Renewable Energy & Conservation - Goals
My Goals:
- LEARN - Learning makes life interesting. Renewable energy
is a fun hobby for me.
- DO SOMETHING POSITIVE - I have tried to conserve electricity and water
through reasonable steps that don't break the bank or force me to change
my lifestyle too much. (I'm not giving up air conditioning or daily showers!)
But change has to start somewhere, with someone doing something concrete.
If we each did a little, it would add up to a lot!
- EXPERIMENT - The next step, in which I'm now engaged, is
to produce useful amounts of clean, non-polluting energy. I wanted to see
a practical example of solar power generation in a place I could imagine
living -- like Maryland. OBVIOUSLY it is a good idea in Arizona, but many
of us do not live in the Southwest.
- SHARE WHAT I HAVE LEARNED - Conserving (electricity, but
really anything) is not something that many Americans think or talk
together about in their daily lives. You just don't hear about it.
None of your friends or relatives mentions it. Growth is assumed to be
good. We should produce more! consume more! It's good for the economy!
More! More! More!
I want to encourage people
around me to think about their use of energy because our actions affect
all of us. I have put some time into learning about this
renewable energy stuff, and I'm happy to answer any questions you might
have! Don't worry, you won't get any holier-than-thou political correctness
from me!
- REDUCE - Ultimately, I want to generate some significant
fraction (one quarter) of the electricity my household consumes. I don't
want to change my lifestyle enough to live completely on the power
I produce.
That is too expensive and too onerous! But, I'm going to use a lot of
electricity in the next fifty years and I want to reduce the pollution
created in the process.
The opinions on this page DO NOT necessarily reflect those of my employer.
Jeffrey Tunison