Hey list people - I just got a bit of what I think is such great news, I'd pass it along.
My older brother lives in Juneau, Alaska, so I tend to follow the news there a little bit. Right now, Juneau is providing an amazing example of how much we can easily and quickly accomplish with energy conservation. On April 16, an avalanche cut the power lines that ran from the Juneau hydroelectric power plant. It took out about 3 miles of power cables, and avalanche conditions are still unstable, so they won't be able to restore the hydroelectric power for a few months. (The Anchorage newspaper has an article here: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/377941.html ). Meanwhile, the city is generating all it's power with diesel generators. They were initially estimating that they would need to use 100,000 gallons of diesel per day, so power rates would more than triple. Today, my brother sent me the following (from http://www.kinyradio.com/juneaunews/latest_juneau_news.html ): "Conservation efforts account for dramatic drop in diesel fuel consumed Mayor Botelho says he's very proud of what Juneau residents have done in terms of conserving energy. He says the city has seen a dramatic drop in electric consumption. On April 16th, the first day of diesel generated power, AEL&P had to consume 84,000 gallons of diesel to power and satisfy the borough's eclectic needs. Last Wednesday that number was 51,000. That's 33,000 gallon less that just a week ago. The Mayor notes there's been a nearly 38 percent decrease in diesel fuel consumption because of energy conservation." In other words, Juneau is currently a great example to share - an American city has been able to reduce its energy use by almost 40% IN ONE WEEK. Yay! The Juneau Newspaper is the Juneau Empire, online at http://www.juneauempire.com/ if you want to learn more about what people are doing. -Ben p.s. - As a point of comparison, Juneau's population was 30,711 in the year 2000. The same year, Ithaca's population was 29,287. _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
