April
5, 14
Every
year the men in my family spend a week in Huntington Oregon. Huntington is a
small town located near the Snake River on the Oregon Idaho border. We go to
the Snake River to catch catfish and stock up for the year. Huntington is a
very small town. It only has one gas station, and a small convenience store.
What is astounding to me is the amount of people that live along the Snake
River. From Huntington, a road follows the river on the Oregon side all the way
up to Brownlee Dam. The road is not improved, and only wide, enough in spots
that one car can pass. When we take our boat up the river, it is fascinating to
see how these people live. Most homes have solar panels, and some even have
their own wind turbines to help generate power. When I asked a local in town
why the homeowners have their own wind turbines, his response was that they could
not always count on having power from PGE. The reason is location; they are to
far out for a technician to get there in a timely manner to repair a damaged
power line. Therefore, out of necessity, these folks had to find a way to
create their own power.
I
can only remember a few times in my life when we were without power for more
then a couple hours. We have become accustom to easy energy, and we take it for
granted. Due to the easy access to power, we do not understand just how vulnerable
we really are to the loss of energy. If we lived in Portland, like the families
in Huntington, we would understand how precious energy is, and find ways to generate
it ourselves. If we were forced to generate energy ourselves, we would not take
it for granted, therefore, we would be more careful, and conserve the energy.
There
are several options to assist in each household generating its own energy.
Manufacturers now make smaller windmills that can help power a home. Huge
advances have been made in solar power technology that can help provide power
to a home. Lastly, we now have the ability to generate energy from the ground
to help heat our cool our home.
Wind
turbines are now available for private families to purchase to help provide
energy for their home or small farm. According to www.windenergyfoundation.org,
wind turbines can now be used to power your home, business, or farm while
helping to protect the environment, and are suitable for use on properties as
small as one acre. Not all homes are suited for wind turbines, individuals and
to seek the advice of a manufacturer or dealer to help determine if their
property is suited for a wind turbine. The government provides tax credits for
individuals to help lower the total cost of installing a wind system.
A
fast growing substitute to traditional energy sources is solar power. Solar
panels can be installed on your roof and help subsidize your energy costs over
the years. Solar photovoltaic technology can significantly reduce our reliance
on fossil fuels and our dependence on the grid (Crane & Kennedy, 2012). A
family living on a small farm can install solar panels and wind turbines to
help provide their own energy, and in a natural disaster, they do not have to
depend on the grid to provide power for their home.
Geothermal
energy is a system that can help provide heat or cooling for homes, and can
help eliminate their dependence on the grid. Efficient and economical,
geothermal heats, and cools and cuts fossil fuel use in homes. A ground fed
climate system can help free a family from fluctuating energy costs and
dependence on grid energy (Sawyers, 2009). Geothermal is just another
technology families can use to cut their dependence on grid power.
In
more families moved away from the grid, and made an effort to provide their
power, we would start to eliminate the need for fossil fuels, but more
importantly, would have a power source that was not dependent on the grid. This
means that in a natural disaster, the family would still have the ability to
generate its own power.
Reference:
Crane, D., & Kennedy, R. (2012,
December 12). Solar panels for every
home. Retrieved from
Sawyers, H. (2009, December 18). The guide to home geothermal energy. Retrieved
from
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/hydropower-geothermal/4331401
Wind
power your home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.windenergyfoundation.org/wind-at-
work/wind-consumers/wind-power-your-home
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