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
05/11/2003 - 05/17/2003
05/18/2003 - 05/24/2003
05/25/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/07/2003
06/08/2003 - 06/14/2003
06/15/2003 - 06/21/2003
06/22/2003 - 06/28/2003
06/29/2003 - 07/05/2003
07/06/2003 - 07/12/2003
07/13/2003 - 07/19/2003
07/20/2003 - 07/26/2003
07/27/2003 - 08/02/2003
08/03/2003 - 08/09/2003
08/10/2003 - 08/16/2003
08/17/2003 - 08/23/2003
08/24/2003 - 08/30/2003
08/31/2003 - 09/06/2003
09/07/2003 - 09/13/2003
09/14/2003 - 09/20/2003
09/21/2003 - 09/27/2003
09/28/2003 - 10/04/2003
10/05/2003 - 10/11/2003
10/12/2003 - 10/18/2003
10/19/2003 - 10/25/2003
10/26/2003 - 11/01/2003
11/02/2003 - 11/08/2003
11/09/2003 - 11/15/2003
11/16/2003 - 11/22/2003
11/23/2003 - 11/29/2003
11/30/2003 - 12/06/2003
12/07/2003 - 12/13/2003
12/14/2003 - 12/20/2003
12/21/2003 - 12/27/2003
12/28/2003 - 01/03/2004
01/04/2004 - 01/10/2004
01/11/2004 - 01/17/2004
01/18/2004 - 01/24/2004
01/25/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/07/2004
02/08/2004 - 02/14/2004
02/15/2004 - 02/21/2004
02/22/2004 - 02/28/2004
02/29/2004 - 03/06/2004
03/07/2004 - 03/13/2004
03/14/2004 - 03/20/2004
03/21/2004 - 03/27/2004
03/28/2004 - 04/03/2004
04/04/2004 - 04/10/2004
04/18/2004 - 04/24/2004
04/25/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/02/2004 - 05/08/2004
05/09/2004 - 05/15/2004
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...
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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
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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 31, 2003
An absolutely excellent article stating exactly my main premise and giving additional detail to it: Harvey Wasserman - Wind Power As An Alternative To Slant Drilling (For gas and oil underneath the Great Lakes. Read carefully - these lakes contain ONE FIFTH OF THE ENTIRE GLOBAL FRESH WATER RESOURCE. Poison them and watch your bottled water prices... )
Thursday, May 29, 2003
ELPC just came out with an editorial statement supporting a Renewable Energy Standard (RPS) proposal before the Illinois legislature. What this is, is a requirement of Illinois utilities by law to produce a specified percentage of their generated electricity from renewable sources within a specified time frame. In this case, 5% by 2010, and 15% by 2020.
Two important links; The Chicago Tribune's May 28th 2003 Story on the RPS proposal, and the ELPC's page where you can e-mail your state legislators in support of the Illinois RPS proposal. I strongly urge you to support this proposal for the good of our state, region, nation, and world.
As reported by the ELPC, Wisconsin's Governor, James Doyle, proposed a Wisconsin RPS of 13% by 2013. They've also reported that the Ames Tribune in Iowa has endorsed the idea of Iowa producing 10% of it's power from renewables as an idea that makes sense. Additionally reported, The Denver Post urged the Colorado legislature to require 900 MW of renewable energy production by 2010 in February, and that the number of states with an in-place RPS has gone from seven to thirteen in the past three years.
This clearly is an idea whose time is emerging, and none too soon. The United States should be in a position of leadership in wind energy, as it has the world's best resource and greatest energy per capita consumption. Clean power and less oil dependence enhance national security and global climate stability. Not to mention that global wind energy growth is averaging 25% annually, and this is a very large un-tapped market.
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
This one looks very good - the Environmental Law & Policy Center of Chicago has a Midwest Repowering plan they are advocating that goes along to a great extent with the purpose of this journal. Details can be found at: ELPC Midwest Repowering Plan
Net access is down for SBC DSL in the Chicago area and I'm borrowing a few minutes on another PC. I'll pick up either late tonight or tomorrow...
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
An Interesting article in Sunday's Chicago Tribune, how various states in the U.S. are stepping up to the environmental plate trying to combat global warming in light of a perceived lack of direction on the issue by the Fed. Including the all-important presidential primary state of New Hampshire, and including some coverage of the efforts in the Great Lakes states: Global Climate, Local Action And such is how we will win against unsustainable prctices.
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