Alternative Fuels and Small Scale Power Generation

First a note - the Jenkins report I mentioned in my first post here is now available at http://www.usclimateaction.org/userfiles/JenkinsBook.pdf - it's a must read for its unique insight to the climate change challenges we have here in the Adirondacks.

Now for an update. I decided to sit in on the Alternative Fuels and Small Scale Power Generation workshop. There were about 30 people in the group and I was surprised how smoothly the discussion went. There were folks from all walks of Adirondack life: state, county, and town and village government, planners, builders and developers, educators and students, green business professionals, and simple residents with an interest. Among the groups who were represented (well actually not represented, but folks from these organizations were in attendance): the Adirondack Park Agency, St. Lawrence University, Paul Smiths, SUNY-ESF, Lake Placid High School, Houghton College, Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks, and many more.

We heard first from Amanda Lavigne of St. Lawrence University who provided us with lots of background information. We then characterized the problem as "what alternative fuels and power options are available to Adirondack Park residents that can reduce the rising economic impacts of home heating and transportation while minimizing carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change."

Finally, we made a list of potential priorities including things like broadly incentivising alternative energy, creating a clearinghouse for information and technical assistance, encouraging appropriate scale local energy production for local consumption in a decentralized distributive manner, and many more.

Tomorrow we'll be focusing on laying out a one year action plan for our group, and then we'll be bringing it together with the rest of the other groups Wednesday afternoon.

More tomorrow.