Green Options

Meeting energy needs while being efficient and using environmentally responsible technologies is probably the single greatest change that needs to happen to alter the effects of climate change now. In the United States and the European Union, governments are backing smart grid and renewable energy programs. Undoubtedly, the two technologies go hand-in-hand, but where should we put our efforts (and dollars/euros) first?

The Xingu River — home to some 600 species of fish — is one of the largest tributaries running through the Amazon. But not if the Brazilian state power company has their way.

What would be the world’s third largest dam, called the Belo Monte, would flood over 200 square miles of tropical rainforest; about the size of Tucson, AZ. It would also flood the homes of 19,000 people.

In an attempt to cut their dependency on fossil fuel driven energies, the British government hopes that renewable energy will provide 20% of electricity by 2020. And thanks to a new report, the UK might be looking to Scotland to double their hydropower generation by 50%.

The study by the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland showed that there were still 657 megawatts of fiscally safe, small scale hydroelectricity schemes available to them. This figure equates to about half the amount of installed hydro generation currently running in Scotland, and could power about 600,000 homes, a quarter of the nation’s homes.

Through a combination of federal grants and private donations, a coalition of seven conservation groups called the Penobscot River Restoration Trust have gathered enough money to purchase and demolish two dams and install a fish bypass on another. By doing so, they hope to replenish the thinning Atlantic salmon, river herring, and many other migratory fish populations.

While the move is unprecedented, it is not without some flaws.

Okay. Let me get this one out of the way: gas hasn’t been all bad. In fact, gas has allowed us to accomplish some pretty amazing things. To be clear, when I say “gas,” I’m using the term as an easy way to loosely refer to all liquid fuel products made from buried and fossilized hydrocarbon deposits.

Ooooh… I can hear the flamers’ keys clicking away furiously already. But, before you type that horribly thought out gunslinging response, hear me out.

Very short and very simple. I am very envious.

Chile wants to make progress, but… does that progress always have to be against nature? Chile’s government is planning a project that could put 4,6 million hectares of the environment in danger.

They are planning to build five hydroelectric dams and a high tension line that will be the largest in the world. It will cross Chile from south to north and thus divide it in two.

Chances are the next time you are served tea with sugar, it probably may interest you to know that both commodities passed through green and sustainable processes to reach your breakfast table.

And what’s more - small holder farmers in east Africa who worked hard to put a more environmentally friendly cup of tea in front of you not only reaped a bumper harvest from their labor, they also got to sell excess electricity generated to local grid operators.

The green funding mechanism, Global Environment Facility or GEF and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) are collaborating to implement small-scale hydropower projects and cogeneration power projects in several East African states in two initiatives.

The projects are meant to reduce the tea industry’s energy costs, enhance global competitiveness of the region’s tea industry. It hopes to increase the share of global tea revenues, flowing to the region’s tea farming community as well as provide opportunities for extending clean electricity to rural communities.

Often people ask me, what is it like living off the grid with young children? The truth is, I have never not lived off the grid with children, so I am not sure how it differs entirely. However, my children have grown up learning about sources of power and its limitations.

We are fortunate to have a wonderful creek that provides us with power via a turgo wheel

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