06 15 11 Celebrating the Future

Energy is the great conundrum for sustainable life on this planet if it is to continue sustaining large populations of humans.


We have been thinking about this as a part of the lifestyle, of our Bioshelter home, because this house is supposed to reflect sustainable living. Although it takes less energy to heat our home than a conventionally built home of comparable size, the fact is we still use fossil fuel heat and electricity from the grid. So we are wondering about the feasibility of renewable energy as future add-ons to our home.


I am writing about this today, because today the Chugach Electric Association is voting on whether to buy energy from the Fire Island Wind Farm. It looks like the vote will be a “yes,” allowing the wind farm to be built over the next two years, assuming the state signs-off on the project. However, Chugach Electric is agreeing only to a very small amount of power, and the bigger utilities, most notably the (Anchorage) Municipal Light and Power, are not yet giving it a “yes.” This means they will only build a small portion of the originally planned wind farm, at least until MLP gets on board.


So, we are thinking about our own renewable energy project for our Bioshelter home. If “the grid” (the publicly available power sources) is going to be so slow to move forward with renewable energy, maybe we should do something on our own as a part of our sustainable lifestyle.


The problem is where we live. We live behind the curve of a hill, making wind power too sporadic to be practical. We also live in a canyon, which means that our relatively southern location mimics the arctic, at least insofar as sunlight is concerned. For a full month, th

e sun never rises high enough in the sky to get above the mountain walls that surround us. When the sun finally shines through the gaps between the peaks, we find ourselves automatically falling into a celebratory mood. It is wonderful, but it presents the question: is it worthwhile to put up solar panels for only part of the year?


We haven’t decided that one yet, but it is very good question. Over seven billion people live on the planet right now, and that is only possible because cheap e

nergy makes it possible. Now our very population density threatens the planet, and the impending decline in cheap energy threatens humans, as well.


My faith tradition teaches that God provides for all, because God’s great passion is for the heavens, as well as for the earth and for all of life in it. Humans, as self-aware creatures, are called to intentionally love all that God loves, and to be a voluntary part of God’s care for all people and all of life. We have to take seriously the kind of future we are making possible. Indeed, that is what it means to love—love shows itself in our actions. That is what “responsible” living means, too, by the way. Loving and responding are related themes!


As for us, we will probably do some experimenting with photovoltaic solar panels. So stay tuned! In the meantime, recognizing that God has made sustainable life something that is within our grasp, we celebrate that fact, even though we don’t have all the answers. But we do try to live toward a sustainable future.[1]


Psalm 36:5-7

5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

your judgements are like the great deep;

you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

[1] Politically, it is not popular to buy more expensive energy now, despite its obvious environmental benefits, because it will cost more in the short run. What people don’t seem to realize that buying wind power now will pay off, because the cost of wind energy will

not go up, but the projections for non-renewable energy is only for great limits in supply, resulting in skyrocketing costs into the foreseeable future. Non-renewable energy consumption poses a grave danger to all life on the planet, even as it has made historically unprecedented human populations possible. On the other hand, though many have tried to argue the environ-

mental dangers, current data makes it clear that a drastic shortage of non-renewable energy is projected making the move to sustainable lifestyles—meaning life based on renewable energy sources—essential.

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