Nature and Ice Wine

  • Vidal blanc grapes used in ice wine. The vines are netted to protect the grapes from high winter winds and animals. (Photo courtesy of Mario Mazza)

When you think about wine you might think about sunny Italy or warm
Napa Valley in California. But one wine is the product of cold
weather. Ann Murray has the story:

Transcript

When you think about wine you might think about sunny Italy or warm
Napa Valley in California. But one wine is the product of cold
weather. Ann Murray has the story:


Today, the weather and the sales are brisk at the Mazza Winery and
Vineyards.


Sales Person: “Did you want these in a bag?”


Mary Ventura: “Yes, this is all going to the same spot.”


Mary Ventura is buying small bottles of wine that she describes as
“liquid candy.” Ventura and the sales clerk chime in when I ask her
what she’s talking about:


“This is ice wine. It’s not something you can find on all the shelves.
And so we came across this little winery and it’s great.”


Mazza’s is one of the few wineries in the United States that sells and
produces ice wine. More and more people are discovering this rare,
super sweet dessert wine:


“We’re going to head out right behind the winery, actually.”


Mario Mazza is a third generation grower. He says their vineyard’s
location along the Lake Erie shoreline in Pennsylvania makes ice
wine production possible. For vineyards in this region, the Great Lake
changes the local climate:


“In the spring it keeps the shore a little bit cooler, keeps the grapes
from budding too early, which is a good thing… prevents them from
getting hit from the later spring frost. In the fall, we have the reverse
happen. In September and even in October we have a little bit more
warmth along the lake shore here.”


But the real ticket to producing ice wine is a final burst of cold winter
weather. In December or January, winds off Lake Erie can bring the
temperature to well below freezing. As snowflakes whip around the
vineyards, Mazza stands next to rows of grapes still on the vine. The
rows are netted by hand to protect the vines from high winter winds
and hungry animals:


“These vineyards we’re looking at here are vidal blanc grapes.
They’re a great variety because they have a relatively thick skin and
can hold up to the colder climate, to the colder weather and leaving
them on the vine for an extra two months.”


Natural ice wines require a hard freeze to occur sometime after the
grapes are ripe. If a freeze doesn’t come fast enough, the grapes
might rot and the crop will be lost. If the freeze is too severe, no juice
can be extracted.


(Sound of bottling inside winery)


Back inside the winery, Mazza helps out with bottling. During a break,
he says that catching the right sustained freeze means that workers
must be ready to roll out of bed early to pick the grapes used in ice
wine:


“When we go out there and pick ’em about 5:00 in the morning with
headlights down the rows, you’re actually picking these grapes at
about 18 degrees Fahrenheit so they’re actually frozen, just like a marble.
You get very, very sweet juice when you press that out.”


Ice wines are very sweet because the grapes dehydrate the last two
months on the vine. That concentrates the sugar and the flavor:


“The sugars are twice that we get in a normal harvest date in October. And
the flavors are just so much more intense and concentrated.”


Murray: “So you don’t end up with a lot of juice then?”


Mazza: “Hence the rarity, the sale in a smaller bottle and the price
tags on ice wines. A lot of people look at them and say wow, those are
awfully expensive. When they learn about the extensive effort put into
making these wines, they then understand that it’s well worth it.”


At $40 dollars a half-bottle, ice wine generally is worth the extra work
for growers. It might take months to completely ferment ice wine.
Regular wines take days or weeks. Each year, the Mazzas produce
only about 250 gallons of ice wine — a tiny amount compared to other
wines.


Worker: “There should be about a case down there.”


Upstairs, customers continue to stream in and out of the Mazza wine
shop, some of them eyeing the small bottles of liquid gold that nature
and patience help make possible.


For the Environment Report, this is Ann Murray.

Related Links

Enviros and Coal-Fired Power

  • City Water Light and Power of Springfield, Illinois compromised with environmentalists to build a cleaner power plant and supplement supplies with wind energy rather than fight through the permitting process. (Photo by Lester Graham)

There are around 100 coal-burning power plants
on the drawing boards. Many of them won’t be built.
In some cases environmental groups will fight to
make sure they don’t get built. But, Lester
Graham reports, one coal-burning power plant is
being built with the blessings of the
environmentalists nearby:

Transcript

There are around 100 coal-burning power plants on the drawing boards. Many of
them won’t be built. In some cases environmental groups will fight to make sure
they don’t get built. But, Lester Graham reports, one coal-burning power plant is
being built with the blessings of the environmentalists nearby:


Usually, when a utility wants to build a new coal-burning power plant, the fight is on. The
utility is challenged by environmental groups every step of the permitting process.
Then, more times than not, the utility and the environmentalists take the fight to the
courts. It means years of delays and millions of dollars of legal bills, but that didn’t
happen here.


