Repower America

www.repoweramerica.org has two intesting features.

You can look to see what people near you are saying. For example

"Using 98% coal here we need to change more quickly than the rest of the nation in order to remain competitive. It's not just the right thing to do, it's survival"

They also have a way to send a letter to your editor of your local newpaper. For example:

"The election has passed and regardless of which canidate was put in place they both proposed cap and trade system for carbon.

Here in Northen Kentucky (and it equally applies to Greater Cincinati) we use over 90% of our electricy is dervied from coal we pay 33% for electricy than the nation on average. The nation is no longer going to allow us to function in this way so cheaply. We need to act and prepare to act quickly.

Duke, environmentalists, and business all agreee conservation is the best, cheapest, and fastest alternative. This does not mean we have to sacrifice. We have to do and think of ways to do things differently.

Duke Energy is considering several things to get us though. One of which is "smart meters" which allow for time of day charges like your mobile phone. In the summer some peak usage is driven by our air conditioners left on while we are at work. Time of day billing will make us more aware and possibly save us money personally by driving personal usage off peak.

Geo-HVAC is a way to save on heating and cooling. It involves putting piping into the ground to use the earth's tempature. There are not many companies that support it locally. What if a local county would cover the cost of the installing the ground oart of the work? This would stimulate more use of the technology. You could call your house Geo-ready. Face it. When do you replace a air conditioner or heater normally? When it breaks. It's much faster to put an regular unit on. Doing the ground work first gets you ready for when you have to switch. Some existing units can be switched over to geo and still be under warranty.

Our area is unique with unique challeges and opportunities including things like biochar.