CleanTechies – A way to live off the land now

It’s Jam Band Friday –  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omq6fOeFycQ

I usually post this on CES’ Bulletin Board  for them but it dawned on me when this came in this morning, that many people are already working with the the goodness of the Earth in mind. That includes all of the Earth advocates in groups like Clean Techies and the Nature Conservancy.

http://cleantechjobs.cleantechies.com/a/jobs/find-jobs

Ceylan Thomson sent a message to the members of CleanTechies.

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Subject: View New Job Openings – Win Free Event Tickets!

Dear fellow CleanTechies,

I would like to highlight a few promising events that are coming up. CleanTechies is proud to be official media partner for all these events and offers you the chance to win free tickets. Read on to find more details.

If you are hiring right now, it would be great if you wanted to share your openings with the CleanTechies community. We have one of the most active job boards in the industry, and you can post your jobs for FREE by using discount code “free09”. Post your jobs at: http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechjobs.cleantechies.com

JOBS
Some of the latest openings on CleanTechies:

* Director of Business Development – OPOWER
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/w1l

* Lab Technician – Potter Drilling
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/vj9

* Lead Power Supply Engineer, Energy Harvesting & Storage – Insiders’ Connection
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/s8m

* Alternative Energy Sales & Marketing – Pleasant Valley Energy
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/t5j

* Senior Software Engineer, Scaling Specialist – OPOWER
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/u91

* Sales reps & distributors – EZ Energy Savings
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/cay

Find more jobs at: http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechjobs.cleantechies.com
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Subscribe to our FREE job news feed:
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/subscriptions
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BLOG
Some of the latest CleanTechies blog posts:

* Environmental Change: If I Were the New CEO of Chevron…
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/zzt

* Green Building: Air Leaking, Utility Bills and a Caulk Gun
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/4jc

* Water Filtration: Safe Drinking Water from Thin Air?
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/wq8

* Could America Tax Gasoline More (And Fund Clean Tech)?
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/xk6

* Train in Vain: Epilogue on High-Speed Rail Series
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;cleantechies.com/j7b

For more insights, visit: http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;blog.cleantechies.com
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Subscribe to our FREE news feed:
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:} ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQFeuAbLHro )

Warm regards,

Ceylan Thomson
Chief Marketing Officer
http://www.facebook.com/l/846e8;CleanTechies.com

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While we are in a commerce frame of mind, if you are in the mood for a hurricane proof house in Florida try these folks:

http://www.royalconcreteconcepts.com/

I know it is jam band FRIDAY but I wanted to do a couple of long ones:

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvIO11uKjLI )

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Can Humans Live Off The Land – And by this I do not mean a return to a hunter gather society

I mean can humans live with out a growth model of economics like corporate capitalism?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013105631.htm

Sustainable Architecture: Setting Sail In An Ecological ‘Earthship’

ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2009) — Could sustainable architecture address pollution, climate change and resource depletion by helping us build self-sufficient, off-grid, housing from “waste”, including vehicle tires and metal drinks containers? That’s the question researchers at the University of South Australia address in a new paper appearing in the International Journal of Sustainable DesignMartin Freney of the department of Art, Architecture and Design has taken a critical look at the work of architect, Michael Reynolds of Taos, New Mexico, USA, who has experimented with radical house designs, and construction techniques over the past three and half decades. Reynolds designs incorporate passive heating and cooling, water catchment and sewage treatment, renewable energy, and even food production. These houses, which Reynolds calls “Earthships” are essentially independent of external utilities and waste disposal. On the face of it, they offer, an environmentally benign approach to housing.

A common method of responding to unsustainable housing is to design an energy-efficient home using “natural building” methods, Freney points out. He adds that Reynolds has already demonstrated that essentially free building materials resulted in greater financial independence for the owner-occupiers of his houses and when he added off-the-grid power and water systems he found that it was possible to reduce his utilities bills to practically zero.

Freney, while enthusiastic about the potential of Reynolds’ approach is also more realistic about the actual sustainability of Earthships that are off the utility grids. After all, he says, to a certain degree, Earthships are still locked into potentially unsustainable systems because they rely on a technological society for the production of the vehicle tires and aluminum can bricks from which they are constructed and the high-tech components such as solar panels, electronics, pumps, tanks, glass and cement that allow them to go off-grid.