Construction workers are erecting the superstructure of a new 500-million dollar
coal-burning power plant. This power plant is scheduled to go online in two years.
When it’s complete, it’ll use the latest technology to reduce the nastiest pollutants
from its smokestack: sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides and mercury. And this power
plant is much more efficient.


Jay Bartlett is the chief utilities engineer with City Water Light and Power in
Springfield, Illinois. He says compared to the utility’s older power plants next door,
the new plant will burn about 20% less coal to produce the same amount of
electricity.


“It takes about 1.4 pounds of coal to make a kilowatt of electricity from that plant
over there. This plant will be in the .85 range.”


And that will mean electricity bills for ratepayers won’t have to go up. It also means
the net amount of greenhouse gases is reduced. That makes environmentalists
smile.


And that’s no accident. Jay Bartlett says after being contacted by the local Sierra Club,
the power company and the environmentalists decided to talk:


“It was our goal when we sat down with the Sierra Club, saying, ‘You know we can
fight this out and it will cost both sides lots and lots of money, but will anything good
come out of this in the end?’ And we both decided that something better could come
out of spending those dollars. And what that was investing in wind, investing in
better pollution control, products for this plant to make it as clean as it can possibly be
and move forward. ”


No one really thought this would happen. Not the utility, not the regulators, and not
the environmentalists.


(Sound of coffee shop)


At a downtown coffee shop, Will Reynolds still seems a little surprised. He’s with the
local Sierra Club chapter that worked with Springfield’s City Water Light and Power:


“Yeah, at the start of this I thought there was no chance for any kind of agreement or
compromise. But by the end of it, we had an agreement that reduced the CO2 to
Kyoto Treaty levels, we had a utility that was able to build a power plant to have a
stable, efficient power supply — which was what they were looking for as a small
municipal utility — and in the end, I think it was a win-win for everybody.”


What the two sides agreed to is this: the best off-the-shelf equipment to control
pollution better than the law requires, and to offset the CO2 produced by the plant,
the utility signed an agreement with an Iowa wind-power company to provide part of
Springfield’s electricity:


“Springfield is a small, pretty conservative town that just took a huge step forward
and showed what can be done realistically to reduce our global warming emissions.
And we were able to do it and still provide for our power, still have affordable, reliable
power for the entire city. So, if Springfield can do it, then other cities can do it.”


The state regulating agency, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
applauded the efforts. Illinois is a coal-producing state and has been encouraging
power companies to clean up their plants so that coal can still be used without as many
of the pollution worries. IEPA Director Doug Scott says the Springfield utility’s efforts
will be a model for other power companies:


“I mean, all of the things that they did and the things that they worked out with Sierra
Club, the extra reductions that they’re getting over and above what they would have
had to have done in a normal permitting sense. I mean, that they were looking at
trying to be good stewards of the environment as well as being responsive to their
ratepayers as well.”


And Scott says that’s key. Because it’s plentiful and domestic, coal is not going
away. Scott says this can work for not just municipal electric utilities, but private
power companies can keep shareholders happy, keep ratepayers happy and keep
the skies clearer by updating power plants to work more efficiently, seriously reduce
the emissions from coal, and do what they can to offset greenhouse gas emissions
until technology is found that can clean up CO2.


For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.

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GOP ENVIROS FOR McCAIN

  • John McCain is giving Republicans for Environmental Protection a candidate to endorse. (Photo by Vincent Duffy)

The conservation movement started with
Republican president Teddy Roosevelt. But these
days it’s the Democrats who have the environmental
vote. That conventional wisdom might not be as
accurate this year. As Vincent Duffy reports,
Republican presidential candidate John McCain is
sounding like an environmentalist:

Transcript

The conservation movement started with Republican president Teddy
Roosevelt. But these days it’s the Democrats who have the environmental
vote. That conventional wisdom might not be as accurate this year. As
Vincent Duffy reports, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is
sounding like an environmentalist:


The last time we had a presidential election, George Bush was the
Republican candidate. That was a problem for Jim DiPeso. He’s the policy
director for a group called Republicans for Environmental Protection. Given
Bush’s track record on the environment, DiPeso and his group could not endorse
him. And with a name like Republicans for Environmental Protection, there was
no way they were going to endorse a Democrat.


