Continuing an unplanned “Vermont Week” in the Ohio Republic, I encountered a brilliant article in Vermont Commons on creating sustainable energy sources, which follows up nicely on my recent posts on transportation and simplifying the holidays.
Written by Gaelan Brown, it suggests seven options, six of which will work in Ohio (we’re too flat to make hydroelectric power work). The six are: building community and residential-scale electric generation, biomass (burning renewable fuels such as timber* and, for us, corn), biogas (converting municipal sewage and agricultural, uh, waste into a methane-generating electrical power system, wind power (which is beginning to take hold in Ohio), development and promotion of electric vehicles, and solar power for water heating (a long-established technology). Read the details – Mr. Brown explains his points not only reasonably, but also with wit.
With our tradition of invention (and noting that Northeastern Ohio is heavily populated with descendants of New Englanders), we should be able to build on these ideas to achieve energy independence.
* Recent developments in genetic engineering suggest that trees can be genetically engineered to burn more efficiently as fuel; but at the moment there are still a few kinks to be worked out.
No comments:
Post a Comment