The last couple of weeks, I’ve listened in as Tony Collins, head of Clarkson University and co-chair of the North Country Regional Economic Development Council has talked up the opportunities of a sort of local energy movement.<\/p>\n
“I know there are projects in the pipeline that rely on energy and utilize natural resources, the forest reserves, forest products,” Collins told me recently.<\/p>\n
This same idea has been a steady theme for Kate Fish, head of the Adirondack North Country Association.<\/p>\n
As the region talks about and debates a unified theme for our shared economic future, energy seems like an interesting angle to explore.<\/p>\n
After all, our communities are already industry leaders in hydro and wind power.\u00a0 Watertown has a chain of power generating dams right in the middle of the city.\u00a0 Big hydro facilities on the St. Lawrence River are cornerstones of the regional economy.<\/p>\n
The Tug Hill and Clinton County have seen sizable wind farms kicking into gear.<\/p>\n
What if rural towns and small cities also became major exporters of wood pellets for stoves and producers of electricity at biomass facilities?<\/p>\n
Is it impossible to think that this region could become a next exporter of energy in the next decade?<\/p>\n
One big and necessary step would involve a massive effort to improve the efficiency of North Country homes, so that we consume far less heating oil in the winter.<\/p>\n
An expansion of public transportation and the adoption of more energy-efficient vehicles would also help.<\/p>\n
Remember, every gallon of oil that we avoid burning means more money staying here in our economy.<\/p>\n
The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Jerry Jenkins has also been writing and thinking about the opportunities (and the challenges) of this kind of transition.<\/p>\n