This election, DiPeso says his job is easier. His group is endorsing John
McCain:


“He clearly is the one with the best environmental record. He is the one who has done the most serious thinking
about the issue. He has offered serious proposals and we think that with John
McCain as President, our country’s environment would be in very good
hands.”


John McCain: “Now, my dear friends, I believe that climate change is real…”


That’s John McCain on the campaign trail. He was talking to voters in
Michigan where cars are still a big part of the economy. Cars that emit
greenhouse gasses. Cars that are blamed for global warming:


“And I’ll be glad to argue that with you, and discuss it, and debate it more.
But let’s suppose that I am wrong, so we mover forward with these green
technologies and all we’ve done is given our young people a cleaner planet.
But suppose we are right and do nothing, then what kind of a planet are we
going to hand these young people?”


Tailoring his speech a bit for a Michigan audience, McCain said there’s still
a future for the auto industry. But he says that future needs to use the green
technology on display at this year’s auto shows:


“You’ll see that there are hybrid cars. You’ll see that there are battery driven
cars. You’ll see that we can develop ethanol-driven automobiles. It can begin
here in Michigan and it can begin with green technologies.”


And McCain isn’t getting endorsements from environmental groups just
because he mentions global warming and green technologies on the
campaign trail. Allan Lichtman is a history professor at American University
and writes books on American politics. He says McCain’s legislative record
backs up his speeches about the environment:


“John McCain, at least since 2000, has been one of the strongest advocates
of action on global warming and action on the environment. Indeed, a few
years ago he teamed up with Senator Joe Lieberman, then a democrat, for a
bipartisan proposal, a modest proposal, on global warming that didn’t pass,
but certainly put John McCain at the forefront.”


Republicans for Environmental Protection want to point out that while
McCain might share the Democrats’ concern for the environment, his
solutions are Republican solutions. For instance, here’s an example of what
McCain calls green technology:


“And by the way one of them is nuclear power. Uh, I believe we have to go
back to nuclear power and my friends, it’s safe. We’ve sailed navy ships
(interrupted by applause). We have sailed navy ships around the world for
sixty years with nuclear power plants on them and we’ve never had an
accident.”


McCain says nuclear power is better for the environment because it doesn’t
produce the greenhouse gasses believed to cause global warming. Professor
Lichtman says the issue of nuclear power is still a major disagreement
between the parties:


“Uh, Republican environmentalists pretty much strongly come down on the
side of nuclear power which obviously helps cement their alliance with at
least an important industry. While those on the Democratic side and
traditional organizations tend to be much more leery of nuclear power and
favor putting emphasis on things like solar energy, geothermal energy,
biomass energy and wind energy.”


Nuclear power is not the only issue where McCain and many environmental
activists disagree. McCain says he would repeal President Clinton’s ban on
building roads in national forest preserves. He also opposes a carbon tax on
polluters. But for Jim DiPeso and his colleagues at Republicans For
Environmental Protection, McCain does solve a problem. It gives them
someone they can endorse.


For the Environment Report, I’m Vincent Duffy.

Related Links

Six States Debating Gl Pact

Another state is getting closer to signing the Great Lakes Compact. That’s an agreement which
limits water diversions out of the Great Lakes. Marianne Holland reports:

Transcript

Another state is getting closer to signing the Great Lakes Compact. That’s an agreement which
limits water diversions out of the Great Lakes. Marianne Holland reports:


Supporters say the Great Lakes Compact keeps water use and conservation decisions in the hands
of the surrounding states and out of the hands of the federal government. The compact was
prompted by attempts to export Great Lakes water.


Indiana State Senator Karen Tallian co-authored the bill required for her state to join the
compact.


“Compacts generally are considered to have an advantage over federal legislation because the
states can set up their own agreement, set up their own terms and then once it’s done, once
Congress approves it, Congress can’t mess with it.”


