Today we prayerfully remember the terrorist attack on our nation which snuffed out the lives of nearly 3,000 on this date in 2001. God bless those who lost loved ones and friends. Linked here is the National September 11 Memorial & Museum website. A friend just visited the memorial, saying it’s very moving. (The museum is yet to be completed and open.)

.

A blog subscriber, a “bottom fisher” I called her for getting to the end of the “Bak 2 Harry” post, said about the starling murmuration: “Wow, was that ever spectacular!” (She didn’t happen to mention sharing my delight for the wood and canvas canoe too.)

Immediately moving into the other reason for her response, she said she’s been thinking about wind power for St. Margaret’s Church, Annapolis.  Seeing some windmills, as she called them, the previous weekend had brought the subject to mind. (Pssst: the term of art is wind turbines.) In a brief reply, I ventured that mini wind turbines are not typically viable for a project like the Education Formation Building at St. Margaret’s; and, I think the average annual wind speed in our area is not sufficient anyway.

A blog I subscribe to recently had news of a new 150-megawatt wind farm, called Border Winds Project, being developed by Xcel Energy in the upper Midwest. From the company’s press release last month is an interesting quote:

“At the same time, it is estimated that Border Winds Project would reduce carbon dioxide emissions an average of 320,000 tons annually in Xcel Energy’s NSP service territory, where the company already is on track to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.”

Thankfully, BGE is moving in the same direction—at the behest of the EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act of 2008. Among its programs is one which grants $$ to businesses to help afford a higher-efficiency mechanical system than what otherwise might be sprec’d.  From a March 2013 press release, BGE touted its success with the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® program and its Smart Energy Savers Program:

“BGE Smart Energy Savers Program features a comprehensive portfolio of energy efficiency programs…in support of EmPOWER Maryland’s goal of a 15 percent per capita electric energy reduction by 2015. BGE customers have achieved an annual energy savings of more than 1.2 billion kilowatt hours (kWh); equivalent to eliminating the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the electricity use of an estimated more than 126,000 homes for one year…since its launch” in 2009. If interested, the link for more information about the program is here. For easier viewing of the table to the right, double-click on the image.

Bringing this topic to ground at St. Margaret’s- Up to 2 LEED credit points can be earned by contracting for Green Power for minimum 35% of the new building’s electricity requirement for at least 2 years. If 100%, 3 points. Green Power is defined by the U.S. EPA “as electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources [renewable].”

I have a preliminary Green Power quote for the Formation Building from Terra Pass, a social enterprise, which buys wind RECs (renewable energy credits) and places them with businesses.

One REC is equal to 1 megawatt-hour of electricity generated from an eligible renewable energy source. According to another area Green Power provider, Clean Currents: “Each REC represents the environmental benefits of 1000KWh of renewable energy produced, which displaces carbon-emitting energy. One wind power REC offsets approximately 1350 lbs. of Carbon Dioxide.” Update: Clean Currents went out of business in 2014 due to spiking electricity prices.

Where Clean Currents is harnessing its wind power is from western Pennsylvania, among places.  Its facility in Cambria County includes 30 turbine generators capable of powering 18,000 homes. From its website blog is a post you can peruse about wind power, the grid and U.S. jobs: The Grid, Or How Something Incredibly Boring is Incredibly Important.

As importantly, you too can invest- You can elect to reduce carbon dioxide emissions/GHGs in the air over your backyard and everywhere else by contracting with Clean Currents for your home’s electricity requirement. Click here for more information about residential green power. Update: green power quotes may be obtained through Green-e, the official certifying organization for providers.

You’ll breathe easier at nite.

In Sundry Department

Want to see an amazing 2-1/2 minute video of a goshawk flying through tight spaces? Watch it here.