Wouldn’t it be nice if all the energy we used could come from local, renewable resources? Here’s a great article from the San Francisco Chronicle about people who are trying to make that idea a reality. (You can also read the article here on Common Dreams.)
It explains that just as a “locavore” is someone who eats locally grown food, a “locavolt” is someone who seeks energy created from local, renewable resources. One “locavolt” idea mentioned in this article is a concept Mother Earth News readers may already be familiar with, community supported wind.
If this gets you started thinking about producing energy locally, here are a few other resources you might want to check out.
* Do you live in a good location for producing solar or wind power? Here’s an article with more information on evaluating your home’s renewable energy potential.
* To learn more about community supported wind power, a great resource is the non-profit organization Windustry and their Community Wind Toolbox.
* The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has state and country energy profiles with good background information on energy issues in different areas. For example, here’s the profile for my home state of Kansas. Not surprisingly, it shows that we burn a lot of coal from Wyoming, but don’t yet have a lot of wind turbines.
What are some of the energy issues where you live? You can share your thoughts by posting a comment below.