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These people are soooooo cooool

http://www.earthship.net/

1. Ekofilm ends, Main Prize goes to Garbage Warrior

Education/videos, movies, tv

On Saturday 10 October, the gala evening with awarding of prizes for the 35th annual film festival MFF Ekofilm was held in the Municipal Theatre in ?eský Krumlov. Prizes were awarded in 13 categories. The Main Prize of Ekofilm and also the..

2.  The earthship is here, in in the hinterlands of Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, India

Global Network/India

Kodaikanal: A novel idea is taking shape in the hinterlands of Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, even as you are reading this. Alex Leeor, 35, from Brighton, UK, has arranged about 800 tyres and a few truckloads of mud(as seen in pic above) on a remote,…

3. EVE gets plastered

Buildings/Communities

Earthship Village Ecologies (E.V.E.) gets an initial coat on the second level roof. We have also observed (in the developed countries) a barrier  between the peoples of the world  and  an affordable carbon zero/sustainable living…

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Tomorrow:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33357744/ns/us_news-environment/

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T. Boone Pickens Talks But Soros Walks –

This one said this:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=abOXC_XubeyU

Soros to Invest $1 Billion in Clean Energy, Form Advisory Group

By Katherine Burton and Jim Efstathiou Jr.

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire George Soros, looking to address the “political problem” of climate change, said he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and donate $100 million to an environmental advisory group to aid policymakers.

Soros, the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC, announced the investment in Copenhagen on Oct. 10 at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate. The group is an international association made up of 430 newspapers from 150 countries.

“I want to apply rather stringent criteria to the investments,” said Soros in an e-mailed message. “They should be profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem.”

Soros’s announcement comes two months before 190 nations will gather in the Danish capital for a final round of negotiations on a new climate treaty that includes provisions to finance clean- energy projects in developing nations. Talks last week in Bangkok were marked by a dispute between richer and poorer nations over whether to renew or abandon the Kyoto Protocol, the only existing global agreement to reduce carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming.

Soros, whose own wealth accounts for much of the approximately $24 billion his New York-based firm oversees, didn’t provide any details in his speech on the type or scope of investments he might make. Michael Vachon, his spokesman, wasn’t available to comment on his specific plans.

10-Year Initiative

Soros, 79, also will establish the Climate Policy Initiative, a San Francisco-based organization to which he will donate $10 million a year for 10 years.

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The other says he wants us to keep burning carbon based fuel..just his carbon based fuel:

http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/

New jobs from renewable energy and conservation.

Any discussion of alternatives should begin with the 2007 Department of Energy study showing that building out our wind capacity in the Great Plains – from northern Texas to the Canadian border – would produce 138,000 new jobs in the first year, and more than 3.4 million new jobs over a ten-year period, while also producing as much as 20 percent of our needed electricity.

Building out solar energy in the Southwest from western Texas to California would add to the boom of new jobs and provide more of our growing electrical needs – doing so through economically viable, clean, renewable sources.

To move that electricity from where it is being produced to where it is needed will require an upgrade to our national electric grid. A 21st century transmission grid which will, as technology continues to develop, deliver power where it is needed, when it is needed, in the direction that it is needed, will be the modern equivalent of building the Interstate Highway System in the 1950’s.

Beyond that, tremendous improvements in electricity use can be made by creating incentives for owners of homes and commercial buildings to retrofit their spaces with proper insulation. Studies show that a significant upgrading of insulation would save the equivalent of one million barrels of oil per day in energy by cutting down on both air conditioning costs in warm weather and heating costs in winter.

A domestic fuel to free us from foreign oil.

The Honda Civic GX Natural Gas Vehicle is the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle in the world according to the EPA.

Conserving and harnessing renewable forms of electricity not only has incredible economic benefits, but is also a crucial piece of the oil dependence puzzle. We should continue to pursue the promise of electric or hydrogen powered vehicles, but America needs to address transportation fuel today. Fortunately, we are blessed with an abundance of clean, cheap, domestic natural gas.

