'i Page 22 RAIN •Nov 1975 Leming Speech Continued ready ~vailable. A home designed to utilize solar heat, ground heat and cooling, optimum insulJtion, natural ventilation, natural light, efficient appliances, improved operation and other features to reduce energy usage. A h,ome to demonstrate to the building industry and allied fields that there are some now solutions.toward achieving efficient energy use solutions and at a cost that the average family can now afford. A home designed to focus the need ,to modify conventional thoughts of ho~- ing design to meet structural and space requirements of families in the face of housing costs that will continue to rise. A home designed to keep the public current on the changing technology by adding new' energy conserving techniques and equipment as they become available. We asked the savings and loan people in the state of Oregon to become involved in this project, along with the other participants. Major industries from the Northwest w~re donating their time and services-General Electric, Georgia Pacific, Hoffman Construction Company, S~dmore, Owings & MerriJI, Honeywell, Louisiana Pacific, Western Wood Products and many other companies, as the list goes on and on. Backed by the Portland Homebuilders' Association and of interest throughout the nation, we went with our story to the savings and loan people and were rejected in our request.for any backing. So, my track record isn't too impressive with savings and lo~ people, but I am a salesman and I never give up. I am back with another pitch today-a challenge really-an opportunity for your consideration. I am asking for a commitment, individually and corporately, to stand up and be counted. We need your help, your understanding and your assistance. ' When you go home tomorrow or.next week, take a few moments out of your .corporate day to talk with and become re-acquainted with your local utility manager. Let him fill you in on the problem as he sees it in your community. Be he REA, PUD, municipal or private company ... he's got a problem because the region has a problem. He needs your help to get the message out to your friends and acquaintances, ' . ' Reynolds ·interview ·continued R: At the moment, this is the source of yet another disagreement between me and the other people I know ·at EWEB. EWEB feels that the way to become involved is for .EWEB to completely own the solar energy system, and simply sell the beat that they' collect to the owner Qf the housef-I think there's little question .that legally and financially this is the easier way for EWEB to go. 1 In terms, however, of what a pµblic utility's relationship to the public really ought to ·be, it seems to me.the EWEB would be doing its own system a favor ... by making the low interes~ loan to a homeowner, to put this solar system on their house... ~ EWEB's point of view is that if EWEB owns it, then EWEB will also continue to maintain it, which is a good po~nt. ' • , , 1 WVO: There isn't a way for EWEB to own a large collecti<?n facility and then distribute the heat? ·R: Yes, there is, hut it's only practical when houses are very close together, and I don't think anybody would particul~rly like the way one big collector looked. I really feel that ... solar energy is by nature a diffused resourc~, and I don't think we ought to pretend that we can concentrate it with one big collector someplace. And frankly, I'm just so.tired of hands 9n the energy valve that I'm really relieved to see a source coine along that's renewable and dif- ' fused.... We have to take fundamentally different approaches. And one of those just might be EWEB turning loose and saying to a customer, you are parti~ly on your own. , , WVO: So far, we've been talking about solar collectors. Would EWEB become involved in the next step, direct solar generation of' electricity? R: It's conceivable that EWEB would be. My own hunch is that it's going to be a while before solar electricity is practical in the Northwest. ' The first place that solar electricity is likely to be practical is in the Southwest. • If we can every get to the place where enough of it is being done there that the mass production thing sets in and costs begin to plummet ... the pocket calculator is a favorite example; I think solar cells have the potential to have the same thing happen. I am tempted to say that the f~ter we go nuclear, the faster solar electricity is going to become There is a lot you can do. Take a look at your financing a'vailability. How acceptable is it today'in terms of insulation financing and solar installations? Become informed! . . . • Don't go along with your outdoor friend who says the upper Snake River should be'perpetuated for some S,000 annual visitors, unless you recognize that enough energy could be produced on tha,t river alone to guarantee electricity to thousands of the region's homes. In fact, also provide recreation facilities to 500,000 people annually. Do1,1't buy the anti-growth, anti-technology cult philosophy unless yo'u believe that man was built to vegetate or stagnate. As our president said a few . mon'ths ago, "We like progress, we have ideas, hopes and dreams of a better world and the anti-growth syndrome fails to take into consideration the one·inexhaustible resource-man's creative ability." If we lose our confidence, society is in big trouble! Get acquainted with the local social studies teacher at your junior high school and see if you can'offer an objectiv.e study of how our economic system works. Talk about what is right with the free enterprise system and why profit isn't a dirty word. , We have got to l;iave confidence, commitment and dedication. We can't let a vocal minority speak for the majority. The effectiveness of our economic ~ystem is in jeopardy today not because it is u_nable to withstand criticism, but because it is not understood. (?f the unresolved challenges we face as a nation-correcting social and economic inequalities among our people, revitalizing our cities, expanding our health care, maintaining and improving our environ~ menial image-not one single one can be met without the wealth this economic system creates by busin~ss. Pressur,e groups have been far too successful in selling the idea that obstructionism is in the public interest. Stand up and be counted. We need you to l?ack insulation standards ... to support TERA ONE ... to take an active part in conserving the lifestyle and economy of the Northwest. If not you ... who? If not QOW : .. when? If noi here ... where?' (Courtesy of. PP&L) feasible, because the cost of nuclear e·nerg;y is doing nothing but skyrocketing. •' , ' At this point the conversation turned to recent breakthroughs in solar technology. The technology is evolving extremely quickly, in'the direction of vastly reducing the size of solar cells. And theory has it that the Northwest can adapt rapidly to solar energy, because the existing system of hy~roelectric dams could be used for "pump storage." That is, water, after being used once for electricity generation on its way over the dam, could then be pumped back up by pumps operated directly on solar power. The water could then be spilled over the dam again,.thereby increasing the generating capacity of the dam. , WVO: It's been said that the Northwest is ideally ~uited to photovoltaic (solar generated) energy because of facilities for pump storage. • R: I think that's very exciting. But I do consider myself an environmentalist, and because I do, the first question that occurs to me is, if water is already nltrogen-supersaturated, does one send it over the dam a second time? That is one potential disadvantage. Another thing I would say is that at the moment it probably is more practical·to build la:rge-scale wind generators to take advantage of those fantastic.(Columbia) gorge winds. My hunch is that it's more practical to build wind generators to do the·pumping over the dams the second, third and fourtli times than it is to use solar energy directly: WVO: How fast could that b~come a really significant factor? R: I would say that one of the main things we need here is a BPA administration which is willing to look seriously at this as an,alterna- • tive. (The federally-mandated Bonneville Power Administration, which operates the major dams along the Columbia, sits at the center of the Northwest power grid. EWEB currently purchases about two-thirds of its power from BPA.) • My feeling is that at the moment BPA is so tied in with nuclear suppliers and with the utilities who can see only the nuclear al~ernative that BPA is helpless. It's going to take some fairly radical shoves and pushes to get.them to look elsewhere. . . . , • . WVO: Aside from the political obstacles, do you think it's possible that a large percentage of the state's energy needs could be met with photovoltaic power? . ' R: I tend to see things in terms of eve~ts which would raise the public consciousness to the place that the public starts saying, "Why haven't you been looking at solar?". , . Some of us see within shortages
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