Arriving in Buffalo for SOLAR 2009

Coming into Buffalo: I have just arrived by plane to Buffalo from Washington, DC. As you fly in, you cannot help but notice the new wind mills dotting the landscape in the rural areas outside the city. They are all relatively small, not the huge windmills that you see in some of the areas near Palm Springs in California. I remember meeting a man back in the 1980s who was adamantly against windmills because of the humming sound that they made. As we surge into the future of alternative energy, we are going to have to figure out ways to accommodate a little humming, but there undoubtedly will be new battles with legitimate arguments on both sides of the aisle. Exhibit Number One of course is the battle between trees and solar panels in California, and that will be just the tip of the iceberg. Alternative energy is the future and the future could not get here quickly enough to wean us of our addiction to coal and oil. I hope to hear about new products and approaches at SOLAR 2009 and will be blogging about my experience here in Buffalo over the next couple of days.