Currently, domestic natural gas is primarily used to generate electricity. It has the advantage of being cheap and significantly cleaner than coal, but this is not the only use of our natural gas resources.

By aggressively moving to shift America’s car, light duty and heavy truck fleets from imported gasoline and diesel to domestic natural gas we can lower our need for foreign oil – helping President Obama reach his goal of zero oil imports from the Middle East within ten years.

Nearly 20% of every barrel of oil we import is used by 18-wheelers moving goods around and across the country by burning imported diesel. An over-the-road truck cannot be moved using current battery technology. Fleet vehicles like buses, taxis, express delivery trucks, and municipal and utility vehicles (any vehicle which returns to the “barn” each night where refueling is a simple matter) should be replaced by vehicles running on clean, cheap, domestic natural gas rather than imported gasoline or diesel fuel.

A plan that brings it all together.

Natural gas is not a permanent or complete solution to imported oil. It is a bridge fuel to slash our oil dependence while buying us time to develop new technologies that will ultimately replace fossil transportation fuels. Natural gas is the critical puzzle piece that will help us to keep more of the $350 to $450 billion we spend on imported oil every year at home, where it can power our economy and pay for our investments in wind energy, a smart grid and energy efficiency.

It is this connection that makes The Pickens Plan not just a collection of good ideas, but a plan. By investing in renewable energy and conservation, we can create millions of new jobs. Developing new alternative energies while utilizing natural gas for transportation and energy generation; securing our economy by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and keeping more money at home to pay for the whole thing

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I know which one I’d pick…How bought you?

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Home Of Oil, Also The Home Of Wind – 736 Megs. come on line

It’s Jam Band Friday – hurray

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4KmbUCwkyE )

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioaMTqBpfb3mR-M1Vew-FC32oyqQD9B2FK880

Massive Texas wind farm operating

DALLAS — The world’s largest wind farm officially got up and running Thursday, with all 627 towering wind turbines churning out electricity across 100,000 acres of West Texas farmland.

The Roscoe Wind Complex, which began construction in 2007 and sprawls across four counties near Roscoe, is generating its full capacity of 781.5 megawatts, enough to power 230,000 homes, the German company E.ON Climate and Renewables North America said.

“This is truly sign milestone for us,” said Patrick Woodson, the company’s chief development officer. “In three years to be able to take this project from cotton fields to the biggest wind farm in the world is something we’re very proud of.”

The complex is about 220 miles west of Dallas and 300 miles south of the land where billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens had planned an even larger wind farm before he scrapped the idea in July.

Texas leads the nation in wind power production, and this wind farm tops the capacity record of 735.5 megawatts set by another West Texas farm southwest of Abilene.

Renewable energy makes up a small fraction of the electricity grid, but the wind and solar sectors were among the fastest growing in the U.S. before the recession. Wind power in Texas has grown again this year but has slowed from the 2008 rate.

“We are expecting ’09 to be a somewhat smaller year overall, but still a fairly solid year,” said Kathy Belyeu of the American Wind Energy Association.

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfU6kbgR1SY&NR=1  )

You can tell that wind is here to stay.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aTWyaCoFJz5s

FPL to Buy 3 Wind Power Farms From Babcock & Brown (Update2) 

By Katarzyna Klimasinska

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — FPL Group Inc., the biggest U.S. producer of wind and solar power, agreed to buy three wind farms from Babcock & Brown for $352 million.

The turbines, located in Texas, Wisconsin and South Dakota, have combined capacity of 184.5 megawatts, FPL’s NextEra Energy Resources LLC subsidiary said today in a statement. More than 80 percent of the output is sold under long-term contracts.

Juno Beach, Florida-based FPL will need approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Justice Department to complete the transaction, which is scheduled to close by the end of this year. The wind farms will add to FPL’s 2010 earnings, according to the statement.

NextEra said the purchase includes a 79.5-megawatt wind farm in Carson County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo; a 54- megawatt development in Dodge County, Wisconsin, northwest of Milwaukee; and a 51-megawatt farm in Jerauld County, South Dakota, south of Wessington Springs.

