[Terrapreta] Marketing Renewable Energy to Americans

[William Carr]

> Consumers are very reluctant to make an extra effort to purchase a  
> product that they already get easily, says Keane. SmartPower's  
> research shows that a large number of people think purchasing  
> renewable energy means they must live off the grid and completely  
> change their lifestyle.


That's odd.   I was under the opposite impression:  that people don't  
want to pay the large install fees for home Solar and just want to buy  
green energy from their utility.

I wonder if we have the RE industry and RE consumers talking at cross- 
purposes.



I live in Michigan, and our Governor has made a bold proposal to both  
invest in RE and invest in manufacturing products for renewable energy.

Off Michigan's West Coast are some pretty good wind power locations.    
Better than you'd get most places  in the USA but Texas, IIRC.

So putting wind farms out in the Lake or on the coastline makes sense.


Then of course, there's the possibility of heat pumps in the Lakes.     
For any city on the coast, you could possibly get cheap energy from  
the lake water.

During the Summer you could pipe the cold water to municipal chilling  
facilities and save a lot of money on running electric air conditioners.


Switchgrass could be pelletized with less fertilizer required than for  
corn:  cutting back on fertz runoff is a nice plus.


And if it's charred in a coal power plant, it could then be plowed  
under as terra preta.



And oddly enough, it seems Michigan is sitting on top of ancient coral  
beds !    Which they say might be useful for more carbon  
sequestration, since the coral has a high surface area.

I wasn't really hep on solar panels for our house until the news about  
silicone nanowire batteries came out.   That might tip the balance,  
although I'll have to cut down a few trees to install panels.

Now if only I could find an excuse for cutting down those Black Walnut  
trees !    They poison my tomatoes and it will be thirty years until  
they're big enough to harvest.


William Carr