What?!?! People will pay more green energy!

            Many people are becoming more and more concerned about the future of non-renewable resources.  Finally, people are thinking in the long run about the availability and future prices of non-renewable resource like oil.   

According to a poll done by WorldPublicOpinion.org (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44775), 77% of the people in the world agree that policy makers should require utilities to invest more money into developing green energy sources.  The twist on the national average of people that agreed on “green” energy sources was the countries that export oil.  Countries like Russia, Azerbaijan and Indonesia are more critical of alternative energy methods than countries that import oil and therefore pay ridiculously high prices for the oil.  Clearly their “green” judgment is affected by the huge amounts of profit that are being accumulated.

All the ideas of a more environmentally friendly ways of producing energy are great ways to get people thinking green, but are they realistic?  Wyoming is not a place that most people would associate with alternative energy methods.  In fact Wyoming is the perfect place to produce “green” power.  The in-state wind energy potential for Wyoming is about 545 billion kWh per year.  With a national average of about 12 cents per kWh, that is over $65 billion in possible revenue per year.  That $65 billion would be much appreciated once the large coal mines start to disappear. 

Another alternative source of energy that is produced in Wyoming is hydroelectricity.  Along with the 12 dams that already produce about 875 mWh, there are another 17 dams in Wyoming that have the potential to produce large amount of hydro electric energy.  The Grey Bull Valley Irrigation District understands the need for alternative energy methods and the hydroelectric power facility at Lower Sunshine is a great location.  The thought that people are willing to pay more for green energy is a great incentive to construct facilities like the one being proposed near Grey Bull.  The project may suddenly be feasible if people understand the need for the environmentally friendly energy source.