FPL fell $1.48, or 2.7 percent, to $53.75 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock had climbed 9.7 percent this year before today:}

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxGpmp6URuk&feature=related )

I love that quote:

There is plenty of wind out there and plenty of energy to be tapped. It’s just like an oil field that doesn’t run out. Tom Gray, AWEA

Oh sorry I was busy boogying

http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_wind.htm

For the past two years, Texas has been the top wind producer in the United States, with over 3,953 wind-generated megawatts (MW) installed. Texas is also the first state to achieve the milestone of one Gigawatt of wind installations in a single year (2007). The demand for additional wind power has grown so rapidly that the Texas electric transmission grid has a critical need for expansion. In July 2007, the Texas Public Utility Commission announced its approval for additional transmission lines that could deliver as much as 25,000 megawatts of wind energy from remote areas in the state to urban centers by 2012, depending on how many wind farms are built. New transmission infrastructure will allow all Texans to access the the state’s vast wind resources.

DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy technology, growing by 45% in 2006 due to strong demand, investment of private capital, and the support of federal and state governments. Electric utilities have shown an increased interest in wind project ownership, and wind industry sales to power marketers have become more common. Wind power has consistently remained at or below the average price of conventional electricity such as coal, nuclear, and natural gas.

AWEA has determined that two-thirds of the predicted growth of wind energy generation in the U.S. will occur in Texas, as three of the five largest wind farms in the nation are located in Texas. Texas already holds the record for the world’s largest wind farm, Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, which was completed by FPL Energy, Inc. in late 2006. It also is the site for the nation’s second-largest wind farm, the 504.8-megawatt Sweetwater wind project, the fourth phase of which attained commercial operation in May, 2007.

The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas remains the largest wind farm in the world with a total capacity of 735 megawatts (MW) spread across approximately 47,000 acres in Taylor and Nolan counties near Abilene in west central Texas.

The wind plant consists of 291 1.5-MW wind turbines from General Electric and 130 2.3-MW wind turbines from Siemens.

One MW is enough electricity to serve 250 to 300 homes on average each day

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=359QibQrD1Q&feature=related )

I  love it when a plan comes together.

http://www.infinitepower.org/projects.htm

Texas Renewable Energy Projects

This page presents information on notable renewable energy projects around the state, representing the major renewable energy technologies.

The following is a list of Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) renewable energy projects:


Wind Power Projects
Delaware Mountain Wind Farm   A photo of wind turbines on a mesa in West Texas.
Owner:   American National Wind Power
Size:     30 MW
Location:    Culberson County, Texas
Installed: 1999
American National Wind Power is a subsidiary of National Wind Power. This wind farm is National Wind Power’s (NWP) first project in Texas and is located in Culberson County, northeast of the town of Van Horn in West Texas. The ranch on which it is built is used for raising cattle and deer and is also the site of the West Texas Wind Farm Power Project, described below.  Given the right legislative environment, NWP plan  to develop it to a full potential of 250MW. The power produced by the Delaware Mountain Wind Farm is purchased by the Lower Colorado River Authority (Austin, Texas) and Reliant Energy HL&P (Houston, Texas) for distribution to their customers.
Texas Wind Power Project

A photo of the LCRA's wind turbines in Delaware County, near Guadalupe peak.

Owner:   General Land Office & Lower Colorado River Authority
Size:     35 MW
Location:    Culberson County, Texas
Installed: 1995
The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) teamed with the General Land Office GLO) and private industry to develop this commercial wind power plant, the first in Texas.  The Texas Wind Power Project, located in Culberson County in West Texas, has 112 Kenetech 33M-VS wind turbines capable of generating 35 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 12,000 to 15,000 homes.  Since the ribbon-cutting for the Texas Wind Power Project in 1995, the Texas’ Permanent School Fund earned more than $750.000 from it. The project is expected to earn more than $3 million for the PSF and create $300 million in increased economic activity over the 25-year lease period.  For additional information see this GLO web page.

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God bless Texas and Ry Cooder

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXx0qrasdTE&feature=related )

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I March In The Labor Day Parade With IBEW 193 – Labor Unions are 300 years old

Which makes commercial oil production look like a baby at 150 (please see last weeks Posts).