Two states, Illinois and Minnesota, have already joined the compact. Michigan, New York, Ohio
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, along with Indiana, all have legislation pending. All eight Great
Lakes states have to approve the compact before it goes to Congress.


For the Environment Report, I’m Marianne Holland.

Related Links

Sport Fishing Drops on Great Lakes

  • Researchers are trying to figure out why fewer people are fishing the Great Lakes. (Photo by Lester Graham)

A national survey of anglers is trying to determine why
fewer people are fishing the Great Lakes. Peter Payette
reports:

Transcript

A national survey of anglers is trying to determine why
fewer people are fishing the Great Lakes. Peter Payette
reports:


The Great Lakes have seen a steep decline in sport fishing
in recent years. But Rob Southwick says there’s little or
no research to explain why.


His firm, Southwick Associates, conducts a national
survey every month on recreational fishing. In December
they asked anglers about the Great Lakes.


Southwick says despite advisories about contamination in
fish in the lakes, less than one percent of those surveyed
mentioned health warnings as the problem.


We think that was a major issue in the late eighties and
early nineties but people are not telling us that is a reason
why they are staying away from the Great Lakes anymore.


Southwick says people are finding other lakes and streams
to fish, even though no one is complaining about the
quality of fishing on the big lakes.


But he thinks the time and gear needed to fish in the deep
wide waters of the Great Lakes are part of the problem.


For the Environment Report, I’m Peter Payette.

Related Links

Call of the Wild

Environmentalists have found a new way to get people thinking about endangered
species… through their cell phones. Kyle Norris has more:

Transcript

Environmentalists have found a new way to get people thinking about endangered
species… through their cell phones. Kyle Norris has more:


(Sound of wolf howling)


That’s Mother Nature calling on the other line. It’s the howl of a Mexican Wolf. And it’s part of a collection of endangered species ring tones:


The sounds of frogs, birds, and other animals can be downloaded online. The Center for Biological Diversity provides the ring tones free of charge.


Peter Galvin is with the Center. He came up with the idea because he wanted to connect with a younger, more tech-savvy audience. And to get them talking about endangered species:


“You’re riding in a subway and all of a sudden you hear this sound and a conversation starts. Someone asks you a question: what the heck is that?”


He says people should care about endangered species, because the health of the animal world is connected to the health of human world.


For the Environment Report, I’m Kyle Norris.

Related Links

Ethanol: Grass Better Than Corn

  • A lot of people are banking on a prairie grass called switchgrass as a future raw material for ethanol. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources)

Researchers have found using grass instead of corn might be a better
way to make ethanol. Rebecca Williams reports:

Transcript

Researchers have found using grass instead of corn might be a better
way to make ethanol. Rebecca Williams reports:


Ethanol is showing up in more gas stations around the country. Right
now that ethanol is made from corn. But critics say corn ethanol
takes a lot of energy to produce… so there’s not a huge energy gain
from making it.


Ethanol made from grass might be a better bet.


New research finds that making ethanol from switchgrass is much
more efficient than making it from corn. The study’s published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


In the study, researchers got almost five and a half times more energy
out of the switchgrass than it took to grow, harvest and turn it into
fuel. They say that’s a lot better than corn.


But there’s one big obstacle. The technology to make ethanol from
switchgrass on a commercial scale is still being developed.


For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Related Links

Polar Bears on Thin Ice

  • On the pack ice in the Beaufort Sea. There are 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears worldwide. Scientists say those numbers are declining. (Photo by Steve Amstrup, courtesy of the USFWS)

Environmental groups are trying to force the federal government to put polar bears on the
Endangered Species List. Mark Brush reports the groups not only want to protect the bears – they
also want to make the government do something about global warming:

Transcript

Environmental groups are trying to force the federal government to put polar bears on the
Endangered Species List. Mark Brush reports the groups not only want to protect the bears – they
also want to make the government do something about global warming:


Scientists say two thirds of the overall polar bear population could be lost in about 40 years.
That’s because their home – the arctic sea ice – is melting.


The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was supposed to make a decision about putting the polar bear
on the Endangered Species List but it missed the deadline. So three environmental groups say
they’ll sue the government.


