On Monday November 12th, host John Quinlan interviewed author Greg Pahl about his book released this year, “Power from the People: How to Organize, Finance, and Launch Local Energy Projects.” John Welch also contributed at the top of the hour to discuss Dane County’s innovative “bio-gas project,” essentially fueling vehicles with fuel made from garbage. This innovative project has received national and international attention, including a first place project recognition from the US Environmental Protection Agency, and international delegations visiting Madison have toured the county’s related facilities. Welch is the recycling project manager for Dane County Public Works. He is also the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) Badger Chapter Director, as well as its International Director.
Pahl has written a plethora of articles on farming, wind power, solar energy, electric cars, biodiesel, “green” appliances, home building materials, and sustainable forestry management in publications such as The Vermont Times, Vermont Magazine, Champlain Business Journal, Vermont History, Middlebury College Magazine, and Mother Earth News. He has lived “off the grid” in a wood-heated home powered by a wind turbine and is the author of six books on sustainable living.
“More than ninety percent of the electricity we use to light our communities, and nearly all the energy we use to run our cars, heat our homes, and power our factories comes from large, centralized, highly polluting, nonrenewable sources of energy. It doesn’t have to be that way. In Power from the People, energy expert Greg Pahl explains how American communities can plan, finance, and produce their own local, renewable energy that is reliable, safe, and clean. Pahl uses examples from around the nation and the world to explore how homeowners, co-ops, nonprofits, governments, and businesses are already putting power in the hands of local communities through distributed energy programs and energy-efficiency measures. Renewable, community power is a necessary step on the path to energy security and community resilience, particularly as we face peak oil, cope with climate change, and address the need to transition to a more sustainable future.”
-Chelsea Green Publishing (September 2012)
Read more about Greg Pahl at his website:
Listen to the entire interview: