A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies.
"One thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine. The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential. Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you. Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperature differential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow. Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the way from the plains of Montana to put it to use. The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact is recognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousands of them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it on agriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The land footprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuating fuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drastically based on fears or political whims. The potential gains are enormous. We've all seen the flow of good manufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it's more "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for us right around here. Most of all, because we here in the Great Lakes region have the potential to have a huge positive impact on U.S. energy industry emissions' contribution to global warming."
Archives
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02/01/2004 - 02/07/2004
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02/22/2004 - 02/28/2004
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05/16/2004 - 05/22/2004
(!Not tax deductible!
The AWEA's annual expo:
Global WINDPOWER 2004
McCormick Place
Chicago, Illinois, USA
March 28-31, 2004
I was there...
---------------
Dan Stafford - Publisher
WE WELCOME ENERGY STORY SUBMISSIONS!
Please note the E-mail link by the title of the webpage. Comments, stories, and article submissions are welcome. Any accepted submission entitles the submitter to a link on the Journal page included at the bottom of their submitted entry when published to the journal. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal makes no claim as to the accuracy of submitted material. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal neither endorses nor opposes opinions expressed in submitted material. Submitter must provide name, city, and state or country. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal imples no promise to publish all submissions. Adult content wil definitely NOT be published. Submitted material will be screened and appropriate entries published at the owner's discretion.
Safe, healthy, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for farmers, good for you, and just downright good produce:
State-by-state directory of farmers' markets
-----------
For additional information and resurces, please visit my Wind Energy links page at: Whizzyrds.com
T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts, cards, and posters are available at: Wind Energy T's
Wind Energy poetry is located at: Wind Poems
(Both mp3 and text versions are available in some cases, we are working on doing mp3 for all of them.)
I strongly encourage those seriously interested in learning about the technology, players, politics, and issues of Wind Energy to spend time browsing the American Wind Energy Association website. They are the premier industry trade organization and have extensive resources available.
(www.awea.org)
Alpha Solar
Clean energy generation systems for off-grid living and environmental impact reduction.
The Great Lakes Information Network:
*PING*
The Distributed Resources & Green Power weBlog by Bruce Irving
P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit your question at www.emagazine.com;
or e-mail Earth Talk at earthtalk@emagazine.com.
OTEC News weBlog: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
The Green Ocean Project: Using solar energy to distill water for agriculture.
Other weBlogs by Daniel Stafford:
The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal
*Spell Book*
Affirmation Station
Remembering Mom
Save Hotel Baker
Uncle Harold's Farm
The Last Legend of Memphis
The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal
From Back Yard To Wind Farm...Win-Wind!
E-mail Your Comments & Stories!
After an extensive review of proffessed policy intentions, I will reverse myself and offer my personal endorsement of Democratic Candidate Dennis J. Kucinich for President of the United States.
His environmental policy alone is excellent, but this candidate is on every issue statement I have so far seen solidly for human rights, civil rights, workers' rights, sound environmental and energy policy that will result in a much cleaner and more sustainable economy, support of family sustainable agriculture over industrial agricultural operations, clean water, investment in critical infrastructure, and much, much more. This is a candidate that supports a liveable world for all, and a world at peace. I strongly urge you to review his platform statements at: http://www.kucinich.us
Alternatively, you can view the ten key points of his campaign at: Ten points acrobat
Try this: http://www.presidentmatch.com It will run you through a series of poll questions and then show how close each candidate is to your views.
Anyone interested in interviewing Dennis Kucinich please write to: interviews@kucinich.us
24/7 Dennis Kucinich Internet Radio - Progressive Mojo
MP3 clips of rhetorical history, musicians' songs on the state of politics in the USA, and more:
http://www.benfrank.net/nuke/Free_Peace_mp3s.html
In the Primary, you ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT.
In the General Election, you TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET!
(Until this one because Dennis Kucinich is going to win!)
Progressive Newswire: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire.htm
"Prayer For America" Speech
(Real Audio)
Air America Radio - Listen Live!
Saturday, May 17, 2003
I read in the Chicago Tribune about a gal going over to the Netherlands to study windmills in an urban setting and their impact on the people close by. She said in the article that she wonders if windmills on the Great Lakes might work. I'm kind of hoping I can contact her and ask her to journal her experiences during the internship. That would be SO cool!
Alright, that's quite a few tweaks and I think a pretty good basic site in just a day or so. Break time.
I will probably be inputting a good bit about other things I myself am doing, thoughts, theories, etc. Be forewarned, my opinion will be rampant! However, I will make room for others....*LOL* At least a little.
I just added several new links and a sitemeter. Now to find interviews and stories!! (Wouldn't that be fun!)
I almost forgot - I talked to my Grandfather the other day, and mentioned I was getting involved in promoting wind energy. He's been the elder in a family line of tinkerers for years. He was telling me how he'd created his own farm mill in the thirties crafted from a Dodge starter-generator and wooden props with a kit bought from a mail order catalog. That was the only electricity they had at the time, it was used to charge batteries and for limited lighting. Radios were still pretty scarce with little programming at the time according to him. The first thing I'd asked him was if he'd used it to power radio. It seems wind has a family tradition for the Staffords. Good night, all.
