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Power can be found in small towns Monday, June 16, 2008
Agri News staff writer
MORRIS, Minn. -- The two-day Symposium on Small Towns Conference focused on the "Power of Small: Building Solutions for Energy Self-Reliance."
"We've gone from localization to globalization back to localization again," said University of Minnesota Extension Research Fellow Margaret Adamek. "There is a strategy to rebuild the local society and to produce our own energy and goods locally."
Morris is a good example of locally grown energy initiatives. The nearly 200 conference attendees toured the University of Minnesota-Morris' biomass gasification plant and West Central Research and Outreach Center's wind turbine.
State legislators and representatives of national lawmakers discussed legislation and movements to develop and use new renewable energy sources.
Several applauded the state's ethanol industry. It was a good first step, said Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul.
"But we need to get to the next step of cellulosic energy," she said. "Ethanol has started the process but we can do so much better."
Upland grassed areas by wetlands have the potential to be harvested for cellulosic ethanol production, the lawmakers said. The grass harvest would take place after nesting. The same could happen on CRP and CREP lands.
Researchers are also studying the use of algae and recycled oils in ethanol production.
Legislation is being discussed that would assist small wind projects in purchasing one or more turbines. Such projects often have problems obtaining wind turbines that usually go to larger cities or larger wind turbine projects, Anderson said.
The legislators were asked if laws could be passed to allow more wind turbines in metro areas.
"Wind towers need to go where the wind blows," said Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen R-Alexandria. "We have detailed maps that show where the greatest wind sources are in the state."
The farm bill has provisions for renewable energy and many possibilities for farmers to deliver it, said Andy Olson, of the environmental Law and Policy Center. The Minnesota delegation lead the discussions on renewable energy.
"Farm energy is not just ethanol any more," he said. "The new farm bill has provisions for rural energy. Granted, there are no guarantees for projects in Minnesota, but the provisions are exciting." |
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