Brittle Power- PARTS 1-3 (+Notes) - Natural Capitalism Solutions

316National Energy Securityvent crises from happening. 57 In 1981, when federal contracting for suchthings was cut off, county officials were developing curricula and workshopsto train other local officials in this broad approach to energy preparedness. 58While Dade County’s approach to energy resilience is not as broad or asdeep as that of this book, its integration of preventive measures with crisismanagement measures illustrates the key concept that energy preparednessconsists of much more than having a paper plan to ration gasoline. If Florida’senergy supplies are seriously disrupted, Dade County—knowing how its energyis used and having procedures in place for orderly maintenance of vital services—willbe better off than most other areas. County officials’ experience of thevalue of their own programs has led to their belief, as the program’s DeputyDirector expressed it, that energy preparedness “is a critical issue of nationalsecurity that ought to be a top priority of the United States Department ofDefense.” 59 Local officials are taking national needs so much to heart not onlyout of patriotic concern, but also because of the tangible local benefits.Concerted actionMany communities are rediscovering that they can take significant action tocreate their own energy futures. Sometimes these actions seem almost a cry of joyor an exuberant competition—a celebration of people’s commitment and capability.In other cases, the task has been a fight for economic survival. Whatever themotive and form, the human energy generated has been extraordinary.Six New England states and five maritime provinces of Canada recently helda competition to save energy. Because the program was very short-term, the savingswere achieved by curtailment rather than by efficiency, but the communityprocesses revealed are illuminating. Monterey, representing Massachusetts,began its competition with a blast from a fire engine and a parade down themain street. For the next three days, encouraged by a round of social events, thepeople of Monterey strove to reduce their use of electricity by more than theircounterparts in the ten other participating towns. The Monterey Selectmenappointed a coordinator who, with volunteers throughout town, tried to makeenergy saving the only thing on people’s minds. One volunteer personallysewed some twelve hundred small yellow flags bearing the town’s motto,“Monterey Lights the Way.” The local utility took several readings before theevent to establish a baseline for judging the saving—only to find that attentionfocused on the coming competition had already reduced electrical use by fifteenpercent in the preceding month. The additional saving during the competitionwas fifteen and six-tenths percent—just behind the winner, St. Stephens (NewBrunswick), with a seventeen and a half percent reduction. 60