoring states. But under the current energy bill, we can’t be both.

Put another way: The more we cap our carbon, the happier the Saudis are. That’s because most Middle Eastern crude is more easily accessible and requires less processing than what we and our friendlier neighbors can produce.

If you don’t know this, it’s because beer summits are more fun than math. Herewith, a short course for word people.

Basically, the energy bill focuses primarily on stationary sources of CO2 emissions (power and manufacturing plants) and would do little to address mobile sources of emissions, i.e. transportation.

Since virtually all U.S. stationary sources use domestic energy — coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar, biomass, etc. — the energy bill would do almost nothing about reducing oil or gasoline imports. Foreign sources provide about 70 percent of the oil used in refining gasoline and diesel.

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I am not going to report anymore of this drivel than the allowed several paragraphs. If you want your intelligence insulted you can go read the rest of it.  First because she has heard it over and over from the military she believes that WHERE we get our energy from has anything to do with our national security. Because OPEC kicked our economic asses after the oil embargo in 1973-76 the myth has been propagated that our energy sources “hold us hostage”. Well if we had a diverse enough portfolio then that would never be true AND if we had moved away from the carbon economy back then we would not even be having this discussion.

There in lies (pun intended)  her second stupidity that is she fails to mention ANY alternative to Saudi Oil or the carbon economy. She does not take into account that OPEC oil only amounts to about 20% of our total imports. Canada, Venezuela and Nigeria along with Mexico  are our biggest oil partners. Nor does she take into account the alternatives to carbon (batteries) are well underway especially in the transportation sector where gasoline consumption will continue its decline for the foreseeable future until we use NONE at all.

But the biggest hugest irony is that “Cap and Trade” is a time tested Industry suggested method of modifying our emissions. It was used most notably in the 70s to get rid of or mute acid rain. It worked very well and only modestly contributed to the rise in electrical costs. The same can be expected in the carbon market. The fact is that we need to quit burning coal all together or we will burn ourselves out of house and home. She doesn’t even remotely address the issue of our using the atmosphere as an open sewer. Dumb da Dumb dumb…just the facts mam.

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Global Warming And Now Climate Change – The real term is Global Atmospheric Destabilization and Weather Unpredictability Effects

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edit – Oh shoot I forgot it was jam band friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBAasek8NR4

One of the stupid things that I hate the most is the phrase “Global Warming”. It is inaccurate, misleading and a bad marketing ploy by the environmental movement. The realization that something was going very wrong with the planet’s atmosphere really dawned on the Earth Sciences people in the 1970s. Up until then the weather broadly read as global climate had behaved pretty predictably. If there was a lot of volcanic activity the earth cooled. If there was very little sunspot activity the earth cooled. If both happened at the same time well a “tipping point” was reached and an Ice Age was formed.

http://www.iceagemovie.com/

But then something happened that was totally unknown. Sunspot activity (sunspot activity is near zero now – watch out) and volcanism pointed towards a cooling period like during the 1400s (commonly called a “little ice age” when crops failed and the black plague ravaged Europe).  But that did not happen. The world kept warming and scientists scrambled to find the causes. We now know that this continued warming trend was caused by greenhouse gases and the effects have gotten worse. My pet bitch here is that when we realized that the climate was being warmed and that the weather would become unpredictable the “leading lights” in the environmental movement declared that we had to have a simple title for the effect or “people” wouldn’t be able to understand it. The effects were too complex. Now in fact in, no sense recognizing their mistake, they call it Climate Change.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change

In this divide and conquer world that left the capitalist to stir up pseudo controversies about warming or change without even beginning to address the real problem which is Food and population migrations due to Weather Catastrophes.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkmxNpF44n0&feature=related )

So when you see things like:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6554936.html

Texas’ hardest-hit drought area grows

© 2009 The Associated Press

July 30, 2009, 3:02PM

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1auRCameVY&feature=related )

DALLAS — There’s less drought in Texas, but the areas where conditions are worst actually expanded.

The federal drought monitor map released Thursday shows 61 percent of the nation’s most drought-stricken state is under some form of drought. That’s down from about 68 percent last week and 86 percent a year ago.

About 19 percent of Texas is under the most severe level of drought, up slightly from last week and way up from about 3 percent a year ago.

