ENERGY FLASHES

ENERGY FLASHES THE TILBY CANE SEPARATOR -a machine invented by Canadian Theodore E. Tilby-can extract sweeteners from sugar cane and sorghum at half of today's costs and also preserve the husks as raw material for an inexpensive lumber substitute! The sugar industry (which, it seems, would rather lobby for higher prices than adopt cost-cutting methods) has purchased only one Tilby so far. But the fact that the new device can process cane so inexpensively that the crop could be used to make cattle feed and-more important-ethyl alcohol has finally sparked interest in the remarkable invention.

"THE BIGGEST WIND ENERGY SYSTEM ON THE PLANET " , consisting of 20 separate windplants, is planned for construction by U.S. Windpower, Inc. of Massachusetts. The $75 million project will be erected at Pacheco Pass -80 miles south of San Francisco-and is expected to supply enough power for 1,000 people . . . while saving 178,000 barrels of oil a year.

ELECTRICITY RATES THAT ARE TWICE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE -coupled with the possibility of power blackouts-have caused some New York manufacturers, apartment complexes, and businesses to break away from Con Edison and install their own generators. The most successful of these systems-called "co-generation" -captures the steam normally wasted at utility power plants and uses it, along with electricity, to produce energy savings of between 10% and 30%. Even though such industries (which occasionally sell their excess power back to the utilities) could technically be subject to regulation, most "co-generating" firms say they're delighted to "cut the umbilical cord" from Con Ed. The "parent" company, of course, is far from pleased.

AN ANTINUCLEAR NATIONAL CLEARING HOUSE will provide-upon request-information about resources, speakers, experts, and funding sources to other like-minded groups. The organization hopes to set up six regional networks, which would funnel such information down to grassroots nuclear protestors. To learn more, contact Margaret Davies, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, 225 4th Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002.

YOU CAN HAVE A HAHSA for $500 to $1,200 (depending on whether you build with new or used materials). The new "Heating and Heat Storage Apparatus"-billed as the "safest wood-burner of all"-claims to provide all the space and water heating needed by the average home. HAHSA's fire chamber-which is located outside the house -is surrounded by a mass of sand that absorbs and stores heat from wood, paper, and miscellaneous burnable wastes. Two heat exchangers-one for hot water and one for house-warming-are connected to the dwelling by underground pipes. Information is available for $1.00 (or complete plans and a materials list for $20) from HAHSA, Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 112M, Falls, Pennsylvania 18615.

THE SOLAR INDEX -a new daily-amount-of-sunshine statistic prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Weather Service-is specifically designed to show how much solar energy was available to run domestic solar water heaters on any given day. Such "sun information" is rapidly becoming a part of standard weather reporting . . . along with the usual pollen counts, wind-chill factors, and air-quality evaluations.

PEDDLE AWAY POLLUTION : Bicycles now make up two-thirds of the vehicles in a typical rush hour in Davis, California . . . and 90% of the riders are adults. If you'd like to get some safe bike paths for your community, funding for up to 70% of the construction costs of such facilities is now available under Section 134 of the 1976 Federal-Aid Highway Act (Title 23, U.S. Code, Section 217). For more details, write the Federal Highway Administration (400 7th Street S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590) and request the Department of Transportation's publication, "Bicycle & Pedestrian Facilities in the rederal-Aid Highway Program". Additional bikeway money can be obtained from the Land & Water Conservation Fund (Department of the Interior, Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, Washington, D.C. 20204.)

IF YOU LIVE IN THE WEST and are interested in "decentralized, humanistic, small-scale, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable technologies", perhaps you should consider joining Friends of Appropriate Technology . . . who hope to start a western branch of their present group (based in Washington, D.C.). To see how you can help, contact Carole Gates, FAT-West, U.S. Department of Energy, Conservation Division, 1333 Broadway, Oakland, California 94612.

STRANGE DAYS IN PENNSYLVANIA: Shortly before the Three-Mile-Island accident last March, the York Dailv Record told of a trucker who advised plant security personnel that he had seen a large, hairy creature near the Peach Bottom Nuclear Reactor. While dogs in the area "went berserk" and eerie, shrill squeals came out of the woods, investigators turned up footprints later identified-by Sasquatch experts-as those of a "Bigfoot".