The Brooklyn Project:Red, White, Blue, and Green?

To one&all,

Well, I was reading the Christian Science Monitor today, and I came across this article which I felt I must blog on. The article was talking about a wind energy initiative in Montana. Apparently, there's a lot of wind on the praries up there (if anyone reading this is representin Montana, I encourage you to respond and fill me in on this if you can). The current number of wind turbines (most of which are concentrated on a single wind farm near the town of Judith Gap, MT, 100 miles east of Helena) is said by the monitor to provide 7 percent of the state's electricity needs. Similar farms are being developed across the state.

In other states, including here in Colorado, there have been similar initiatives. As I tool around here, I've noticed a lot more collections of solar panels than when I was here last. Even back in my home of California, they have led an effort to set an example on environmental policy.

More on the green front, some companies are now designing smaller nuclear reactors to generate power, again, in an article from the Christian Science Monitor. Apparently, two energy companies, one in New Mexico and another in Oregon, have looked into designing nuclear reactors that are small enough to be easily shipped from place to place and would only have to be changed every several years. The small town of Galena, Alaska is already looking to have one such reactor installed to power their homes by 2012.

So, how does the Daily Reeder feel about these efforts? I personally applaud the efforts of the Governors and others working within the states of Montana, Colorado, California, and many others not named here. Of course, there are some flaws in the plans that have been enacted so far. For instance, with the wind farms, there is concern over transmission, the conversion, I suppose, of wind energy into electricity. And with nuclear power, there is of course the concern of sabotage, the reactor letting out toxic radiation.

However, I believe that energy and environment will be our next frontier of innovation. Back in the '60's a young, up-and-coming leader pledged that by the end of that decade, we would put a man on the moon. Low and behold, one giant leap for mankind unfolded in 1969. In 1933, our nation was in the depths of another economic catastrophe. The president then launched a series of projects and created a common safety net. Later, when others turned to fascism, all pitched in to ensure that that toxic system of thought was driven away.

Alright. alright, I don't mean to get all preachy here. But it seems that this is another on which we (in America and across the world) can demonstrate something about humanity. It seems like we need something like a new Manhattan Project, except this time, instead of developing means of destruction, this project will develop means of rejuvenation. Call it the "Brooklyn Project", or the "Queens Project" or any other borough of New York City you choose:). In fact, President-Elect Obama's ambitious slate of plans includes a plan to create 5 million new jobs by catalyzing efforts to develop clean, renewable energy sources over the next several years.

Now, challenges of course, will arise with this new endeavor. And none of these things working alone can address this call to action. If you'll look at the bottom of the first article, you'll notice one of the comments "the better solution is to limit the need for power by conservation and restricting immigration". It see,s to this blogger that conservation can also help out, but I also think it should work in tandem with efficiency and looking for better fuels. As for immigration, that is a blog post unto itself.

This will not be an easy task. But none of the great deeds of history has ever been easy. None of the things I mentioned above were easy. This will probably be one of the greatest challenges of this (my) generation. But, if the public can pull together, with indivduals like Obama, the Montana governor, Brian Schweitzer, who is calling for federal money to help reinvigorate the power grid within that state and in other places, and others enlisting innovation, I have some confidence in the future. If we can pull this off, this will say a lot about us, both as Americans and as human beings.

This is the Daily Reeder, Over&out.