Nearly 25 percent of Texas is under the worst two categories of drought, mostly in south-central Texas

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or

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvp25jA_02jSEcqpsAXUp2_a-NRgD99OGNEG0

Seattle breaks temp record as heat wave continues

By PHUONG LE and RYAN KOST (AP) – 1 day ago

(  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MltrnVOG2s&feature=related )

SEATTLE — Northwesterners more accustomed to rain and cooler climate sought refuge from a heat wave Wednesday, as Seattle recorded the hottest temperature in its history and Portland fell just 1 degree short of its own record-breaker.

The National Weather Service in Seattle recorded 103 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking a previous record of 100 degrees, set in downtown Seattle in 1941 and repeated at the airport in 1994.

Jay Albrecht, a Seattle meteorologist with the service, said it’s the hottest it has been in Seattle since records dating to 1891.

In Oregon, heat records were set in cities across the western half of the state, with Portland topping out at 106 degrees, breaking the old record of 100 for the day but falling 1 degree shy of its all-time record of 107. Portland most recently hit the 107 mark in 1981.

Oregon weather data goes back to the 1850s, although meteorologist Charles Dalton said the 107-degree mark, recorded at the Portland airport, reflects records kept at that site since 1941.

Meteorologist Doug McDonnal in Seattle said the stretch of hot weather has lasted longer than usual. Wednesday was the fifth consecutive day above 85 degrees for Seattle, he said.

Throughout the region, shade, icy treats, ice-cold water, air conditioning units and fans were in high demand.

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or

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.coldest.july.2.1103959.html

Jul 28, 2009 5:55 am US/Central

Chicago Sees Coldest July In 67 Years

Average Temperature Only 68.9 Degrees

(  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyyDyraBnOU&feature=related )

CHICAGO (CBS)
Have you left your air conditioner in the closet this summer, and worn long pants more often than shorts? If so, you may not be surprised to find out that Chicago is seeing its coldest July in more than 65 years.
The National Weather Service says 2009 has seen the coldest July since the official recording station was moved away from the lakefront in 1942. The average temperature this month in Chicago has been a mere 68.9 degrees.

Even in the years before 1942, when the National Weather Service recorded temperatures at the cooler lakefront, there are only three years that had colder Julys through the 26th.

There have also been far more days than usual with high temperatures less than 80 degrees this year. In 2009, there were 13 days where the temperature did not exceed 80 degrees. Only three Julys in the past 67 years have had more days in Chicago with highs less than 80 – there were 18 such days in 1992, and 14 in 1996 and 2000.

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IN THE SAME YEAR (sorry) then you are seeing the beginnings of something unpleasant. Farmers depend on predictability to farm. No farming no food, no food no us. Now that is a pretty simple concept to understand…Global warming however IS an inconvenient truth.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRRZzQQ6POE&feature=related )

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Farming In The Sky – Or turning our skyscrappers into farms

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SkyScrapers are energy dogs from a lot of perspectives most notably the energy needed to hoist people into the sky…so this concept probably won’t work. But from a local food perspective and from a built environment perspective It has some attraction.

On a personal note, I normally have little conscience about posting stuff here from other sources but this is from a blog, the person clearly put a lot of work into it and the pictures are really beautiful. So I am going to post a little of it here…for the rest goto:

http://www.land-force.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/17/vertical-farms/

20 Vertical Farming Pics, Designs & Concepts

One couldn’t say that the concept of vertical farming isn’t controversial, but they could say that it has serious merits that need to be considered on both sides of the issues.

 

credit

What is a vertical farm?  The basic premise, as you see in this image, is to be able to grow food in urban areas by creating tall buildings where, instead of each floor having offices, each floor is in essence its own super greenhouse, where different crops can be grown to feed people within its own community.  The idea is to not only be able to feed the community, but to protect the land that’s being damaged by over-farming and making sure that there will still be enough food for an ever growing population.

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Of course, not all designs would be the same, but this model of a design for the city of Seattle helps us to see how it would work.  It’s integrated into a city plan so that it fits in, and has areas where people can go inside to not only tend to the plants, but could actually buy their produce at the same time.

 

 

 

 


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Thinking of vertical farm in terms of super stores fits a model like this one, where the ground floor has everything a traditional supermarket would have,

 

 

 

 


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While upper levels would contain areas for growing produce.  This particular example tries to highlight how power might be created for all the energy needed to grow crops in urban areas, as the designs for vertical farming wouldn’t be able to provide natural light for all of the crops, so they’d need enhancement from artificial lighting.  It’s one of the major criticisms of trying to have vertical farms.

