Once you get hip to ways that everyday action can improve the world, it becomes addicting. You just want to do more and more. Welcome to Sustainability School.

Alternative Energy

Wind turbine cartoon

Alternative energy is maybe not such an accurate term anymore. The alternative is going mainstream (remember – you heard it here first!). Burning up oil we've tanked from half way round the world was OK for a while. Blowing up West Virginia mountaintops to get coal may have made sense at one point too. Propping up Middle Eastern dictatorships may even have had some logic to it. But things are changing.

Solar power offers a real, local alternative for electricity generation, and prices are getting cheaper all the time. Wind turbines are getting quieter, and more efficient, and they sure beat the hell out of blowing up a mountain. Everywhere you look, people are seeking out new, cleaner, more efficient, and ultimately more logical ways of meeting our energy needs. Join us.

Greener ways of doing things are not new though. Dr. Rudolf Diesel's first engine (which previewed at the 1900 World’s Fair) was fueled with 100% peanut oil. Larry’s Beans is in the process of converting our delivery fleet to run on waste veggie oil, and we are even selling locally brewed biodiesel (which can be used in ANY diesel engine) outside our warehouse. Yahoo!

Here’ some more info on alternative sources of energy:

Renewable Energy Access – All the latest news on the politics, the practice and the theory of greener energy.

American Wind Energy Association – The trade body representing the rapidly growing wind industry.

The Rocky Mountain Institute is at the forefront of energy innovation. Their 4000 sq. ft. headquarters in Old Snowmass Colorado has no conventional heating system and it’s so warm, they grow bananas. Governments and Fortune 500 companies consult with these guys.

Southern Energy Management – NC-based installers of solar panels and energy efficiency systems.

NC Green Power – For those who aren’t ready to put a solar panel on their roof yet, NC Green Power offers North Carolina residents the chance to purchase renewable energy credits, helping to fund cleaner, greener energy for the state.

Greasel.com
The total package for conversions to alternative waste vegetable oil.

Greasecar - Vegetable Fuel Systems
Everything you need to know about veggie oil driving. Plus a For Sale listing of cars converted to run on pure veggie oil.

Piedmont Biofuels
Piedmont Biofuels is a worker and member owned cooperative. Their mission is to lead the grassroots sustainability movement in North Carolina by using and encouraging efficient, local economies and the use of clean, renewable biofuels. They offer courses and have a pretty cool Energy Blog. Their work has influenced us heavily.