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BioTown, USA: Is Total Energy Self-Sufficency Possible?

ecolocalizer.com — Sure, it ’s easy enough for one person to attempt energy self-sufficiency: put a solar panel on your roof, run your car on biodiesel, and you’re halfway there. But how easy is it for an entire town to become self-sufficient?

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  • alapoet, on 06/19/2008, -3/+22It's great that they're making the attempt -- someday, they will be seen as The Town Where It Started!
    • D14BL0, on 06/19/2008, -0/+5You seem to have forgotten Greensburg, Kansas.
  • LilBambi, on 06/19/2008, -0/+16Five years and still having trouble with the county over their proposals?!
    • gn0stik, on 06/19/2008, -0/+4Yeah, you'd think with the Governor basically mandating it, the county would stay the ***** out of the way.
  • mentallyinhell, on 06/19/2008, -1/+10If it wasn't for all the paperwork involved, this wouldn't be nearly as complicated. I wish more towns had taken this step.
  • dougvfr750, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2I think it's unlikely even given the apparent large quantities of organic waste for methane, (I sure hope the town is not downwind) but it is a promising step in the right direction.
    • Belin, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1Wouldn't having large quantities of organic waste mean more methane is produced?
  • dinostabOMG, on 06/19/2008, -0/+7Looks like the race is on, but I heard of this one first: http://www.masdaruae.com/
  • geekchic, on 06/19/2008, -1/+8It's very easy to go totally self-sufficient - so long as your definition of self-sufficiency doesn't include computers from Taiwan, TV's from Japan and kettles from China.

    In other words, you need to live a lifestyle which doesn't put demands on the supply chain as well - but who would want to do that?
    • gn0stik, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1I try to buy local whenever I can. At least food wise. It's increasingly difficult to buy American, sometimes impossible for electronics, but we have nobody to blame but ourselves for that.
      • xptoast, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Not me...I blame the guy over there>
    • dinostabOMG, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1To be fair, the article talks about energy self-sufficiency in particular. It is also possible to be sustainable but not completely self-sufficient. It's all a big grey area, but as long as you're mindful of it you're probably doing better than most.
  • Fangsinmybeard, on 06/19/2008, -3/+2I can digg it.
  • ironeus, on 08/01/2008, -4/+1Local and State government encouraging self-sufficient energy for their towns is like your local grocery store giving you a cow so you won't buy their milk. Nice in theory for the consumer, but it won't happen.
    • gn0stik, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2Yeah, I see what you mean... It is exactly like that...


      shut up.
  • SoyJames, on 06/19/2008, -0/+5Who run Biotown?... Who. Run. Biotown?...
  • ToastedZergling, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2Wow, Government getting in the way of laudable progress and actions. Who'd of thunk!
  • grungegbunny, on 06/19/2008, -0/+15How's this for an idea. Have said town give low if not zero interest loans to install solar paneling on all homes or in the yards. Then have them repay the loans as if making a power bill payment till it's paid off. No more power bill then ever.
    • IllBeBack, on 06/19/2008, -1/+1Great idea.
    • WolverineBlue, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3Good idea in theory, but the initial financing has to come from somewhere. I'd assume the town would take out loans of its own to cover the cost, the interest on which would be covered by property taxes. So essentially this turns into a modest bonus for people who buy solar panels but a penalty for those who don't. Not that I'm against that, just saying it can't be done for free. A more popular solution might be if a panel producing company stepped up to offer a extremely low rate financing solution/ large price cut on its panels to a specific trial region, which would ensure regional sales and gain them quite a bit of product recognition on the national level.
    • pheil, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Solar is probably not the way to go in Reynolds, IN. They're in solar zone 2, which (according to GE: http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/solar/en ... ) means a $10,000 1kW solar system will only produce about 90-100 kWh power in a given month. At energy prices of $0.07/kWh, they'd be saving about $7 in electricity each month. Even with a 0% interest loan, it would take them just over 119 years to pay that off in energy savings. That's assuming they brushed the snow off their roof every winter.
    • onionoino, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1my home town just spent a few hundred thousand dollars on a new median and an enormous and ugly water wheel fountain thing that doesn't even turn and a statue of the town founder, who despite founding the town was a complete asshat according to the history books. If my town will waste that much cash on some superficial ***** like that then i think we could spare some change to finance the installation of a few hundred solar panels on some houses and maybe a few municipal buildings.
  • atavena, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2At least they're stepping in the right direction.
  • vwerf, on 06/19/2008, -1/+3Does this pose a problem for Jews, I mean there has to be some rule about energy being Kosher.
  • Realnemesis, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2Or someday seen as the town that told us it isn't happening....
  • DrPaul2008, on 06/19/2008, -2/+1http://digg.com/hardware/Magnetic_generator_perpet ...
  • Dunnion, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2This should be called Red Tape, USA.