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Alternative Energy In Central Illinois – Progress in the heart of coal country

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oh its jam band friday ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54bFYwGr_Y )

Just for kicks and because it is Friday, I googled up Alternative Energy in Central Illinois and this is what I found:

http://www.ciree.net/

Welcome to Central Illinois Renewable Energy Expo

The Peoria County 4-H and Extension Foundation is proud to present the Central Illinois Renewable Energy Expo, May 2nd and 3rd at the Green Sports Complex in Mossville, Illinois near Peoria. This event is designed to be educational and informative with plenty of vendor displays, seminars, kids’ activities and information on renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable solutions, green lifestyles, and earth-friendly technology.

The event, the first one to be offered in Central Illinois, is designed to provide an opportunity for area residents and businesses to learn more about renewable energy and energy-efficiency products and services. “Every time your turn on your radio or TV you hear something about energy consumption. Many, if not all of us, would like to know more about how to save money on heating, fuel, electricity and so on, so we thought the Expo would be a great opportunity,” said Gary Sutton, Expo Coordinator and a member of the Peoria County 4-H and Extension Foundation. “We were amazed at how many people attended in 2008—it confirmed the need for an event like this. We are very grateful for our volunteer event partners and we think the Expo will continue to be a great experience for all in central Illinois.”

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT1mbxOQxHY&feature=related

I mean if it has gotten to the 4-H people well then it has become a tidal wave.

http://moleprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/07/illinois-focus-blogs-food-co-ops.html

ILLINOIS FOOD CO-OPS

It took nearly 7 years living within a few blocks of one of the biggest food co-ops in America before Joy and I joined it. We were definitely reluctant. But, in the end the lack of good produce and the decline of our local supermarkets led to us joining. And the result is a slighly more inconvenient shopping trip each week, but much healthier, higher quality and cheaper food. I recommend joining a co-op if there is one nearby. You will save money and eat healthier. So I will list some local food co-ops in Illinois:

West Central Illinois Food Cooperative
P.O. Box 677
Galesburg, Illinois 61402
wcifoodcoop@wcifoodcoop.com
http://www.wcifoodcoop.com

West Central Illinois Food Cooperative is a not for profit natural foods Co-op located in Galesburg, Illinois serving people in Knox and Warren County. We are affiliated with United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods has a warehouse in Iowa City.

We are a small food coop with about 20 to 30 families at any one time. Our monthly orders average about
$2,000 – $3, 000. We have been operating as a Co-op since 1982. We do not have any one that earns a salary. All of our work is performed by members who work the different jobs as part of their monthy obligation. Working Members pay a 1% mark up from the wholesale price in the Catalog. We have nonworking members. They pay a 10% mark up. Please explore the various links on our site for additional information about the Co-op and United Natural Foods. You can also get additional information at United Natural Foods Buying Clubs site at www.unitedbuyingclubs.com

Common Ground Food Co-op
610 E. Springfield
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Phone: (217) 352-3347
FAX: (217) 352-2214
comments@commonground.coop
http://www.commonground.coop/

Common Ground Food Co-op is a cooperatively owned grocery store that promotes local and organic production, fosters conscious consumerism, and builds community.

Though we are community-owned, membership is not required to shop in the store!

Common Ground Food Co-op carries a wide variety of groceries, produce, and health and beauty products.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SKFwtgUJHs&feature=related

http://www.windaction.org/news/16700

Finally from one of the best writers in Central Illinois, Tim Landis:

Wind farms sprouting up on central Illinois landscape

Three more wind farms – each a utility-scale project with the potential for 100 to 150 towers – are in the works for central Illinois. Trade Wind Energy, a Kansas-based alternative energy developer, confirmed the company has signed leases with landowners for two wind farms in DeWitt County and is in discussions for a third in Christian County. The first two sites are east and west of Clinton, about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, and the third is north of Pana, 45 miles southeast of Springfield. …Trade Wind Energy has held meetings with Farm Bureau and elected officials in both counties, and Enger said company executives understand it is important to be “open and transparent” about development plans.

July  7, 2008 by Tim Landis in Southtown Star

Three more wind farms – each a utility-scale project with the potential for 100 to 150 towers – are in the works for central Illinois.

