By John Ivanko •
June 29, 2009
There’s an electric car revolution underway in sleepy Browntown, Wisconsin, population 252.
More than six Sebring-Vanguard CitiCars, many zipping down the country roads in southwestern Wisconsin, are registered to owners in this small town – most to Phil Welty and one to myself. They come in red, yellow and several other colors and look like a wedge of cheese, but they’re all completely powered by electric motors. It’s estimated that as few as 600 CitiCars are still on the road in the U.S. with less than 3,000 manufactured by Sebring-Vanguard between 1974 and 1976 during the last energy crisis.
“When I first saw the CitiCars back in the 1970s, it was the only all-electric car on the market,” recalls Phil Welty, “The same problem exists today as in the 1970s, like high fuel prices and our marriage to foreign oil. I’ve always wanted to bring one back from the junkyard and restore it to fully operable condition.” Not content with just one, he has two CitiCars on the road, using his other cars for parts.
By John Ivanko •
May 13, 2009
Tired of your increasing electric bills? Want to change your relationship with energy, making your own, renewable, local power while doing your part to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and lessening the impacts of climate change?
Read no further than Power from the Wind: A practical guide to small-scale energy production (New Society), by prolific writer and sustainable living practitioner Dan Chiras, with contributions by Mick Sagrillo and Ian Woofenden. This book helps you assess your energy needs, your site’s wind energy potential, and sort out every aspect of the design, purchase and installation of a small-scale, or residential, wind system. Amazingly, it does so without demanding that you be some technical tinkerer or electrical engineer.
A big part of sustainability is being able to meet some or all of your energy needs, yourself, with renewable energy if you’re fortunate enough to live in a place where it’s windy. The timing couldn’t be better for the release of their authoritative book as millions of dollars in state and federal funding support or tax incentives are being made available for homeowners and businesses to install such systems.
