Wizard
02-10-2006, 01:58 PM
Seeking a cure for US oil addiction (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/4693600.stm)
Emerging picture
Sherry Philips, McCamey, Texas
McCamey was bleeding our youth away. Now it has a chance to live again
McCamey Mayor Sherry Philips
How will we fuel the future?
Even when the oil runs out - as it will - Texas is determined to remain in the energy business.
The little oil-field town of McCamey prospered in the oil boom and suffered in its decline. Now it is enjoying a revival, thanks to wind.
In a desolate landscape, scarred by old oil workings and rusting machinery, an elegant new industrial picture is emerging.
Towering over the dusty scrub around McCamey are 800 wind turbines and soon there will be more.
McCamey calls itself the "Wind Energy Capital of Texas", a title which the Mayor, Sherry Philips, has officially registered in the state capital. No other town can now claim it.
She has good cause to bless the wind. In the 90s, when the oil industry declined, McCamey lost half its population and could have become a ghost town.
"McCamey was bleeding our youth away," she said. "Now it has a chance to live again."
Secure future
Randy Sowell, with his cowboy hat and full beard, is totally Texan.
Randy Sowell, Cielo Wind Power
Randy Sowell is excited by the renewable energy potentials
He used to be a rancher but he now works for Cielo Wind Power, one of the companies that develops the wind farms.
It is not just that wind power is clean and renewable, he points out, but it offers security for the ranchers.
Running cattle in this arid country has always been marginal, but now, by leasing their land to the power companies, the ranchers have a future.
There are other possibilities, he believes, to exploit renewables.
It has already been shown that dry bore-holes in exhausted oil workings will yield geo-thermal energy; and as the relative cost goes down there must be potential for solar installations too.
This is why I know the US will always be the #1 Country in the world. Stories like this really make me smile. It's great to know that even the most downtrodden or poor communities can recover and succeed. Look to the future and all will be well.
Emerging picture
Sherry Philips, McCamey, Texas
McCamey was bleeding our youth away. Now it has a chance to live again
McCamey Mayor Sherry Philips
How will we fuel the future?
Even when the oil runs out - as it will - Texas is determined to remain in the energy business.
The little oil-field town of McCamey prospered in the oil boom and suffered in its decline. Now it is enjoying a revival, thanks to wind.
In a desolate landscape, scarred by old oil workings and rusting machinery, an elegant new industrial picture is emerging.
Towering over the dusty scrub around McCamey are 800 wind turbines and soon there will be more.
McCamey calls itself the "Wind Energy Capital of Texas", a title which the Mayor, Sherry Philips, has officially registered in the state capital. No other town can now claim it.
She has good cause to bless the wind. In the 90s, when the oil industry declined, McCamey lost half its population and could have become a ghost town.
"McCamey was bleeding our youth away," she said. "Now it has a chance to live again."
Secure future
Randy Sowell, with his cowboy hat and full beard, is totally Texan.
Randy Sowell, Cielo Wind Power
Randy Sowell is excited by the renewable energy potentials
He used to be a rancher but he now works for Cielo Wind Power, one of the companies that develops the wind farms.
It is not just that wind power is clean and renewable, he points out, but it offers security for the ranchers.
Running cattle in this arid country has always been marginal, but now, by leasing their land to the power companies, the ranchers have a future.
There are other possibilities, he believes, to exploit renewables.
It has already been shown that dry bore-holes in exhausted oil workings will yield geo-thermal energy; and as the relative cost goes down there must be potential for solar installations too.
This is why I know the US will always be the #1 Country in the world. Stories like this really make me smile. It's great to know that even the most downtrodden or poor communities can recover and succeed. Look to the future and all will be well.