Local Situation

This region is a major importer of energy. The majority of electrical energy is derived from coal. The majority of transportation is derived from oil. What heating isn't done with electric is done with natural gas.

We also have little in the way of local resources.

For fossil sources...

• The coal is shipped in from hundreds of miles away.
• The natural gas is pipped in also from miles away. (There is some landfill gas used locally)
• The liquid fossil fuels are also delivered and/or piped in.

For renewable resources...

• The 1% from hyrdoelectric is about as much as we will get. Even though we are near a major river damming to a point of usefulness would make the region a lake with a few islands.
• For large geothermal the local thickness of earth's crust will make this one of the last places to be able to take advantage of this. (Although heat pumps make as much if not more sense here as anywhere else)
• The available wind energy is also low. It's not just the fuels we use that causes the air quality problems here. It's the lack of wind refreshing the local valleys.
• The sun does shine here on a regular basis but we are fairly far north which reduces the amount we receive (Although solar water heating makes sense here)
• On the biomass/biofuels this has always been a good farming region so all of those solutions apply here.

The local priority is:

1. energy conservation (heat pumps , solar water heating , better lighting and insulation)
2. biomass/biofuels (biochar being on the top of that list)
3. solar (thin film solutions are active at lower light levels)
4. coal (since we can't stop using it anytime soon. IGCC may be a option until we can)
5. nuclear (unlikely given we have none locally now and past local experience has been negative. But that aside sub critical reactors are worth exploration.)

The need for continued support of research is a given which is why it's not on the list. The list would not exist without research.