Trade Wind Energy, a Kansas-based alternative energy developer, confirmed the company has signed leases with landowners for two wind farms in DeWitt County and is in discussions for a third in Christian County.

The first two sites are east and west of Clinton, about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, and the third is north of Pana, 45 miles southeast of Springfield.

“We are substantially into the leasing process. We already have enough land there for a wind farm,” Trade Wind Energy development manager Duane Enger said of the negotiations in DeWitt County.

Enger said lease negotiations have only just begun for the site north of Pana, and that it is too soon to discuss a construction schedule for any of the projects. But he said all eventually would produce 100 to 150 megawatts of electricity.

A megawatt typically would supply 250 to 300 homes, according to industry standards.

Enger said, in addition to open expanses of farmland, three major transmission lines that run through the counties, including to the Clinton nuclear reactor, would make it easier to get power to the grid.

The Trade Wind Energy projects come a little more than two months after Virginia-based Dominion Corp. announced plans for a 25,000-acre wind farm and 150 to 200 wind turbines in southern Christian and northern Macoupin counties.

Dominion also is negotiating for land leases estimated by the company at $3,000 to $4,000 per year, per turbine.

Christian County Farm Bureau manager Eric Johnson said the wind developers have been generally well received.

“As long as the wind company offers good compensation and a good contract — most farmers are pretty open minded about it,” Johnson said.

Brian Fesser is among Christian County farmers approached by Dominion, but he said he has not decided whether to allow wind turbines on a 1,200-acre grain farm south of Taylorville that has been in his family for more than 50 years.

Money, he added, is not the only factor.

“It’s having to farm around the wind towers themselves. It’s just like mowing your lawn, the more trees you have, the more time it takes,” he said.

Trade Wind Energy has held meetings with Farm Bureau and elected officials in both counties, and Enger said company executives understand it is important to be “open and transparent” about development plans.

He said the company plans to open offices in the area as soon as possible.

Enger said improvements in wind-turbine technology have made it possible to operate at lower wind speeds – Trade Wind looks for areas with consistent 10 to 18 mph winds – but that rising energy prices also are a factor.

“There has just been more demand for energy the last few years,” he said.

Trade Wind Energy

  • Founded: 2001
  • Corporate headquarters: Lenexa, Kan., suburb of Kansas City
  • Largest investor: Enel North America Inc., a subsidiary of Enel SpA, one of the world’s largest publicly held utility companies
  • Current projects: Kansas, Missouri and Illinois
  • On the Web:www.tradewindenergy.com

Web link: http://www.southtownstar.com/business/1040540,0707…

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Things are starting to change aren’t they?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1-Sv-HMHqE&feature=related

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Rail Splitter Wind Farm Has Central Illinois All A Twitter – Covering local green news is kinda cool

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100 megs. about to come on line.

http://www.pjstar.com/homepage/x1885905423/Rail-Splitter-Wind-Farm-almost-operational

072209windfarm8.jpg

Purchase this photo

LESLIE RENKEN/JOURNAL STAR

Rail Splitter Wind Farm turbines stand on land near Emden.

More related photos

072209windfarm1.jpg

By MATT BUEDEL (mbuedel@pjstar.com)

Journal Star

Posted Jul 21, 2009 @ 01:35 PM

Last update Jul 21, 2009 @ 11:57 PM

DELAVAN —

Dave and Judy Diekhoff wanted a host of questions answered before they committed to having a colossal wind turbine installed on a small plot of their 200-acre farm near Delavan.

They wanted to know about potential effects on property value, noise and the longevity of such structures. Most importantly, they wondered about the feasibility of aerial crop dusting for their property and that of their neighbors.

“After we got those worked out, we were fine with having the turbine on the farm,” Dave Diekhoff said Tuesday. “We believe in wind energy. . . . It’s going to be good for the county, and it’s going to be good for the schools.”

The massive structure that sits on their property today is part of the sprawling Rail Splitter Wind Farm that encompasses parts of Tazewell and Logan counties and straddles Interstate 155 near Delavan.

Some of the 67 turbines installed earlier this year as part of the project already are pumping electricity into the grid, and the rest of the structures should be operational next month, according to Bill Whitlock, director of development for Horizon Wind Energy.

Once those turbines begin churning – producing 100.5 megawatts of electricity per year, enough to power 30,000 homes – the state will mark a green milestone.

