Columbia, Mo., officials says grid can't meet green energy goal

- Chris Hayday envisions a world where solar panels and windmills dot the landscape instead of smokestacks and cooling towers.

So it's no surprise that his vision for a proposed green-energy ordinance has nothing to do with combustion and everything to do with the wind and sun.

The problem, according to the city's water and light director, is that it's not possible for the city to make large purchases of wind or solar energy because the existing power grid doesn't allow it.

The city clerk is verifying about 2,700 signatures that Hayday, Bill Wickersham and other activists circulated to introduce a renewable-energy initiative petition to members of the Columbia City Council.

If the initiative has valid signatures from 2,275 registered voters, an ordinance will appear before members of the city council in August. If the ordinance fails to receive a majority of the council's vote, it will appear on the city's Nov. 2 ballot.

The proposed ordinance calls for the city to buy Earth-friendly power in greater increments between 2007 and 2022, starting at 2 percent the first year and increasing to 15 percent. The city could stop buying green energy if the increase in electric rates exceeds 3 percent.

Disagreement exists over how to define green energy. The proposed ordinance defines "renewable energy" as solar or wind power, bioenergy or other renewable sources that meet environmental criteria approved by the city council after review by the Energy and Environment and the Water and Light commissions.

Energy experts see the city's ownership of a landfill and a power plant as a natural fit for creating a system of burning combustible material salvaged from the trash pit or acquired on the open market.

Northwest Missouri State University, for example, burns wood chips and hog waste to generate steam energy for the campus. The University of Missouri-Columbia burns waste tires.

But Hayday sees deriving energy from burning waste as a lateral move from the city's current practice of buying power from AmerenUE, which derives 90 percent of its energy from fossil and nuclear sources. "Wind and solar are the only truly renewable energy," Hayday said.

One reality working against the city purchasing wind-generated electricity from Kansas is the lack of a connection in Kansas City, said Dan Dasho, director of the Water and Light Department. "There are some nice wind resources in Kansas, but we just can't get it from there to here," Dasho said.

One member of the city's Energy and Environment Commission would gladly welcome the city burning wood or other combustibles as part of a city green-energy program.

"Boone County has an awful lot of junk timber," said Norman Lenhardt, who worked for 121/2 years for the state as a wood energy specialist. Lenhardt said it's possible that by 2022, the electric grid will be improved so that using wind power would be easier.

Fourth Ward Councilman Jim Loveless, who works with the natural resources department, said, "I think the general population accepts that within the next generation or two, we can't use fossil fuels for energy production the way we are now. This seems to be the proper time to encourage those doing so."