This Land Is Your Land - This Land Is My Land

Comment by James Everitt on January 28, 2009 at 10:42am

BRIEFING ROOM: The White House

American Energy Independence through Cooperative Investment in Wind Energy
January 21, 2007

by Mike Kendall: ke6cvh@goowy.com
Electronic Technician Chief, USN
(with 25 years of service to his country)


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The following is a response to an article written by Paul Gipe in July 2005 titled Beating Swords into Wind Turbines-or Solar Panels if You Like that argued if an equivalent amount of money had been invested in renewable energy as spent on the Iraq war the United States could now provide 1-12% of the country's total electrical consumption.


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Borrowing Paul Gipe's calculations but using a different scenario, with 300 million Americans, it would only take contributions from every citizen of $2,000 per for 3 to 4 years before America would be completely energy independent, using wind energy and other forms of alternative energy.

Just after WWII, the Japanese Prime Minister urged his countrymen to use sugar sparingly. At the time, the Japanese imported all their sugar. He suggested that if his countrymen would use just 1 spoon of sugar less than then being used, the war-ravaged country could pull itself out of their post-war economic depression. The Japanese did just that by joining together in a national effort, and they were successful at reducing their imports of sugar.

I was in Europe watching FOX news when Katrina hit and saw on TV lines of SUV's with trailers and airboats coming from out of state to help the hurricane's victims. This was an example of what is best in America: Americans helping each other in times of need. This is why I am proud to be an American.

I, as an American, would happily invest as much as I could save comfortably into such a similar endeavor to help us get our wind farms in production around the country now. The only problem is that how could I invest 1 thousand dollars and then in a couple of months another thousand and in a few months another?

When I look on the Internet I see no cooperative wind energy farm in the United States. Maybe that is what America really needs right now is some decent advertising, for example via the Internet, so that some sort of cooperative organizations could be started either for profit or not for profit. It would even be better if they were using American- wind turbines. That would make me even more excited to contribute. I am not interested in buying stock in wind turbine companies. Instead, I am interested in contributing, via small amounts of money as an investment, directly into wind farms that will go into production. I am certain there are Americans all across the country that feel the same as me.

As an individual, I don't think I can make much of a difference, but as part of a larger group I know I could. If you would like to help, send me an email, post a message to Paul Gipe, or contact you local representative or senator and ask for the creation of National Cooperative Renewable Energy Investment Fund.

Mike Kendall: ke6cvh@goowy.com

To provide the low-cost climate stabilization tools that today’s young people will need in the near future, the US government should invest $25 billion dollars per year in public research, development & diffusion (RD&D) of clean energy technologies. Examples include, but are not limited to, energy efficiency, wind, active and passive solar, biofuels from non-food crops, geothermal, tidal, small scale hydro, storage technologies including b

Comment by James Everitt on January 31, 2009 at 5:53pm

Renew_America_Bonds.pdfEconomic_Stimulus_Congress.pdfAmerican_Recovery_And_Reinvestment_Plan.pdf

Savings bonds could be help in economic crisis!

While Washington tries to "fix" the banking and Wall Street mess created by subprime "gotcha" adjustable rate mortgages defaulting en masse, many of us are looking for a safer place to put at least some of our retirement, college funds, etc.

And we also want our country to become more energy-independent and our crumbling infrastructure repaired. But with things as they are, how can we accomplish these three objectives? A new form of U.S. Treasury savings bonds could be the answer.

Without U.S. saving bonds, we wouldn't have been able to supply our troops and allies like we did in World War II. If the U.S. Treasury issued energy independence and infrastructure savings bonds that paid an interest rate about 3 percent greater than the annualized FED rate adjusted for inflation, only be redeemable on their anniversary date(s), and what they pay is not taxed when they are redeemed at maturity, all three of these objectives can be achieved without any increase in taxes — especially if these funds were only employed as 1-to-2 matching funds.

Such bonds could increase employment enough to even reduce our taxes. Pass this idea on to your friends and then the politicians.

John Floegel and H.B. Mertz

Renew_America_Bonds.pdf, 553 KB

Discussion link: Funding Energy Independence?

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