Renewable Energy Revolution

By Greg Watson, keynote speaker at the Clean Power Now Annual Meeting, 10-25-07

Grassroots non-profit organizations are playing an increasingly important role as catalysts for social change. This is not necessarily a new phenomenon, but its recognition is rather recent.

Greg Watson,  Senior Advisor for Clean Energy Technology at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental AffairsIn fact I first met Barbara Hill, current executive director of Clean Power Now while I was working as education director at the New Alchemy Institute. New Alchemy was a non-profit research and education center located on 22-acres not far from here in Hatchville. It was a leader in the development of what was then called "Appropriate Technology". The mission of New Alchemy was to develop environmentally sound approaches to meeting society’s basic needs: food, energy, shelter and clean water.

Founded in the 1970’s in the midst of the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the beginning of the environmental movement, New Alchemy founders John Todd, Nancy Jack Todd and Bill McLarney focused on coming up with solutions to the problems at a time when most environmental organizations seemed content with articulating the problems. That’s what attracted them to me.

As far back as the 1970’s New Alchemy researchers demonstrated that we know how to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. One-tenth of an acre of their raised-bed organic gardens were able to support the annual vegetable needs of thirteen people. Passive solar greenhouses were able to operate throughout the winter months solely on solar power. In the early 80’s and old cow barn on the site was renovated and converted into a public auditorium. Super insulation and other energy conservation techniques/technologies eliminated the need for a central heating system.

Pioneed by a small non-profit organization right here on Cape Cod

Massachusetts imports virtually all of the energy it consumes. We depend on coal, natural gas and oil to power our power plants. Because of this we cannot close our eyes to the fact that our electricity comes at the expense of someone else’s mountaintop.This was powerful stuff, pioneered by a small non-profit organization right here on Cape Cod. New Alchemy designers, researchers and engineers employed "whole systems thinking" when tackling problems. Bucky Fuller is credited as the "Father of Whole Systems Thinking". This approach to problem solving is comprehensive and anticipatory. It is designed to avoid solutions that produce "unintended consequences" somewhere down the road.

Finding the "Trimtab" 

One of Bucky’s great insights was that an understanding of whole systems leads to the discovery of one or more "points of leverage" that offer the best opportunities for changing the course of a system (no matter how large and/or powerful). He called this the "trimtab" principle:

Large ocean-going ships traveling a good clip require a great deal of energy to turn the rudder and change its course. This is due to their momentum and the density of the water that must be overcome. However if a small flap (trimtab) is placed on the trailing edge of the rudder right above the water level) it can be turned with a relatively small amount of energy. When it turns, it creates a partial vacuum, which in turn pulls the rudder and ultimately changes the course of the ship.

This is how grassroots non-profit organizations like New Alchemy and Clean Power Now, can bring about major social change with relatively modest resources.

That kind of thinking and approach to problem solving is needed more today than ever. The lack of commitment on the part of the Bush Administration to addressing climate change calls for a coordinated grass-roots effort. That is precisely what CPN represents.

Massachusetts imports virtually all of the energy it consumes. We depend on coal, natural gas and oil to power our power plants. Because of this we cannot close our eyes to the fact that our electricity comes at the expense of someone else’s mountaintop, landscape (or in the case of the Columbian coal that we import – entire villages).

The 900,000 megawatts of wind energy off our coast
300,000 MW between Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras

This does not have to be the case. The U.S. Department of Energy has identified 900,000 megawatts of potential wind energy off the U.S. coast. That is roughly equivalent to the total current installed capacity. About 100,000 MW of that is off the coast of New England. This gives Massachusetts a real competitive advantage with regard to a prodigious, indigenous, inexhaustible clean energy resource. More than 300,000 MW exists between Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras. If we begin developing even a portion of this we could see how some measure of energy independence could actually be within reach – especially if this is done in parallel with a commitment to develop plug-in hybrid vehicles. Plug-in hybrids powered by offshore wind farms (the fleet of vehicles doubling as a "storage system") offers a real vision of how the U.S. could wean itself from foreign oil.

Finally, we must avoid "red-herring" arguments pitting wind energy versus wave or tidal or "deep-water" vs. "near-shore" offshore wind sites. We should be thinking in terms of "additional" sites and technologies not "alternatives".

For in fact, we need them all.

Greg Watson is Senior Advisor for Clean Energy Technology at the MA Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, and Vice President for Sustainable Development at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900 , Boston, MA 02114  t: 617-626-1108, e: Greg.Watson@state.ma.us