Below is an interesting post that I found on Energy San Juan blog by Vince Dauciunas. I have been dreaming about the idea of energy independence or at least moving towards energy self-sufficiency. And here is an island of comparable size to us, also in Salish Sea, that has taken a step to take a stock of their energy needs and resources and found that they could do potentially do it! Read on:
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The Institute for Environmental Research and Education tested the idea on Vashon-Maury Island, in the middle of Puget Sound, and here are the results.
First, they surveyed energy use on the island and estimated the renewable energy available on island.
They wrote a how-to manual for other communities to do the same assessment.
They found that there was more than enough energy available to power the entire island, most of it (to their surprise) was solar power. Even in this cloudy, rainy Pacific Northwest community, there was plenty of energy to support their mostly-middle-class lifestyle. They found that there was already all the technology they needed to be a net-zero community (generating more energy than they used) but the biggest barrier was lack of political will.
Vashon is similar in size and population to San Juan Island! The report looks at energy consumption and many possible renewable sources. It is a fascinating read, and a possible model for us if we were to undertake a similar study.
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