Andrew Wetzler is with the Natural Resources Defense Council. He says putting the polar bear on
the Endangered Species List is an important first step:


“It will protect it first from global warming itself by requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
prepare a recovery plan. And requiring federal agencies before they issue permits that will
exacerbate global warming to mitigate their impacts under the Endangered Species Act.”


The listing could become a powerful legal tool. Once the polar bear is on the list – any industry
the government regulates that produces greenhouse gases might be affected.


For the Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

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Teen Builds Electric Pickup

  • 16 year old Andrew Angellotti turned his gas-powered pickup into an electric-powered pickup. (Photo by Dustin Dwyer)

People have been talking about electric cars ever since cars first hit the road. But nobody’s mass
producing an electric car right now. General Motors says it’s working on a gas saving electric
vehicle that could be ready in 2010. But some people aren’t waiting around. Dustin Dwyer
recently met someone who converted his pickup to run on batteries:

Transcript

People have been talking about electric cars ever since cars first hit the road. But nobody’s mass
producing an electric car right now. General Motors says it’s working on a gas saving electric
vehicle that could be ready in 2010. But some people aren’t waiting around. Dustin Dwyer
recently met someone who converted his pickup to run on batteries:


You don’t have to be a mechanical expert to build an electric car. I recently caught up with a 16
year old who did it on his own.


“Can you just sort of introduce yourself on my recorder here, say your name and what you did ….
I’m Andrew Angellotti, I converted a Mazda pickup truck to electric power to run off of batteries.”


Angellotti’s pickup has 20 batteries in all – four of them are tucked under the hood of the red
Mazda B2200. There’s another 16 batteries in the bed of the truck.


Angellotti says these are basically golf cart batteries. He charges them through a cord that runs
from his garage and plugs into the front grille of the truck.


“Is it drivable now? Yeah absolutely. Can we take a ride? Yeah, sure.”


We jump into the truck, and here things are a bit weird. Pretty much all the knobs and vents have
been ripped out. Angellotti says this is because the heating system was all hooked up to the gas
engine, so he had to get rid of it. That means he has no heat.


But basically, this truck works just like your vehicle. Angellotti puts the key in the ignition and he
turns it.


“So that’s the vacuum pump running for the power breaks … that’s my radio … and that provides
vacuum for the brakes. It’ll cycle on and off. And, that’s what it sounds like.”


Once he gets it up to speed, the electric pickup drives, and rattles the same as any other old
pickup on the road. Angellotti says he decided to start this project one night when he was looking
around at stuff on the Internet.


“I saw this site about electric vehicle conversions, and as I was looking at it I saw how practical it
actually is. And how it’s not that complicated and how it’s not that expensive when you put it in
perspective, and I decided I wanted my first car to be an electric car.”


The conversion process took nine months. And it cost about six thousand dollars. Angellotti paid
for it himself with money he made as a lifeguard.


He says the work on the truck wasn’t always easy.


“There were quite a few points during the project, during you know, kind of a hard part, I’d start
thinking, you know, for six thousand dollars I could have a really cool car. But, you know, I woke
up the next morning and I’m like, ‘But nobody else is going to have an electric car. So I decided to
keep going with it.”


And this past summer, several months after Angellotti’s 16th birthday, the truck was finished. He
splashed neon green lettering on the side to let everyone know it’s an electric vehicle. And he says
now the truck draws a crowd wherever it goes.


Angellotti says, that’s kinda the point – to raise awareness, and let people know that there is a
more sustainable way to drive.


He drives me a couple of miles near his house, which is about an hour north of Detroit, and when
we get back to, Angellotti plugs the truck back in. He says he can get 40 miles between each
charge.


That’s 40 miles with no gas. And he’s doing it right now. Automakers say they won’t have any kind
of electric vehicle until 2010 at the earliest.


So I asked Angellotti, if a teenager can build an electric car in his mom’s garage, why can’t the big
automakers like GM do it?


“GM can build an electric car. In fact, are you familiar with the EV1? Yeah. Yeah, well they can do
it. And that’s a large part of the message I’m trying to send is, if a kid can build an electric car,
why isn’t GM doing it? They can do it. They’re just not.”


Of course, it’s not really that simple. Angellotti’s truck is not the kind of solution that would work
for everyone.


He’s making some big sacrifices to drive his electric truck. He spent more money on the truck to
begin with. And remember he’s got no heater. It takes 10 hours to get the truck fully juiced. Its
top speed is 55 miles per hour. Angellotti can never take it more than 40 miles from home
without recharging. And in three to five years, he’ll have to shell out more money to replace his
batteries.