And I think that should be enough to get us started. Besides, I need some sleep. Maybe I'll dream of windmills...
OK, here's the Department of Energy (DOE) wind resource potential map for the United States:
Notice those dark blue areas out on the Great Lakes...our "Gold mine" of wind energy potential.
By the way, Batavia, Illinois was once home to three windmill manufacturers. The city hall there is in one of the converted old factories, made of limestone. It sits next to a park on the Fox river. At the park is a trail of antique windmills on display, called "Windmill Court." Interestingly enough, one of the oldest and largest, a wooden Model E windmill, was designed by a priest from my hometown, Beloit, Wisconsin. I believe Fairbanks Morse was involved also. My grandfather worked for Fairbanks for forty four years before retiring. Just a bit of synchronicity. Here's a picture of the Model E:
This is the text of the speech I gave this past Sunday at the benefit for Earthfest:
Hello, and thank you for being here today.
When I began this endeavor just three weeks ago, I had some idea of what I wanted to bring to the table and how to present it, but not a lot. I've decided in the time I have at the moment to go over the general potential that we have rather than specifics.
Wind energy has huge potential in the United States. It's estimated that the USA has the greatest on-shore potential of any country, to the best of my knowledge. There are those that call the USA The Saudi Arabia of Wind. There is estimated by the DOE to be enough potential to provide more electricity with wind power, if it were fully developed from on-shore wind projects, than the US currently uses in it's entirety. And that is just on-shore potential.
Along the coastlines of the US, the potential is vast. Wind is very strong within fifty miles or so of the land-ocean boundaries because of the combination of extreme flatness of the ocean and the near constant temperature differential between the land and the sea.
It's pretty clear and obvious to most folks that wind energy is pollution free. What's not widely known, is that current utility scale technology is capable of producing power at costs directly competitive with other "dirty" forms of generation technology. The great issues facing wind today are mostly political, conceptual, and transmission system access. The greatest potential exists out in the far Midwestern plains such as the Dakotas, Montana, and Western Minnesota. These areas are generally far from large cities, so consequentially transmission capacity lines between these areas and places like Chicago, Detroit, etc, are still needing to be constructed. It is happening folks, albeit slowly.
Now, one thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine. The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential. Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you. Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperature differential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow. Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the way from the plains of Montana to put it to use.
The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact is recognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousands of them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it on agriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The land footprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuating fuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drastically based on fears or political whims. The only costs for wind power are engineering, generating equipment, transmission lines, and maintenance. All of these costs apply to other forms of generation, plus fuel costs.
Even not considering the Great Lakes at all, the land areas of Wisconsin and Illinois are considered 18th and 16th in wind energy potential respectively.
We need our political leaders taking strong action to be sure wind energy has fair and effective access to transmission networks. We need a comprehensive policy of Great Lakes wind energy development and resource sharing. We need strong commitment now from local colleges and universities to training wind energy professionals and maintenance workers. We need aggressive pursuit of wind energy equipment manufacturers locating here in the Great Lakes area. And we need aggressive pursuit of wind energy projects and venture capital.
The potential gains are enormous. We?ve all seen the flow of good manufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it's more "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for us right around here.
Please, visit the American Wind Energy Association's website at www.awea.org for facts, education, and networking information. They are the leading trade organization for wind energy in the Untied States.
And please, write your political leaders and continuing education administrators at every level, especially local, asking them to help secure our economic future AND clean up the environment at the same time.
Thank you.
The following is the text of a letter I just faxed to both of my congressional (Fed) district Representatives, and to my Senator through the AWEA's political action website at http://www.windenergyaction.com Please, please, please, go to this site and spend a few minutes clicking on the links there! Every bit of support helps!
Dear Sirs and Maam,
It is my firm belief that developing wind energy in the Great Lakes region has enormous potential to benefit the local economy and the evironment at the same time.
The wind resources on the Great Lakes (offshore) is probably the third greatest in potential within the boundaries of the continental United States. Illinois is ranked 16th in on-shore potential, Wisconsin is 18th. We have a vast untapped resource here that could mean literally thousands of jobs, rental income for area farmers, and eventually an energy exporting local economy.
When you combine the potential of the hydrogen economy of the future and wind energy, the Great Lakes is in a unique position for inland sites in that we have both the raw material to produce hydrogen and a vast, clean energy source in the same place.
I support legislation that promotes wind, because with the right moves by regulators, educators, and manufacturers in our local area, we have the potential to drastically alter the economic and environmental landscape of this region in the coming decades. This will require great vision from our political leaders to do exactly that, lead the charge into an enriched future for The Great Lakes - starting with Illinois.
