Today's Des Moines Register: "Lonnie Gamble, a professor in the Maharishi University of Management's Sustainable Living program, will attend the Des Moines event to talk about efforts he has made to power his house with solar panels and wind. He'll also discuss how producing energy with wind turbines helps local economies.
Gamble has appliances, high-speed Internet and other technology that operate on energy supplied by alternative sources, rather than by coal or nuclear power, Iowa's top power sources. Gamble hasn't paid an electric bill in 15 years - his house isn't connected to electric lines. He catches rainwater off his roof to store for future use and pays $50 a year for gas to heat his 500- square-foot house. He grows food year-round in a greenhouse. "We have regular washing machines and dishwashers, and all of it runs on solar panels and wind power," he said. "I'm coming over there to tell people it's possible." Gamble has helped create Abundance Ecovillage, a five- house subdivision in Fairfield where houses are powered by solar and wind on site, rain water is the only water used, cold air is pumped up from underground tunnels to cool houses, and residents plant edible landscaping and eat from their gardens every day. "It's not like we suffer. Our showers are just as hot, and our beers are just as cold," Gamble said. http://tinyurl.com/yszycm
