Two Years Later -- "Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Floods and Drought"

Two years ago, on May 24th, I posted the blog "Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Floods and Drought." This blog was posted just after F5 tornadoes cut the cities of Joplin Missouri and Tuscaloosa Alabama in half and destroyed thousands of homes in wide swaths across the Midwest and Southeast causing incredible hardship for many families and billions of dollars of damage. For your referral and convenience, go to http://stittenergy.blogspot.com/2011/05/tornadoes-hurricanes-floods-and-drought.html to read this 2011 blog post.

Since then, the threat of climatic mayhems has not gotten better. The city of Moore Oklahoma just experienced the third severe tornado in 14 years (1999, 2003 and 2013)! And, Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast including New York City and New Jersey shores like never before. Further, last summer was the driest and hottest summer in history with extreme temperatures throughout the country causing unsurpassed drought across the Midwest and South. Because of the extended record-high temperatures and lack of rain, forest fires took thousands of homes, trees and animals and threatened entire cities like Colorado Springs. The added energy on Earth doesn't spread itself out evenly and predictably--instead it tends to clump up and is then released as extreme weather events and conditions.

I again ask the question, "How many tornadoes, hurricanes, extraordinary rain storms, atypical snows or blizzards, drought, fires and floods, must we experience before we all admit that climate change is real and caused by the burning of fossil fuels. And when are we going to break through the fossil fuel denial and greed-driven fossil-fuel lobbies and propaganda to join together in bipartisan cooperation and take aggressive action to increase the ENERGY EFFICIENCY of our lifestyles--cars, trucks, homes, businesses, commercial buildings, appliances, factories, planes, trains--and as individuals, families and as a nation, join forces to GENERATE more CLEAN, ECONOMICAL, RENEWABLE POWER from wind, solar, and geothermal energy?

What do you think? I would like to receive your comments.

 

Orlo Stitt

Order my book at http://www.stittenergy.com/order-holistically-green-homes

 

 

 

 

It's Blowing in the Wind . . . .

It's Blowing in the Wind

Clean Energy in Iowa

 

Recently, my daughter Jennifer McCoy who lives in Des Moines, emailed me a link about what's blowing in the wind in Iowa--yes you guessed it--energy!  Soon, 38% of their energy will be generated by the wind! MidAmerica Energy will install 656 new wind turbines at a cost of $1.9 billion--you may read and see the story by clicking on the following link: 

http://whotv.com/2013/05/08/wind-energy-1-9-billion-expansion-for-midamerican/ 

 

The new turbines will actually reduce utility rates and therefore help rate payers. The projected rate reductions and the image and philosophy of clean generation are also expected to attract new industry to Iowa. The 350' tall turbines will also help the farmers each month. Further, these units are being installed without any subsidies or tax incentives from governments.

 

To be most efficient, however, focus and priority should begin with the design and operation of buildings, cars and trucks, tractors, manufacturing processes and our own lifestyles. I often say in seminars, "If you want to improve the efficiency of a car, one of the first things to do is to make the wheels  as perfectly round as possible." And then I go on to say, "Many of the houses and buildings we are still designing and building have square wheels."  Then, the renewable energy from the wind, solar and the earth will go further . . . .