With Rail Splitter, Illinois will produce more than 1,000 megawatts of wind energy annually, pushing it further into the top 10 of wind-energy producing states.

Illinois currently ranks 10th in the nation with 915 megawatts of wind energy production per year, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Rail Splitter and two other projects are under construction or just completed.

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http://www.journalstandard.com/state_news/x135762987/Rail-Splitter-wind-farm-to-produce-wind-power-in-August

Rail Splitter wind farm to produce wind power in August

By Chris Dettro

GateHouse News Service

Tue Jul 21, 2009, 01:01 PM CDT

LINCOLN, Ill. –

The steel wind towers and turbine propellers of the Rail Splitter Wind Farm northwest of Lincoln should start spinning and producing electricity for the power grid sometime in August, project developers say.

“We’re commissioning the turbines beginning (Monday, July 20),” said Bill Whitlock, development director for Horizon Wind Energy LLC.

“At some point in August, it will be commercially operational,” Whitlock said of the project.

The farm consists of 67 General Electric 1.5-megawatt turbines with the capacity for 100.5 megawatts — enough to power more than 30,000 average Illinois homes each year.

Each turbine is more than 262 feet high and includes three blades that are each 125 feet long and a nacelle — which contains the gearbox and generator — the size of a camper trailer.

Houston-based Horizon operates more than 15 wind farms across the country, including the Twin Groves I and II wind farms in eastern McLean County. Those farms, which became operational in March 2007 and early 2008, respectively, have a combined 240 turbines and a generating capacity of 396 MW.

Horizon also is developing the Top Crop I wind farm, which is of similar size to Rail Splitter, in LaSalle County. That farm is the first phase of a larger project that will include wind farms in Grundy and Livingston counties.

Illinois ranks 10th in the country for existing wind energy capacity and 16th in potential capacity. There are 17 wind projects operating in the state so far, accounting for more than 1,100 MW of capacity.

Illinois gets about 2 percent of its electricity from wind.

Construction began on Rail Splitter Wind Farm, on Interstate 155 in Logan and Tazewell counties about 60 miles from Springfield, in July 2008, Whitlock said. Completing a trench for underground wiring was one of the final construction elements.

Horizon officials say the annual environmental benefits of Rail Splitter will be equivalent to taking 18,000 cars off the road.
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http://nilasmith.blogspot.com/2009/05/railsplitter-wind-farm.html

Railsplitter Wind Farm



I am in awe of these wind turbines!

No, I’m not the one who took these pictures, but my publisher Jan did, and they were in yesterday’s LDN.

LDN does not copyright their photos, so they are free for the taking for anyone who wants to copy them.

If you could like to see larger versions, follow this link; http://www.lincolndailynews.com/Features/picturepage051309_rwf.htm then click on the phot for a larger version.

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http://midwestgreen.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/railsplitter-windfarm-dedication/
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Bomke Opposed To Wind Farm In Sangamon County – Politicians asked to take a step into the past

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OKOKOK so it isn’t Larry. Everyone knows what google whore I am. I know Larry. I like Larry. Even though he is a Republican, he used to be my Senator and I have gone to fund raisers for him. It is Cathy his cousin but..

http://www.wikio.com/article/115797788

Vote!

Zoning change would mean end of wind farm in Sangamon County, developers say

www.carbonfreeenergy | 07/13/2009

Supporters of a requirement that turbines be at least a mile from “non-participants” in wind-farm developments estimate they have collected 450 signatures in support of the change in Sangamon County zoning rules.

The developers of the first such farm in the county say the requirement would spell the end of the project.

Cathy Bomke of Sangamon County Citizens for Wind Rights said Friday the group hopes to get a hearing as early as next month before the county zoning board of appeals on plans for the Meridian Wind Farm.

The utility-scale project eventually could build up to 200 turbines in an area between Pleasant Plains and New Berlin.

“This is a way for the county board to get a step ahead. If you want to participate, you can have one (a wind turbine). If you don’t want to participate, you’ll have the guarantee it won’t be quite so close to your home,” said Bomke.

Bomke said her cousin, state Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, is not involved in the petition drive.

American Wind Energy Management Corp., a U.S. subsidiary of one of Europe’s largest wind-farm developers, and California-based Oak Creek Energy Systems Inc. are partners in the Meridian Wind Farm.

A local project manager said Friday the companies have options on about 11,000 of the 20,000 acres that eventually would be needed.