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

As always it was very very cool, everyone gathered:

laborday0.jpg

laborday1.jpg

laborday3.jpg

And Everyone marched:

laborday4.jpg

Some places were crowded:

laborday5.jpg

Some places weren’t. But it always amazes what things you never notice unless you are actually in the street. Somehow on the sidewalk they just do not stand out.

laborday6.jpg

Then it was over, but we will be back next year:

laborday10.jpg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(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

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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Flying Wind Turbines – Energy for Heaven on Earth

What exactly is Heaven on Earth?

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/heaven-on-earth-the-rise-and/

The phrase “Heaven on Earth” in the context of the book is lifted from a phrase by Moses Hess who, in his Communist Confession of Faith, noted that while Christians imagine a heavenly joy “We, on the other hand, will have this heaven on earth.” It’s exactly this kind of religious fervor for the concepts of socialism (and communism – the terms are used interchangeably) that gave socialist regimes the license to do whatever it took to cram Paradise down people’s throats. And when people rejected the “freedom” offered to them, the results were horrific: Mussolini’s Italy, Stalin’s Soviet Republic, and Mao’s China. In total, Muravchik estimates that more than 100 million people were murdered in the name of socialism since 1917.

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Some people mistake it for State Run Fascism.

http://lis.net.au/marijonas/

BOOKS, EDITORIALS & NEWS REPORTS

DEATH FOR CONVENIENCE
The great en-masse deception

CONSCIENTIOUS
OBJECTIVE ACTION

WOLF & LAMB
Animal Free Cooking

APPLIED OPERATION CENTER

Unfolding History

The Heaven On Earth phrase well illustrates the aspirations of most humanity. It is the point at which all our individual and collective efforts from across the ages of humanity are fulfilled. It is the point at which we are freed by the truth.

As we proceed on our living journey, the words of Meister Johann Eckhart, a 14th century mystic, might help to re-focus our individual tasks: “Earth should become like heaven, so God can find a home here”. Herein are our individual and mutual tasks – to transform the things of ourselves which we sense in our heart are incompatible with heaven. When we make the change, we create a difference, which in turn becomes challenged. When we hold our ground, the world around us changes in consequence. By changing ourselves, we change the world.

The world is in extreme crisis and needs our individually unique care. The topics presented on this site are those which the author emphasizes for humanity’s healing.

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Some confuse it with theocracy.

 http://books.google.com/books?id=isWUqKBcb1QC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=heaven+on+earth+phrase&source=bl&ots=i7j2kItMfh&sig=gtBxdCX01G3Co8I4Ar6dewqc8qc&hl=en&ei=TqRcSrGNJ4fkNb6K_b8C&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8

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While others are simply obscure…

But Flying Turbines are much more practical:

http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/2009/06/16/turbines-in-the-sky/

Turbines in the sky

June 16, 2009 11:44am

by Kate Mackenzie


 

Magenn’s MARS prototype

Wired takes a look at several companies working on high altitude wind turbines: ranging from floating, kite-like devices tethered to long power cables to quaint-looking power-generating flying machines.

The devices are very diverse. Magenn’s helium-filled devices resemble floating kites; Sky Windpower has a ‘controlled helicopter’ with four rotary blades keeping it suspended. Kite Gen’s devices describe a figure eight in the air.

There’s no doubt the wind is stronger at high altitudes, and the devices would take up less ground space, perhaps avoiding one key objection to wind turbines. The attractions are many:

Wind’s power — energy which can be used to do work like spinning magnets to generate electricity — varies with the cube of its speed. So, a small increase in wind speed can lead to a big increase in the amount of mechanical energy you can harvest. High-altitude wind blows fast, is spread nicely across the globe, and is easier to predict than terrestrial wind.

Companies also claim the devices would pose less of a threat to avian life, and emit lower noise pollution than regular wind turbines.

But they’re not without drawbacks.

High-altitude winds, although they are far stronger than terrestrial winds, don’t offer any solution to the ‘baseload’ problem, the inconsistency of supply affecting many renewables. In a article in Energies journal:

Because jet streams vary locally and seasonally, however, the high-altitude wind power resource is less steady than needed for baseload power without large amounts of storage or continental-scale transmission grids, due to the meandering and unsteady nature of the jet streams.

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Please see the rest of the article for more info

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmxB2BwVufA&feature=fvst

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