Moving Like Water

If I could quote myself for a moment, I believe the path to true energy sustainability is found with these steps:

Step 1: Derive all energy from U.S.-based sources.

Step: 2: Move all energy sources to renewables.

Step 3: Separate each region and have each area provide its own power, for example, the northwest should be on its own grid, the southwest, the center of the country in one or two sections and then the northeast and southeast.

Step 4: Separate each state. I live in Washington and there’s no reason Washington state couldn’t provide all of its own power. If it has excess, it could sell the remainder to other states that are suffering dips, but each state would take care of itself first.

Step 5: Each city should take care of its own needs. Same goes for counties. Seattle, where I live, should be putting together plans to generate enough power for itself. It’d be great for a progressive place such as this to be the only one with its lights on when the larger regional grid collapses.

Step 6: Next I’d love to see each neighborhood take care of their own needs as well. Imagine (relatively) smaller windmills hovering over city parks generating enough power for just the few hundred or thousand homes in the area.

Step 7: Last, but not least, it would be wonderful to see each home and business also taking care of itself. You can buy power off the grid if you need it, or provide 100% of your own power.

This approach offers great stability, redundancy and security. Economics are driving this move already, despite inept politicians and greedy corporations. The more we as businesses and individuals can provide for ourselves, the better off we are.

The Swift Wind Turbine is another example of this approach brought to life. Found via Inhabit.com, the capacity is up to 2,000 kwh annually and should be available this summer. Swift’s Web site highlights the quiet operation as its main benefit, but I’d say the biggest advantage is its apparently ability to be deployed in an urban environment. Once wind power (and other sources) can spread into cities and suburbs cost-effectively, these devices will be as common as aerial TV antennas once were.

Tags: Swift Wind Turbine

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Wind Power. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.