“Everything is falling into place. It’s really just getting control of the land and getting landowners to sign up. The permitting process is the next big hurdle,” said Chris Nickells, vice president of site establishment

Nickells said it probably will be early 2010 before developers could go to the county board for approval, adding that they are aware of the petition drive.

“Their version of a setback would run us out. If you draw a one-mile radius around everybody’s house, it would send us packing,” said Nickells.

The project recently took on the name Meridian Wind Farm as the site is near the 90th parallel on the map.

In 2006, Sangamon County became one of the few counties in the state to create a separate set of zoning rules for wind farms. Board member Tim Moore, R-District 22, said the proposed wind farm on the west side of the county would the first commercial test of the ordinance.

“We’ve had a lot of preliminary talks but no actual filings from the company to zone anything yet,” said Moore, who is chairman of the board’s Public Health, Safety and Zoning committee.

“We have talked about, but not yet implemented, some additional public hearings on this project because of the nature of it,” he added.

Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission executive director Norm Sims said a county board member would have to sponsor the change in the ordinance sought by the citizens group.

“It would then go to the zoning board of appeals. They’d make a recommendation to the county board,” said Sims.

Bomke said the group has continued to collect signatures, including at a booth set up during the recent Sangamon County Fair in New Berlin, but that there is no specific goal for the number of signatures.

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This first appeared in the State Journal Register to give credit where credit is due:

http://www.sj-r.com/homepage/x488834783/Zoning-change-would-mean-end-of-wind-farm-in-Sangamon-County-developers-say

07102009bomke.jpg

Cathy Bomke of Sangamon County Citizens for Wind Rights doesn’t want a wind tower installed in the field across the street from her home on Yankee Town Road. Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register

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So if you see this person pull her over or have a word with her…NIMBY only works if something is a danger to you. It doesn’t work if it is unsightly. We all have to look at CWLP’s 3 smoke belching smoke stacks all day every day. I am positive given the nature of the grid that she sucks up some of that electricity. So why can’t she look at a nice nonpolluting Windmill. Some people even find them to be majestic and beautiful.

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Illinois Moves Ahead With Plans To Poison The Earth – Let’s inject toxins into our watershed

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That sounds like a plan doesn’t it?

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1264048039/House-revives-Taylorville-Energy-Center

 

House revives Taylorville Energy Center

OKs beginning of design work on clean-coal power plant

By DOUG FINKE (doug.finke@sj-r.com)

STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted Jul 16, 2008 @ 11:19 PM

Last update Jul 16, 2008 @ 11:44 PM

A $2.5 billion clean-coal power plant proposed for Taylorville got a new lease on life Wednesday when the Illinois House overwhelmingly approved a bill developers said is crucial to the project.By an 86-5 vote, the House passed Senate Bill 1987, which will allow design work to begin on the Taylorville Energy Center. It is similar to a bill that failed by 10 votes in the House in the closing hours of the spring session.Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield, said the latest version contains “some safeguards” to mollify utility giant Commonwealth Edison, which opposed the earlier bill. That includes more oversight of the project by the Illinois Commerce Commission.“They were concerned that some of the cost might be excessive,” Hannig said. “Now the Illinois Commerce Commission will have an opportunity to say yes or no to that. We have to prove to the power companies that we can produce this in Taylorville in a clean and economically feasible way.”The Taylorville Energy Center would use coal-gasification technology and Illinois coal to produce 525 megawatts of electricity while controlling carbon dioxide emissions

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Or in their own words:

http://www.tenaska.com/newsItem.aspx?id=62

News

Tenaska’s Taylorville Energy Center Selected By U.S. DOE For Loan Guarantee Program; Illinois Electric Ratepayers Could Save Up To $60 Million Per Year With $2.5 Billion Guarantee – 07/13/09

TAYLORVILLE, Illinois – July 13, 2009 – Tenaska, managing partner for the $3.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center (TEC), announced today that, following a competitive six-month application process, it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed into the term sheet negotiation phase under the DOE Loan Guarantee Program. The amount of the guarantee will be up to $2.579 billion, depending on the final project costs and capital structure.

Upon completion of due diligence and negotiations, the Taylorville project expects to receive a federal government guarantee of its debt, which will greatly reduce financing costs. Because TEC financing costs are included in electric rates under the recently enacted Illinois Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law, the DOE loan guarantee results in savings of between $40 and $60 million per year to Illinois consumers.

