permaculture

[bestworms@usa.net <bestworms@usa.net>]

decentralized local power sources, and with permaculture there's reduced
burning. think like a lizard.

-------------

HIGHTOWER: Find the Future in Fargo 
Jim Hightower, AlterNet
April 5, 2001

                        In an era that fawns on the high-flying, high-techers
of California's
                        Silicon Valley, it's worth a trip to one of America's
rural outbacks --
                        North Dakota -- to visit some folks who're busy
bringing high-tech down
                        to earth -- and back to the grassroots. 

                        The issue is energy -- an area that Californians have
had a bit of trouble
                        with recently, as they find themselves held hostage by
a monopolistic,
                        antiquated, inefficient, fossil fuel-based electric
power system controlled
                        by a couple of greedheaded and inept energy
conglomerates. Meanwhile,
                        if you want to see a brighter energy future, travel to
the Holiday Inn in
                        Fargo, North Dakota. 

                        There in a small workroom, you'll find a 30-kilowatt
Capstone
                        MicroTurbine, no bigger than a refrigerator, humming
quietly. This
                        stand-alone power unit, unconnected to any utility's
power grid, creates
                        all the electricity to heat 200 rooms in the motel,
keeping customers cozy
                        even on the state's coldest sub-zero days. Not even
the turbine's exhaust
                        heat goes untapped -- it's used to provide hot water
for the motel's
                        kitchen, laundry, and public bathrooms. 

                        This microturbine represents a fundamental shift in
America's energy
                        thinking, shifting away from today's massive,
belching, centralized power
                        plants that produce a billion-and-a-half watts of
electricity each, which
                        then has to be sent out along hundreds of miles of
high-voltage wires.
                        Instead, the micropower movement is based on Thomas
Edison's
                        original model of small, localized generators
controlled by the users of
                        electricity, with businesses and neighborhoods
generating their own
                        power. 

                        Using new materials and technologies, inventors and
entrepreneurs have
                        updated Edison's vision with ultra-high speed turbines
that are
                        affordable, super-efficient, non-polluting, virtually
maintenance free, and
                        safe. 

                        This is Jim Hightower saying -- Instead of continuing
to subsidize failure,
                        let's focus on the future in Fargo.



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