So, really, how many of us would be willing to make those sacrifices?


As for Angellotti, he says the sacrifices he’s making are worth it. And he’s already started working
to convert his second electric car.


For the Environment Report, I’m Dustin Dwyer.

Related Links

Geothermal at Home

  • Swimmers in Iceland enjoy the toasty Blue Lagoon hot springs. (Photo by Kurt Holtz)

You might be hearing about geothermal energy more and more. But what exactly is geothermal energy? The new federal Energy Act calls for more research and investment into the alternative energy source. Robbie Harris has more on this long used, but little known technology, for tapping the earth’s heat:

Transcript

You might be hearing about geothermal energy more and more. But what exactly is geothermal energy? The new federal Energy Act calls for more research and investment into the alternative energy source. Robbie Harris has more on this long used, but little known technology, for tapping the earth’s heat:


(“Now look at that!” “Wow!”)


(whooshing of geyser)


In Iceland, where geysers gush from the ground and steam rises from the bays, geothermal is the number one source of energy. This island nation in the north Atlantic burns virtually no fossil fuel to heat or cool its buildings.


“You will probably not see a building that is not heated by geothermal
energy during your visit here.”


Pall Valdimarsson is Director of Research and Development with Enix. It’s Iceland’s largest geothermal consulting firm.


“And I myself, I have never lived in a house in Iceland without geothermal
energy, not in my whole life and I am not the youngest one as you can see.”


Valdimarsson says Iceland has used a special technology to tap earth-generated heat since the 1930s. And why not? It’s everywhere on this volcanic island. The first settlers here in the eighth century saw what they called “smoke” rising from the hot springs.


Today, steam blasts from hot water wells at Iceland’s newest, state of the art geothermal plant. The steam spins turbines to make electricity. The superheated water is piped directly into buildings where it gives up its heat. This heat exchange is the core concept behind geothermal technology.


Hans Bennimidgel is a spokesman for the power plant. He says the benefits for Iceland are simple:


“Clean energy and dirt cheap.”


Few places have the hot water resources Iceland has. But according to the Geothermal Resource Council, superheated water is available virtually anywhere in the world, if you drill deep enough.


The U.S. already taps this underground hot water to produce more geothermal electricity than Iceland does. And that’s expected to grow sharply, but for decades Americans have also used a different form of geothermal energy to heat
and cool buildings.


Erik Larson is a vice-president of Indie Energy. He calls it the other geothermal, which is, basically:


“Free heat from the earth and an extremely efficient way to eject heat from
the building in the summer time.”


Larson says geothermal, or geo-exchange systems, are comparable to traditional
heating, ventilation and cooling systems. But they use the earth’s constant underground temperature — around 55 degrees in most of the U.S. — to take the edge off a building’s heating and cooling load:


“Geothermal heat pump technology like we’re talking about can be done
anywhere in the country. Anywhere where there is ground to drill we can
put in our closed loop wells to draw heat from the earth to provide an HVAC
system.”


For a long time in rural areas, large horizontal loops several feet
underground captured and released heat. But in urban areas, there wasn’t
enough land. Now Larson says Indie Energy uses a new drilling technique
known as a vertical closed loop system. He says they can be installed under
almost any building. Pipes inside wells hold a fluid, which continuously
circulates between the ground and the building — creating a heat exchange.
Larson says a geothermal system saves owners money:


“We are a system that you would fully own through the ground loops or these
wells that we put in…through the distribution which is basically happening
within your building. So it adds value to your property, you control it and you
take advantage of all the savings.”


Larson says geothermal systems for buildings cost anywhere from 50 to 100 percent more than a typical heating, cooling, and ventilation system. But he says, most pay for themselves in five to eight years with the energy savings.


Business is booming. Larson says Indie Energy plans to expand in two new locations this year. Four months ago, they installed a large geothermal system at Boocoo Community Center in Evanston, Illinois. During the installation, they helped train new workers in geothermal technology. It was a joint project between Indie Energy and Boocoo. They’re training workers for a new green industry they hope will not only save resources, but create new jobs.


(Sound of hammers in Community Center)


For the Environment Report, I’m Robbie Harris.

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