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by Jeff Ryding
This video focuses on the idea that Western Washington will be experiencing large amounts of population growth in the next decade, and will need to find new and stable energy sources to match and support this growth. In order to do this, the region will have to utilize green forms of power. For quite some time the Northwest has been able to harness the power of tidal energy, but more recently wind power has become a factor in the area. To show the capability of alternative energy sources in the Northwest, the video uses the Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility in Columbia County, Washington as a prime example. Hopkins Ridge is powered by turbines on a single farm, and generates enough energy to power about 40,000 homes in the state of Washington.
In addition to increasing the amount of energy that Washington is able to utilize, there are apparently many other positive factors that the institution of turbines and wind energy has generated in their respective regions. In the Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility case, Douglas County has struggled for decades to overcome changes in agriculture that have caused the decline of employment in the county. Hopkins Ridge not only produces clean power for the state, but also raised the job rate percentage, created a new tax base for the community, as well as brought in money for a new library district in Douglas County. Aside from the positive energy source that can be derived from a wind facility, Hopkins Ridge shows how many other economic benefits can be generated from a facility such as this.
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