Microgeneration: Power By The People, For The People

Forget the national power grid. Small communities are starting to make their own energy from clean, renewable, local sources...microgeneration — the local production of clean, renewable power by individuals and small communities to meet their own energy needs. As evidence of global warming increases, microgeneration is touted as a sustainable alternative to the fossil fuels that help form greenhouse gases. Conservationists argue that only clean energy technologies derived from wind, solar, wave and other natural power sources can ensure a healthy environment and sustainable economic growth. Micropower is far less of an imposition on the landscape, though, than big wind farms and solar arrays, and it's also part of a growing trend toward local production of goods and services, including energy...Microgeneration forces architects and builders to think green from the start."