Jefferson task force to look at energy options

Residents hope to bring alternative energy sources to neighborhoods

Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006

Jefferson residents who envision windmills and bio-generation to power their homes recently created a task force to mull alternative energy options.

The Energy Generation Task Force is a joint effort between the Fox Haven Center, a nonprofit ecological learning center, and several Jefferson residents interested in promoting the use of alternative energy.

Ruritans Jim Carpenter and Jill Malone, who have been participating in monthly meetings held by the Fox Haven Center, are among the 14 task force members.

‘‘We would like to be able to generate some power that doesn’t rely on oil,” Carpenter said Tuesday. ‘‘There’s quite a bit of interest.”

Carpenter said that his own interest was triggered during a walk through the fields on the scenic grounds of the 380-acre Fox Haven Center site on Corun Road. Carpenter and other Fox Haven meeting attendees mulled alternative energy options that would be plausible in the area and sparked the others’ enthusiasm.

They quickly decided to gauge local interest in the topic with a community meeting held last week. More than a dozen residents attended, Carpenter said. The group formed a task force that will meet monthly to delve into alternative energy options and possible funding sources.

Meeting set The newly formed Energy Generation Task Force of Jefferson residents will hold its first public meeting this week. Where: Fox Haven Center, Corun Road, Jefferson. When: 7 p.m., Feb. 16 (Potluck starts at 6 p.m.) For information: JeffersonMd.net, www.foxhavenfarm.org or call Michael Campbell of the Fox Haven Center at 301-371-4441.

‘‘There seems to be an interest in wind generation,” Carpenter said. ‘‘A few of [those who attended the start-up meeting] expressed an interest in bio-generation.” Bio-generation is the process of converting natural crops, such as corn, into usable energy.

Carpenter said the group likely will plan a small project, perhaps powering a single home, but will ramp up efforts according to local demand.

‘‘We thought we’d start fairly small scale — just a demonstration project,” Carpenter said. ‘‘But if enough people are interested, we’d consider a larger project to service the community.”

The group sprung from one of a Fox Haven Center’s monthly meetings, in which participants view films on a variety of environmental topics at the center. At its meeting Feb. 2, the Fox Haven group viewed a film called The End of Suburbia, a documentary on the depletion of oil as a natural resource.

Carpenter said the film’s topic coordinated coincidentally with the start of the Energy Generation Task Force.

Fox Haven Center, which holds monthly meetings at 6:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each month, offers educational programs, discussion groups, video presentations, seasonal celebrations, personal retreats and outdoor activities to environmental enthusiasts.

Fox Haven Center is ‘‘a gathering place for a community of people who are seeking innovative and systemic solutions to the complex social and environmental problems threatening our planet,” according to its mission statement.

Kay Schultz of Jefferson, a board member of the Fox Haven group, said the Energy Generation Task Force will likely first aim to establish an energy source on the grounds of Fox Haven Center, where solar pumps help supply water to two organic gardens during the summer.