When people mention green power, images of clunky solar panels and huge fields of wind turbines often come to mind. These are often the way sources of green power are implemented. The problem is that they’re such an eyesore, people are often hesitant to accept these alternative sources of energy. That’s understandable, as anyone who has ever been close to a field of wind turbines, probably wouldn’t want that to be their backyard view.

The truth, however, is that alternative power doesn’t have to be ugly if it’s done on the smaller scale. At left is a picture of the windmill that my neighbor uses for electricity. We don’t consider his windmill an eyesore at all. It’s much smaller and cuter than the huge white wind turbines. In fact, it used be common to see a windmill at every country house back when they were used for drawing water. Nearly every farmhouse painting includes a windmill in it. The trouble is that when green power is reduced to the small scale, it means that individuals profit instead of some large corporation.

Energy Is Big Business

Energy is a big business and corporations want to “make green” by “going green.” They don’t want to give the profits to individual homeowners. A big energy corporation isn’t going to want ten people to have small windmills to produce their own energy, when a big wind turbine could produce the energy for those homes and allow the profits to be reaped by a single entity instead of those individuals. That’s usually the big brick wall when it comes to implementing green energy. It’s ugly because corporations are looking for a “one-size fits all” solution so they can keep filling their pockets at our aesthetic expense.

Instead we need to be focusing on diverse power sources, rather than trying to find a single cure-all solution that keeps the power on only one energy grid with a single profiteer. We already have the technology for many areas to go green on a more individual scale. There are multiple power-producing solutions out there now, everything from solar, wind, geothermal, water, hemp, manure, algae and even potatoes have been used to produce power. No, not all of them work everywhere or for everyone, but that’s why we need to diversify our methods.

Different Alternative Work Different Places

Solar might work down south where the sun shines more, while those by the ocean might implement tidal flow power. And those in farm country can turn to manure power. The bottom line is, diversified and on the small scale, green power doesn’t have to be an eyesore. Smaller windmills are charming. Solar panels shaped like clay tiles are stylish as well as functional. A manure fuel system utilizes the barn and animals that are already in place. With a combination of methods and a touch of ingenuity, we just might be able to power our world without decreasing its beauty.

By Amber Reifsteck, The Woodland Elf

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