KARL GUENTHER: If we aren't going with wind power, solar energy is ...

Terry Murphy's company, SolarReserve, wants to replace coal-fired power plants with Concentrated Solar Power. Those of us who spent some of our youth as Scouts can recall starting a campfire by focusing the sun's rays through a magnifying glass. SolarReserve seeks to do that on a much more grand scale.

Murphy, testifying before a congressional committee earlier this month contends Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants are "perfectly suited to replace the aging coal-fired plants . . . And could be designed to use considerably less water than existing systems."

His attention was drawn to the Southwestern United States, where water supply is a critical issue. Here in Michigan, that shouldn't be a problem, and if we're not going to pursue wind power as an alternative generator of energy -- I'm not saying we won't but I don't see much action in that regard -- then how about this concentration of the sun's power, to minimize, if not eliminate consumption of fossil fuels, and the accompanying toxic emissions?

We've been hearing a lot about all the things that are wrong with the proposals now being discussed that would result in federal regulations concerning toxic emissions. A lot of folks, including a variety of spokesmen for agriculture, don't see how "cap and trade" can be implemented, and don't see how it can work and avoid crippling costs factors. A pollution source earns marketable emission rights by reducing its emissions to levels below a regulatory standard (arbitrarily set, I imagine), and the credits earned can be sold to other sources, which then can legally pollute more than the initially permitted level.

EPA's acid rain program is being hailed by some as a model of workability of the concept.

I think we better go back to the Concentrated Solar Power idea. There are several proven means by which the sun's power can be captured, focused and harnessed. There's the parabolic trough, for example. In Seville, Spain, a solar power tower concentrates sunlight from a field of heliostats which track the movement of sun as it orbits. (I dunno if the magnifying glass is involved anymore, or not).

Maybe, if the decision-makers think this is a crazy idea, they'll take another look at wind power (goodness knows, we have plenty of consistent wind coming off the Great Lakes, and a lot of land mass that could host wind farms). I've seen 'em working in Germany and in Canada, and they're not ugly or scary, or any of the other negative things you've heard about 'em.

Somebody do something.

Karl Guenther is a retired Kalamazoo farm broadcaster and can be reached at khguenther@chartermi.net. Click here for more Karl Guenther columns.

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