Green Options

This past July 4^th some friends and I headed south from our farm to visit the new EcoGrove I Wind Farm in Lena, Illinois, located in Stephenson County (in the northwestern part of the state).

The creation of the EcoGrove I Wind Farm was precipitated by the State of Illinois adopting a Renewable Energy Standard that required the state to generate at least 25 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2025. Cleaner air, using an abundant and renewable energy source, and providing various community benefits make wind farm development likely to continue, at least until more Americans change our energy-intensive ways.  From my perspective, however, energy independence is more about breaking free from our fossil fuel addictions to coal, natural gas and oil rather than simply securing domestic sources of energy that are polluting and/or add more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The $200 million EcoGrove I Wind Farm is owned and operated by the sustainability-focused business Acciona Energy North America; its parent company is Acciona S.A., headquartered in Spain. EcoEnergy LLC and The Morse Group managed various aspects of the planning, mapping, permitting, engineering and interconnections for the project.

The EcoGrove 1 Project comprises 67 turbines spread across about eight thousand acres to create a 100 megawatt (MW) wind farm capable of powering over 25,000 homes. Thirty of the 67 Acciona turbines were manufactured in West Branch, Iowa, with the rest coming from Spain. The energy produced is sold to ComEd (Exelon Corporation) which then directs the energy where needed. An additional two phases are planned.

“The upper Midwest has tremendous wind energy potential and EcoGrove is one great step toward harnessing that potential.” said Kimberly L. Smith, Vice President Construction and O&M Services, Acciona Energy North America.

Below are of the few of the benefits in more detail, though our group was blown away by their sleek design of the blades and the way they towered over the emerging cornfields in early summer.

[University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Creative Commons photo by jdickert]

Not only has the University of Illinois, Urbana outpaced its goal to reduce energy consumption by 10% by the 2010 fiscal year, they’re expecting to save $5 million dollars in energy costs to boot!

Three more car companies received sizeable loans from the federal government yesterday, but don’t worry; it’s not another bailout. In fact, the$8 billion is just the start of a larger $25 billion project called the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM for short) that was thought up back in 2007 and funded by Congress in late 2008 during the Bush administration. The project, overseen by the Department of Energy, is a federal grant and loan initiative bent on providing [...]

The Tower Grove Farmers’ Market and Bazaar in St. Louis is not only a community center piece, but a regional one. And the group is candidly joining a nation-wide line of community-minded organizations who are in economic straits and need support.

Understanding that there are many worthy groups asking for assistance these days, the one that organizes the Tower Grove market is asking, in particular, for those who already value what it creates in the St. Louis region — shoppers and friends who stop by, even just twice a season — to consider stepping forward. The support can be monetary or otherwise.

St. Louis, Mo., rates as one of the dirtiest cities — in the bottom 10 percent — in the United States “in terms of air releases of recognized carcinogens,” according to scorecard.org.

It pains me to have to put more horrifying news about St. Louis out to the world. If anyone not from St. Louis, my home city, thinks anything of this historic, blues-music thrumming, Gateway Arch-boasting, Stan Musial-loving, Mississippi River-guarding city, it’s likely about the city’s position in the annual “most dangerous city” rankings.

Turns out that last month, Blogojevich closed seven state parks in Illinois because of the state’s budget deficit of $2 million. Although the state parks will all still have one on-site staffer and conservationists to patrol the areas, they will close their campgrounds and organized activities,

I’m as much for reducing, reusing and recycling as anyone, but a small zoo in Illinois has taken those concepts to a whole new level for the holidays.

Tampa Bay Online reports that the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington is selling $5 hand-crafted Christmas ornaments made from … wait for it … reindeer droppings. Yes, reindeer droppings. Of course, the zoo’s found a more appealing name for the creations: “magical reindeer gem ornaments.”

The Illinois voter registration materials sent to “Princess Nudelman,” a deceased pet goldfish, have stirred up some controversy in the hometown of Barack Obama.

The Jewel-Osco grocery chain opens its first green store today in Chicago’s River West neighborhood. The new store features not only green construction but some green items inside as well, including locally produced foods and organic selections.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the new store took five years to develop, thanks to a slew of special engineering and site use requirements. Among the challenges: building the facility 25 feet over Metra’s train tracks to provide bridge access for local residents.

In a 390-25 vote, the House approved a measure on Tuesday that will increase protection of the Great Lakes region.

As the US federal government has failed to step up to the plate, many smaller forms of government have realized it will be in their hands to bring about environmental changes. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley revealed Thursday details for the Chicago Climate Action Plan.

The plan will add Mayor Daley to about 800 US mayors who have adopted the Kyoto global warming protocols. Chicago’s new plan will build upon measured already in place and under way in the city, in an attempt to make Chicago the most environmentally friendly city in the US.