Page 10 RAIN May 1980 ENERGY Energy Self-Sufficiency in Northhamp- , ton, Mass., (DOE/PW/4706), $11.00 A Reprint of Soft Energy Notes-access, to Tools for Soft Energy Path Studies (DOE/PE-0016/1) Renewable Energy Development: Local Issues and Capabilities (DOE/PE/0017), $12.50 • All available from: U.S. Dept. of Energy NTIS 5285 Port Royal Rd. Springfield, VA 22161 Publications by the U.S. Dept. of Energy are frequently dull. The longer they'are the less relevant they are and DOE's publications are as gripping as the white pages of the phone book. Nevertheless, Rainreaders - may be interested in three longish reports hot off the press from DOE. Someone in DOE (I won't say who) is preparing relevant, timely and useful reports. Unbelievable, isn't it? · Energy Self-Sufficiency in Northhampton, Mass. presents arguments for and against municipal-scale energy ,self-sufficiency in a study prepared by HampshireCollege for DOE. This is one of several self-sufficiency reports following up the original California examination two years ago. A self-sufficiency study examines an area's (municipality, h~re, but nation, county and island elsewhere) end use energy requirements extrapolated to a future date and its integral ability to supply those . energy requiregients. Since local sources of energy are the only ones eligible, such studies often prop9se innovative methods of supplying future energy. In the Northhampton case a whole new "self~ sufficiency" industry would need to be installed, resulting in an increased number of quality jobs for the small town. Another feature of such an examination is the premise o~ which these studies are based: no changes in lifestyle and no technological breakthroughs are a?sumed to. influence the balance of supply and demand. In fact, the studies are so conser" vatively biased in their economics that the. cost benefit ratios of conversion to selfsufficiency are often even more encc;mraging than suggested. The importance of these studies, however; is the presentation of benefits that are social, .environmental, and political. Here a strategy is outlined that can truly put a small town on the soft path. For readers of RAIN, if you haven't waded through one of these publications yet, it's time to get'your feet wet. .Another publication that is useful is the reissue of material originally published by Friends of the Earth: A Reprint of Soft Energy Notes-Access to Tools for Soft Path Energy Studies. The articles reprinted include energy related topics from Chinese biogas to Brazilian alcohol and British selfsufficiency .' The third long report from DOE is a much needed cross-index and directory to •the people who are active in renewable energy and to the.ir interests and capabilities. This information is gathered from replies to a DOE questionnaire and is' cross-listed by technology, geographical area, and organization or firm, One chapter lists issues •and concerns which the respondents iden- 'tify; another chapter suggests uses to which their capabilities might be putwithin the context of DOE's goals and implementation strategies. The major part .of the publication is the directory itself, containing summaries of over 300 replies, listed alphabetically by state, that detail in- · terests, concerns, and capabilities in ' renewable energy. Very encouraging to read about all those people doing aJl that good work: Renewable Energy Development: Local Issues and Capabilities. -An Painter An has ·been involved irt community energy/ environment projects for the last 8 years in North Carolina, the Virgin Islands, and now New Mexico. Thf Energy Controversy: Soft Path Questions and Answers, by Amory Lovins and his Critics, edited by Hugh Nash, 450 pp., $6.95 from: Friends of the Earth Books 124 Spear Street , San Francisco, CA 9410& This book will be read with considerable relish by Amory Lovins' admirers. Ever since October 1976, when his classic essay "Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?" appeared in the pages of Foreign Affairs, critics from the utilities, the nuclear industry, and the federal energy bureaucracy - have vehe~ently attacked his cogent arguments for a "soft energy" strategy centered around decentralized, renewable resources. Soft Path Questions and Answers gives Lovins his opportunity to respond to the critics, and he uses it to-demolish one objection-after another with his usual lucid mixture of facts, figures, wit and common sense. -JF • "Energy War: Energy Peace," by Ronald Pogue, Winter Solstice and Midwinter issues of AERO Sun Times I $12/yr. (living lightly rates negotiable), from: Alternative Energy Resources Organization (AERO) 435 Stapleton Building Billings, MT 59101. If .the Amory Lovins perspective on the energy crisis/phenomena still seems complicated to·you, this AERO analysis in two parts should clear it up. Ronald Pogue culls from Amory's writings the basics of the whole.soft path rationale and·strategy. Mixing these with a few schemes of his own he synthesize~ a viable future for energy use. . • The articles serve as cogent complements to the "hands on" technical info and access that the Sun Times has been supplying the Mountain States with for years. AERO just keeps getting more interesting as it reaches out with new programs and new ideas. -CC ' Planning for Energy Self-Reliance: A . Case Study of the District of Columbia, 1979, $12.0o,·from: Institute for Local Self-Reliance 1 171718th Street N.W. Washington, DC 70009 Only three percent of every dollar,Washington, DC res-idents spend 01;1 energy is retained by the community in wages and salaries. Another nine percent goes to the DC government as taxes. The re~t goes to Exxon's corporate coffers, to oil workers in Alaska, to Japanese tanker manufacturers and to the Middle East, doing nothing to provide jobs or income to the residents of DC. This pioneering study examines the potential for energy conservation and conversion to renewable energy sources in the city from a central focus of its effect on the - urban economy. As well as energy and monetary savings possible through investment in conservation and renewables, ILSR examines the effects upon local employment and manufacturing that multiply 1 those savings by keeping the money cycling in the local economy. DC has already lowered energy use py 17 percent. ILSR concludes conservatively that another third reduction in end-use energy is possible· . even with the projected addition of tens of millions of square feet of office and residential space. They also analyze how solar and solid waste can provide for up to 50 percent of the remaining energy need, for a total reduction in needed energy imports to the city of 75 percent! Don't wait for the Feds to help you-get this report and figure out for your own rnmmunity/oounty/ state how to keep your energy dollars in your own pockets instead of s~nding them abroad. -Tom Bender
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