RIDE FOR RENEWABLES UPDATE

Ride for Renewables; 100% By 202
Tom Weiss, October 2010 (Ride for Renewables blog)

October 23, 2010; Riverfront Bike Path (Greening the Grid One Home at a Time)
"…On the way, saw a home near Litchfield with a residential wind turbine and solar tracker, so I had to stop. Pedaled down a side road to get to the house and knocked on the door to ask about their setup. Turns out the owner wasn’t home, but his daughter…was clearly very knowledgeable about the system, and was happy to give me a quick tour…"

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October 24, 2010; Springfield, Illinois (Coal in my Backyard)
"…Was keeping my eyes on the Dallman coal plant looming over the shores of Lake Springfield…Rode down one street, but it was a dead end. Another was a residential neighborhood with no lakeside access…Later did a little research on the coal plant across the water and learned that the Sierra Club had settled a lawsuit allowing the construction of a new power plant with the lowest pollution rates in the nation; the purchase of 120 MW of wind power; closure of the Lakeside power plant (the #3 dirtiest plant in the country); increasing energy efficiency funding 10-fold; and cleaning up three other coal boilers to the lowest SO2/NOx emission rates for existing boilers nationwide. Better than nothing, for sure, but we don’t need less polluting coal plants in our communities. It’s time to move beyond coal completely…"

October 24, 2010; Springfield, Illinois (Coal in my Backyard)
"… Cruising up the frontage rode to Interstate 55 on the way to Springfield, saw a large single wind turbine and rolled down a gravel road to get a closer look. Discovered that the Gob Nob Wind Turbine sits right on top of the former Crown coal mine! Could not have a more fitting site to be generating green energy for the people of Illinois…"

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October 25, 2010; Springfield, Illinois (Appeal to the President)
"…Got to the Capitol grounds and found the precise location where the President gave his speech, but the grounds were closed. So filmed the video outside the gate (as best I could, with so many people coming up and asking about the trike), making a heartfelt appeal to the President to follow through on the bold and inspiring proclamations he issued in his announcement speech…"