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What if every time you turned on a light switch, a mountaintop in West Virginia exploded?
That’s a question posed by “Kilowatt Ours,” a documentary presented Thursday, Jan. 4, by the Citizens for a Better Sussex and Citizens for Clean Power. The two groups joined together for a discussion of the film, which shows what happens as demand for energy increases. The film detailed problems in West Virginia and Kentucky, where coal companies have blown up mountains to get to coal needed by power plants to provide electricity to the nation. Every year, coal companies move 24 million tons of earth to get at 4 million tons of coal, which is shipped out of state to hundreds of coal-fired power plants like the Indian River Power Plant in Millsboro. Extracting coal has removed whole mountains of Appalachia, buried rivers and caused environmental and health hazards throughout the region. The slurry created from coal blasts is stored in large lakes, but when the walls of one of these lakes failed about six years ago, 100 miles of stream and river were contaminated and habitat and species were destroyed. These problems are rarely publicized because of the money the coal industry creates, said filmmaker Jeff Barrie.
“In the fall of 2000, over 300 million gallons of coal slurry were spilled into the Big Sandy River in Martin County, Kentucky,” said Barrie. “Although this ecological disaster was 30 times greater than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, very few people outside of Kentucky heard about it.”
These are among the issues that concern the two citizens groups who are trying to bring alternative, renewable energy to Delaware.
Delmarva Power recently requested bids for new power providers in Delaware. They received bids from several companies, among them NRG, which is interested in building a cleaner, coal-fired power plant at Indian River. Bluewater Wind submitted a bid to build wind turbines off the coast of Delaware. Both new power sources would be capable of producing 600 megawatts of electricity and both would operate about 85 percent of the time.
Willett Kempton, professor at the University of Delaware, answered questions about wind power after the documentary and found that many of the 75 people in the room were excited and interested in alternative energy, even if they did not know how to bring about change.
Kempton said while the costs of wind power would be higher to start with, the overall benefits are more cost-effective than installing a new coal-fired plant, because wind is free and does not cause pollution, which causes health problems. Shipping coal to Delaware costs money and the pollution coming out of the stacks leads to asthma and cancer, said Kempton.
NRG officials said they are committed to cleaner power in Delaware and are excited to be able to offer the new coal gasification plant to the state, which could provide cleaner and more efficient power than its existing plant. Officials said the consistency of wind power has not been proven, while coal gasification has.
“I am very excited about alternative power and wind,” said Rep. Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View, who attended the meeting. “We have to have alternative sources. I am also excited about what NRG has planned. When it’s all said and done that plant will be 95 percent cleaner than it is today.”
Save at home
One of the messages that hits home during the “Kilowatt Ours” documentary is that the average household can add up real savings simply by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact florescent bulbs. Barrie and his wife monitored their in-house electricity use each month before and after switching to compact bulbs. They found they saved hundreds of dollars, which they in turn used to purchase renewable energy through their power provider. Delaware residents can implement both of these same strategies to reduce power consumption and encourage production of renewable energy. To find out more, contact your power provider.
Tips for saving electricity:
• Switch light bulbs
• Install energy efficient appliance and products (Energy Star)
• Turn off computers and lights when not in use
• Car pool when possible, use public transportation or bike
• Make it a personal challenge to conserve energy
For more information on how to save money on electricity bills, support renewable energy or about the film, visit www.kilowattours.org.
Contact Rachel Swick at rswick@capegazette.com
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