Sometimes you see an idea that just seems so obvious; you have to wonder why nobody thought of it sooner.  Treehugger has a story on a project called Wind-It.  If you take the time to read this story, I guarantee you will never look at an electrical tower the same way again.

The genius of this idea is their use of these existing structures.  By placing a wind turbine inside the empty space of an electrical tower, they solve 2 of the biggest problems facing wind towers.  One, where to locate wind towers.  Two, transferring the generated power into the grid.

According to the story, there are more than 157,000 miles of high voltage power lines in the U.S.  Incorporating wind power into this infrastructure would make even better use of the land already occupied by the towers and save lots of money by not having to build new structures.

I think this idea appeals to me so much because it capitalizes on a wasted resource.  They fill all that empty space of an electrical tower with a productive wind turbine.  There is a strong similarity here to Passenger Energy since we are trying to fill the empty seats in automobiles with energy saving passengers who can leave their cars at home.

photo credit: the_toe_stubber

This weekend over 10,000 of our nation’s youth gathered for Power Shift 2009.  The goal of the conference was to allow the attendees to make connections, harness resources and take action to repower and reclaim their futures.

This historic gathering is one of the largest and most well-organized youth movements in years.  On Monday, they are marching on Capital Hill to protest dirty energy and call for a dramatic transition to alternative energy sources.  There is some excellent coverage from this weekend’s activities over at It’s Getting Hot In Here.

While reading about this conference, I found this great hip hop song that I am using for my song of the week.  I have never heard of any of the artists before, but I love the message.  The song is “Green Anthem” by Tem Blessed, First Be & Outspoken:

Everybody shine
Be solar powered
Speak your mind
That’s wind power
Move your H2O
Wavepower
Organize people power
We got the soul power

Earlier this week at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit, President elect Obama talked about Global Warming and the need for clean energy.  He said we would invest $15 billion each year for the next 10 years to support alternative energy.

Time magazine states that this won’t be enough and looks at the international costs.

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual World Energy Outlook, released Nov. 12, projects that global energy demand will increase by 45% between 2006 and 2030 — and that $26 trillion in power-supply investments will be necessary simply to meet those needs.

Obama’s plan for $150 billion is a step in the right direction, but more action is needed.  If you read the Time article, you know we must invest in wind and solar power, but why not Passenger Energy too?  Maybe we would not have to invest so much, if we could simply conserve more.