“This is a very important step toward securing a clean coal facility in Taylorville. The federal loan guarantee would significantly reduce the cost of financing the construction of the facility,” said Attorney General Lisa Madigan. “That’s important because cost will be a critical factor when the General Assembly reviews this project next year.”

The DOE Loan Guarantee Program, instituted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, is designed to spur technological innovation in fossil fuel energy development. It essentially gave the U.S. government the ability to back loans for advanced clean energy projects, thereby lowering financing costs.

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If you want to read a load of crap:

http://www.cleancoalillinois.com/tec.html

Taylorville Energy Center
Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) is a proposed 500- to 525-megawatt clean coal power plant using an advanced technology called Hybrid Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle (Hybrid IGCC) to make it the cleanest coal-fired power plant in the world.

Located a mile northeast of Taylorville in central Illinois, the plant will convert Illinois coal into clean substitute natural gas (also known as methane) to generate enough electricity to power more than 500,000 area homes.

The benefits of TEC include:

  • • Millions saved annually on power costs
    • Economic development for a job-starved region
    • Creation of a new market for Illinois coal
    • Protection of the environment and public
    health through clean-coal technology


Plant rendering (high-res image)

Taylorville Energy Center is being developed by Christian County Generation, LLC, a joint venture between affiliates of Tenaska, an Omaha, Nebraska-based power development company, and MDL Holding Co. of Louisville, Kentucky.  Tenaska is managing developer of the Taylorville project.  Since its inception 21 years ago, Tenaska has built more than 9,000 megawatts of power generation.  Forbes magazine ranks Tenaska as the 24th largest private U.S. corporation, based on 2007 gross revenues.

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And if you want to listen to a load of crap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGxZXBASYdc

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For 3 years they have planned, and talked, and schemed….

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PORTA’s Wind Turbine – I think I will take the week and do some local issues

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The mid range wind turbine is going up at PORTA High School outside of Petersburg. Way to go. First here is the rationale:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S00214.htm

Green Economics and how it might work

Monday, 20 July 2009, 3:53 pm
Article: Salient Green Economics and how it might work

by Tushara Kodikara

In times of the global economic recession and ecological crisis, it is obvious a radical response is needed. World-renowned economist Herman Daly maintains the future of human civilisation is dependent on a new economic model, based on a dynamic model—known as the steady state economy—preserving the environment we are all dependent upon.

There needs to be a shift away from the current paradigm of the growth economy towards a system that emphasises conserving natural capital and views the economy as a subset of the environment. Neoclassical economics has ignored the environment. The current system views environment and economy as intertwined. Any environmental problem can be solved by the market or by governmental interference.

Traditional economic theory is based on general equilibrium models: a giant system of thousands of simultaneous equations balancing supply and demand. These determine the price and quantity of goods and services. It assumes that there is an infinite resource base and also an infinite waste sink with no feedbacks. Simply put, resources will never run out and pollution will never occur. This leads to the notion that infinite growth is possible.

However, a litany of environmental problems, including destruction of the ozone layer, climate change, acid rain, deforestation, overpopulation, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, desertification, floods, famine, overfishing, hazardous wastes, expanding landfills, fresh water depletion and the depletion of nonrenewable resources, to name a few, are symptoms of the shortcomings of the current economic system.

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Did I mention it saves money?

http://www.sj-r.com/homepage/x1885902913/Spectators-marvel-as-turbine-installed-at-PORTA-High-School

 

Wind turbine draws crowd at PORTA High

Generator is final phase of $7.6 million energy-saving project

By ANN GORMAN

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted Jul 19, 2009 @ 11:00 PM

Last update Jul 20, 2009 @ 06:21 AM

PETERSBURG — Harold Biggs of Athens was one of several spectators behind PORTA High School Friday morning, as cranes lifted a hub with three huge rotor blades and then workers positioned it atop a large tower.Biggs, a 76-year-old retired engineer and Army veteran, began noticing wind turbines around the country about 10 or 12 years ago, and he’d recently read about them in Popular Science magazine. But he’d “never seen one put up before.”So, with camera and binoculars in hand, he decided to check out the activity in Petersburg.“I think it’s a step forward in ecology,” Biggs said of the turbine. “I’ve thought about getting a small one for my place, but it costs too much.”Anticipating public interest, PORTA officials had set up bleachers for people to watch the turbine progress.“I think it’s really cool to see how it’s put together,” said 15-year-old Abbey Stier of Williamsville, who watched the process with her dad, PORTA teacher David Stier.

