Witness to Alternative Energy

On our trip to Chicago last week we took the "southern route" which, for us, goes across Virginia and West Virginia on I-64, turns north on I-77, takes an off-Interstate jag through Ohio to I-70, and then turns north at Indianapolis on I-65. By the time we were an hour north of Indianapolis, I felt like we were almost there, so I put down my knitting and started to pay attention to the scenery.

Just north of Lafayette, Indiana, I was excited to see windmills spreading in every direction across the flat landscape of corn fields. I hadn't seen anything like this since I was in California more than 10 years ago. Wow. I pulled out my camera and started snapping at 70 mph. I'm glad that a few of the photos caught good views that I can share with you. 

Back home now, I am excited to learn that this is the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm, a partnership between BP Wind Energy and Dominion --- yes, that BP . . . and my power company! Dominion owns half of the Indiana wind farm as well as an entire wind farm in Illinois, another partnership with Shell in West Virginia, and is exploring wind projects in the western part of Virginia.

This was good news following a rather glum piece I heard this morning on CBS Sunday Morning about our feeble attempts as a country to get serious about alternative energy. After clips of Obama, Bush, Clinton, and even Nixon promoting wind and alternative power, the reporter said:

"But for all the talk about the energy of tomorrow, America is still powered by the energy of yesterday. Ninety-five percent of our electricity comes from an aging network of coal (47%), natural gas (21%), nuclear (20%), and hydroelectric plants (7%).

Despite decades of promises, less than five percent of our electricity currently comes from all other forms of alternative energy, combined."

Energy is something that's been hard for me to wrap my brain around. As a "smaller portions" environmentalist (see The Middle Path: Avoiding Environmental Catastrophe) I have saved water by installing low-flow toilets and we've swapped out our washer, dishwasher, and water heater for Energy Star varieties. I hang clothes outdoors to dry. I'm a vegetarian. I drive a Prius. I recycle and compost. I am careful about consumption choices. I do the things I can to cut back, but really now, how can I do anything about where the electricity comes from? I can't install a windmill in my backyard. I suppose I could put a solar panel on the roof, but it's not easy enough for me, the average homeowner, to understand, afford, and embrace.

So it's nice to know that my energy company is making a pretty big investment in wind. This tells me that its time to stop feeling helpless and make the effort to learn more. Thanks, Dominion.  

Again, from CBS Sunday Morning:

"The United States is the world leader in wind energy, and while it's still relatively expensive to produce, with new technology, costs are coming down.

"'We're just tapping into the very beginnings of potential with wind,' says [Patrick] Woodson [who is in charge of development for E.ON Energy in the West Texas town of Roscoe, where oil rigs once dotted the landscape] . . ."

Woodson was talking about the biggest wind farm in the world. But even so, it only powers up 7 percent of the energy needs of Texas.

He says that to get us focused on alternative energy, "We need a national policy... to really give us some direction on where we're gonna go."

I witnessed tomorrow's energy in the winds rolling across the Indiana plains. I'm psyched. I'm ready to push for a national policy and get behind leadership that makes alternative energy take off.