The United Kingdom – An Island Nation Serious About Cleanly Harnessing Their Natural Resources

On Thursday September 23, 2010, off the coast of Kent, where the English Channel meets the North Sea in southeastern England, the world’s largest offshore wind farm went online. The Thanet Offshore Wind Farm consist of 100 wind turbines covering an area of 13.5 square miles (35 square kilometers), each turbine is 115 meters tall, generating enough electricity for 200,000 homes a year. The Swedish energy company Vattenfall which invested about 880 million pounds ($1.38 billion), operates the wind farms. The construction took just over two years and expected to operate for at least 25 years. (more…)

If you are looking on how to break into the new green movement but are not sure on
how to start.  Well, the Mitchell Technical Institute is providing a training
course, it is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and it is offering a degree
in wind turbine technology.

They talked with utility providers and firms that are putting up the wind farms
and tried to determine what it is they need for a worker.  There probably are fewer
than two dozen such programs in the nation.

Starting next fall, students can choose between a one-year program that grants a
diploma to be a wind turbine technician and a two-year degree that qualifies them
for more advanced work. (more…)

T. Boone Pickens is delaying his plans to build the world’s largest wind farm, according
to The Arizona Republic, which cited his remarks at a conference on Tuesday in Phoenix.

The Texas oilman, who has created a stir by his endorsement of wind power as part of a
national strategy to reduce dependence on foreign oil, cited the fall in natural gas
prices, a competing source of electricity generation, as a deterrent.

Pickens has leased hundreds of thousands of acres for a giant wind farm in West Texas,
where he plans to erect 2,700 turbines and produce energy for urban areas such as Dallas
and Fort Worth. (more…)

April 29, 2008
One year after the tornado

Farrell Allison’s house is being invaded by CBS news.  Greensburg is getting
ready for the 1 year anniversary.  They are going to break ground on the business
incubator, a memorial service for those that died due to the tornado, and
re-dedicate the new water tower.   The seniors will be graduating, and the
President will be in town.

Dealing with the news media gives them exposure to hopefully extra monies to (more…)

March 2008

What’s left of Greensburg State Bank built in 1989 is getting demolished.
Dee Corns, employee and wife of the Bank President tells of rebuilding the
bank in the same location.  They will build green using eco-block (icf).
There was a lot of material reclaimed from the bank before the demo
started.

Robert Mitchum, city council member, discusses who might be mayor. (more…)

U.N. scientist say we only have 10 years to mend our ways, because if we do
not clean up our act, mother nature has some nasty surprises:

Storms – insured losses from weather events have increased 15 fold in the
last 30 years.

Floods – U.N. scientists predict 200 million climate refugees in the next
40 years.

Drought – Land stricken by severe drought has doubled in 30 years. (more…)

February 27, 2008

Primary Election Results are in. Bob Dixson and John Janssen are in a runoff
for the primary.  10 of the 15 city council positions will move on to the
primary. Carmen Renfro and Erica Goodman are in the runoff for City Council.

March 2, 2008

Studio 804 Warehouse in Lawrence, Kansas is paid a visit by the 5.4.7 Arts
Center Board to see the progress they were making on the new building. The
building is being built to LEED certification. It will have a lot of active (more…)