08/01/08 Taking 25x'25 To The Next Level

Taking 25x25 to the Next Level. I'm Greg Martin as Line On Agriculture presents the Harvest Clean Energy Report. 25% of America's energy output from renewables by the year 2025. It sounds ambitious but according to Mike Bowman with the 25x'25 organization, it is doable. BOWMAN: My first answer would be absolutely yes. Part of it is because of the sheer market forces. It's forcing us as farmers and ranchers and people on the land to take a look at every cost center we have and how do we reduce those costs so we can remain profitable. If we want to remain profitable and remain players in the world market and in the U.S. market we simply have no choice but to just become more and more efficient. Efficiency is a major player in discussion on energy. We can produce all the energy in the world but without efficient use of that power, we wind up in a Catch 22. BOWMAN: Two of the least talked about issues in this new energy paradigm we have is energy efficiency and conservation. And certainly today's prices are driving the conservation side of this just through the sheer market forces. But energy efficiency is an untapped resource that we haven't spent a lot of time on in this country. Bowman says that efficiency needs to be across the boards. BOWMAN: The cheapest thing we can do whether it's delivery into the electrical system or whether it's on the farm, in our tractors or whether it's through our irrigation pumping system is becoming more efficient. And it's that megawatt, that mega-therm or that mega-btu mentality where the cheapest one we can buy is the one we don't use. Interestingly we have been in this situation before. Bowman says that we should not forget the lessons of the past. BOWMAN: It is my hope and my belief that we will not forget what this shock did to our system and that we have to remain focused and vigilant on creating alternatives that don't put us in this scenario once again. We've built an economy in this country that's been based on cheap and abundant energy and to remain competitive and to keep our economy growing we're going to have to find alternative forms of energy that fit that description. For additional information on clean energy, visit harvestcleanenergy.org. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network. www.harvestcleanenergy.org