    I have a hunch alot of the stalling to get this up and running might be based around the fact that they are hoping that new advances come out soon to make the change over process easier.
  • gr00vy, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2Sure, there are tons of towns in Washington that are more than self sufficient, have been for decades. We have HydroElectric power, there is one town that has a Nuclear Power Plant. Of course we import a lot less than we use, which we use for cars. But there are a lot of places in the Northwest that are net energy exporters.

    You do know that BioFuel, is NOT self sufficient, and is one of the worse forms of solar storage that is known, Right??? RIGHT??? And that this stuff is not, nor ever will be green, RIGHT? Leads to world food shortages, high prices, and still keeps us attached to the middle east... RIGHT????
    • JohnLawson, on 06/19/2008, -0/+0I totally agree with you, it's just a shame that most people don't even know what's going on. A lot of people don't even realize that the United states has blocked several attempts to change the face of energy. You guys should watch "who killed the electric car" some time... It's a real eye opener.
  • joeanon, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2What... biofuel doesn't make you self sufficient unless your growing it.

    Solar and Wind farms make far more sense for most people and are usually more efficient unless your selling your excess power back to the grid.
  • Hrodrik, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2Of course it is possible.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microgeneration
  • random42, on 06/19/2008, -0/+3Plans to turn Treasure Island into a super-green city
    http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4239 ...
  • tdishman, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1That's pretty cool because a) I live in Indiana, and b) I was contracted to make their website (not the design, just the site).
  • Sinay, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2biofuel is devil
  • beauley, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1With Global Warming on many people's minds, do we have any ideas of the best way to lessen the impact on our future, or maybe a possible relief of its possible ravages or even a possible key to its eventual reversal. Many scientific experts have proposed
    http://www.quazen.com/Science/Technology/Solar-Pow ...
    Solar Power, Source of Endless Energy
  • JohnLawson, on 06/19/2008, -1/+0This is a step in the right direction to be sure. It will be interesting to see how things turn out if the town gets the go ahead.

    You guys should Google "Zero point energy". Then you'll see why the town is using methane and not other more efficient and even greener means to power their town.
  • tufftugg, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1 It's not that hard. With this apparatus http://www.electrovent.com/#engpp , and some Batteries and an Inverter you can power a large cabin fully. Small Hydro is a very good supply as well.
  • kookbutt, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2The days of cheap utilities like water and energy are over. You better start preparing yourself now or you will get caught with your pants down just like the U.S. car makers when everyone started dumping their large trucks and SUV's and downsizing to Hybrids and smaller vehicles.
  • nydwarf, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2I had a dream that my house was running on Solar and wind power that would be an awesome combo.
    • lostlyrics, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1don't stop there ... no springlet near ?
      - and what about geothermal power yet ?
      redundance is the key to alternative efficience.
  • gringuitica, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2I think this is a wonderfully responsible idea, especially given the town's natural resources (small population, offset by plenty of organic waste)... let's just hope that bureaucracy doesn't get in the way of such a good idea. However, I think that self-sufficiency is a lofty goal for many places, especially big cities. An alternative, at least until technology has created better ways to harness other energy sources, could be to go carbon-neutral. Not the same, and not as good, but it's a start. My country, Costa Rica, is working towards becoming the first carbon-neutral country in the world. We already have a carbon-neutral airline, and a voluntary tax that allows people to help offset their own carbon emissions.
  • Zachariah, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2This kind of power system has the same strengths as P2P systems.
  • flamesoftames, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1ariel hecker schwartz is my hero.
    no seriously.
  • Bleach90, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2I saw a similar town on an episode of 30 Days with Morgan Spurlock, (Supersize Me) this was more of a commune than a town though.
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