Regulatory policy supporting renewable energy sources and wind energy in particular will be beneficial for our region. Also, establishment of a center of higher learning and continuing education dedicated to these technologies and located within your own districts would lead to a huge advantage in skilled personnel, and an extensive knowledge base of local wind hot spots and area-specific data.
Your support and initiatives have the potential to reverse the decline in the local economy due to the migration of manufacturing jobs. Possibly, with the right moves, manufacturers of wind equipment might be persuaded to locate in this area. Almost certainly, energy producers will.
Please, give your full support to this critical technology. You may all become heroes to posterity in this region.
Sincerely,
Daniel Stafford
The letter above is no exaggeration. I will offer every scrap of evidence I can find to show you reasons why. Next will be the speech I gave at the Benefit for Earthfest, and will be delivering again at Earthfest itself.
Just this past Sunday I was at the benefit to fund Earthfest, and I performed several of my wind energy poems including "USA Wind", "Cities On The Edge", and "Zephyr", and gave a speech on wind energy potential in the Great Lakes area. Later on this morning I'll post the text of the speech here. You can view text of all my wind energy poems and listen to mp3 versions of "USA Wind" and "Zephyr" at the Wind Poems page on my site, www.whizzyrds.com.
Earthfest is a small annual environmental festival held in August in Sheboygan, WI. Both I and my comic / street musician / Madison underground icon friend Art Paul Schlosser were there performing in t-shirts I designed to promote wind energy. THe festival is held in Sheboygan, WI on August 9th, and I will be back there doing even more, and with more practice beforehand, too!
The speech was well received, and seconded by one of the organizers, but unfortunately none of my CD's sold. I have data format CD's with my wind poems in word doc format and mp3's, and complimentary fact sheets from the American Wind Energy Association (www.awea.org) available for $8.00. They are entitled "Windy CD 2003" as I currently hail from the Chicago metro area. The CD's are really not what it's all about, though. You can get t-shirts promoting wind, too, at whizzyrds.com! *LOL* A guy's gotta fund his promo work and websites somehow...
Anyway, I'll be back in this space in an hour or two posting a great deal more. Hope you're up for reading!
Just this past Sunday I was at the benefit to fund earthfest, and I performed several of my wind energy poems including "USA Wind", "Cities On The Edge", and "Zephyr", and gave a speech on wind energy potential in the Great Lakes area. Later on this morning I'll post the text of the speech here. You can view text of all my wind energy poems and listen to mp3 versions of "USA Wind" and "Zephyr" at the Wind Poems page on my site, www.whizzyrds.com.
The speech was well received, and seconded by one of the organizers, but unfortunately none of my CD's sold. I have data format CD's with my wind poems in word doc format and mp3's, and complimentary fact sheets from the American Wind Energy Association (www.awea.org) available for $8.00. They are entitled "Windy CD 2003" as I currently hail from the Chicago metro area. The CD's are really not what it's all about, though. You can get t-shirts promoting wind, too, at whizzyrds.com! *LOL* A guy's gotta fund his promo work and websites somehow...
Anyway, I'll be back in this space in an hour or two posting a great deal more. Hope you're up for reading!
Just this past Sunday I was at the benefit to fund earthfest, and I performed several of my wind energy poems including "USA Wind", "Cities On The Edge", and "Zephyr", and gave a speech on wind energy potential in the Great Lakes area. Later on this morning I'll post the text of the speech here. You can view text of all my wind energy poems and listen to mp3 versions of "USA Wind" and "Zephyr" at the Wind Poems page on my site, www.whizzyrds.com.
The speech was well received, and seconded by one of the organizers, but unfortunately none of my CD's sold. I have data format CD's with my wind poems in word doc format and mp3's, and complimentary fact sheets from the American Wind Energy Association (www.awea.org) available for $8.00. They are entitled "Windy CD 2003" as I currently hail from the Chicago metro area. The CD's are really not what it's all about, though. You can get t-shirts promoting wind, too, at whizzyrds.com! *LOL* A guy's gotta fund his promo work and websites somehow...
Anyway, I'll be bacvk in this space in an hour or two posting a great deal more. Hope you're up for reading!
That worked. Now to get on with the business of blabbing about wind, or better yet, making hydrogen and eletricity with it!
I'm attempting to dress the place up just a bit and add an "e-mail me" link, the new Blogger version is biting me with java errors. Let's see if it corrects when I publish a new post...
Well, there's a lot of ground to cover. I've been working over the last couple of months and learning over the last couple of years on this subject. I have close friends who are calling me "Dan Quixote'" because I won't let up on the windmill stuff. The thing is, windmills are so good for us I can't. I intend to devote a goodly portion of the rest of my life to promoting wind energy in the Great Lakes region, my home turf. I'll be publishing thoughts, facts, links, and ideas over the indefinite future. I hope you all enjoy my ramblings.
And of course, feel free to pipe up. I will include any reasonably intelligent comentary, and possibly debate or endorse it. Always provide me with either a name or nickname to identify the person commenting. I will take comments by e-mail only. Please do not bother if your comments are not postable. You are welcome to hide your identity behind a nickname here, but never your opinion!
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