Ottawa is crawling with free daily newspapers. It started with Metro and Dose, but the latter apparently failed. Since then, one named 24hrs has taken its place as some people's bus and bus shelter litter of choice.
I tend to avoid them but the other day the cover of 24hrs had a picture of a windmill on it (the most overused environmental symbol after the swirly light bulb) using that very same unimaginative headline.
I wasn't able to get my hands on a copy until later in the day, due to forgetfulness on my part . It certainly not due to lack of availabilty, since you can find a copy of in pretty well any puddle in town. Once I did, I found that the article wasn't quite what I expected; It was about how certain laws are impeding progress at becoming greener.
Be that as it may, later that night I found a press release in my e-mail inbox.
Government officials, local dignitaries and landowners, and green power advocates will gather in Forest, near Grand Bend, Ontario, to celebrate the official opening of a new, six-turbine wind farm. This wind farm was erected, in part, to address the growing demand of Bullfrog Power customers, who have chosen to purchase clean, emissions-free, EcoLogo(M)-certified power for their homes and organizations.
Well, someting is apparently going fairly well somewhere then. Good for them! Maybe if I'd joined about two years ago, like I said I'd planned to, I could feel like I was a small part of that. *ahem*
Mind you , what we've considered doing is getting our own windmill. Mrs THIT saw one in a flyer about a year ago and immediately liked the idea. She just didn't dig the cost (I can't recall what it was now) at the time, but Canadian Tire has them for about $800 now.
We're certainly not lacking for wind around here. There are no tall buildings in the area so very few things can block a stiff breeze. A couple of weeks ago, Christine called me at work to tell me that, following a warm spell and resulting thaw, she decided to move the BBQ from outside into the garage. The first big snow of the year hit before we'd brought it in, so it was stuck outside.
While going around the house, she tells me that a gust of wind got under the cover, tore the BBQ from her hands, threw it six feet intot he air and smashed it into the driveway. That sounds about as convincing as a dog eating homework, but she's not the type to fib.
But if I'm going to take the plunge of buying a windmill, I want to know what I'm getting into. If my little windmill only generates enough power to run my electric razor, I'm hardly going to bother. And mentions of installation in "three easy steps" make me wary. Easy is in the eye of the beholder for someone like me, who struggles to even open an ironing board.
So we'll see, but I suspect that before long, we'll be wind-powered one way or another. Really this time.
Oh, and it IS easy being green.
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