The wind turbine — which extends 241 feet from base to blade tip — is the final phase of a $7.6-million energy-savings project instigated last year by the PORTA School Board because of soaring electric costs.

The 600-kilowatt wind generator — built in India and shipped by boat to Houston — was trucked in sections last week to Petersburg….

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Way to go Petersburg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wErksDKeWB8

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There Is Enough Wind Power Alone In The US – Knock knock knocking on Heaven’s door

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(it’s jam band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

m2feoIM9baI&feature=fvst )

There appears to be 2 schools of thought here. Or maybe three. The first is the literal image itself, that of asking to get into heaven. Instead of an automatic sorting mechanism  for heaven and hell maybe everyone has to ask to get in. A second though closely related meaning is that someone is lucky enough to escape hell but then are left knocking at a closed gate because they do not deserve to get in. But most are struck by its symbolic “nearness” to the act of Luther nailing his list of “short comings” on the Catholic Church’s door and the Protestant Reformation that followed:

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=KgNBqNswpVL9y

RwgzcHr0l9JqLd74yGQN4hyhPbX4QF3JtNy1bQT!-69977801!-16421419?docId=5007265930

Indeed the comparison to the ever opening of the 5 dominate religions (Chinese tao/numerology/spirits, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Muslim, in no particular order) to include and love more “unlike” individual is the knocking I hear.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCM88LhoW0

So,.. it is change you hear blowing. The general public has been treated to the coal/oil/natural gas chorus for years, “Alternatives will never do it all! We will need all forms of energy to supply all the needs!” This is nothing more than a complicated hiding behind your mother’s skirt form of argument. Or a slightly loopy form of the ugly stepchild argument – “he maybe ugly but he is related by marriage”. But now we all know that wind ALONE can supply all the power we need…DUH

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/study-suggests-wind-power-potential-is-much-higher-than-current-estimates/

July 16, 2009, 12:50 pm

Study Suggests Wind Power Potential Is Much Higher Than Current Estimate

By John Lorinc

Study  In the lower 48 states, the potential from wind power is 16 times more than total electricity demand in the United States, the researchers suggest.

Global wind energy potential is considerably higher than previous estimates by both wind industry groups and government agencies, according to a Harvard University study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

The new research surfaced just weeks after T. Boone Pickens, citing rising financing costs, scaled back his plans for the world’s largest wind farm in west Texas.

Using data from thousands of meteorological stations, the Harvard team estimated the world wind power potential to be 40 times greater than total current power consumption. A previous study cited in the paper put that multiple at about 7 times.

In the lower 48 states, the potential from wind power is 16 times more than total electricity demand in the United States, the researchers suggested – significantly greater than a 2008 Department of Energy study that projected wind could supply a fifth of all electricity in the country by 2030.

While remote regions of Russia and Canada have the greatest theoretical potential, the Harvard study pointed out that there are real gains to be made in high-emission nations, especially China, which has been rapidly constructing coal plants. “Large-scale development of wind power in China could allow for an 18-fold increase in electricity supply relative to consumption reported for 2005,” the Harvard study said.

The findings are “further validation of what we’ve been saying – that the United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind,” said Michael Goggin, an electricity industry analyst for the American Wind Energy Association.

The authors based their calculations on the deployment of 2.5- to 3-megawatt wind turbines situated either in accessible rural areas that are neither frozen nor forested, or relatively shallow offshore locations. They also used a conservative 20 percent estimate for capacity factor, a measure of how much energy a given turbine actually produces.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbwWiffSRRA

So maybe everyone should buy one of these:

 http://www.windenergy.com/index_wind.htm

Southwest Windpower is the world’s leading producer of small wind turbines. Since 1987, we’ve pioneered new technologies to make renewable energy simple. Whether you’re looking to reduce your home electric bills or power a home, boat or business off the grid, we offer a range of wind power systems to help you.

LATEST NEWS

or one of these:

http://www.windsolarusa.com/

WindSolarUSA

Michelle Marley

PO Box 168

Owaneco, IL 6255

michelle@windsolarusa.com

217.825.4206

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV6ETVQgob0

Next week….I shot the sheriff (just kidding)

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