Legislation would increase use of alternative energy

Although wind turbines are rare in residential areas, solar panels are becoming more common.

Johnson County home builder Collin Acuff, Acuff Homes, Stilwell, said solar panels are allowed in his most recent subdivision, Coffee Creek Meadows, 164th Street and Mur-Len.

“The evolution of the solar panels is the reason we allowed them because there are so many that now integrate into the roof they are not obtrusive.

“And the same thing will happen with wind. It’s going to happen, and it’s just a matter if you can get something that’s non-obtrusive and provides enough kilowatts that it makes a difference.”

Acuff said he would consider installing wind turbines in future subdivisions.

“It’s something we would have to work on and see how it really looks because it is a big deal to people on the size of them and how they affect the values of the neighborhood,” he said. “But we’re definitely not opposed to it.”

Acuff said if the state would create legislation allowing reversed metering, which is the ability to sell power back to utility companies, that would ignite widespread interest in solar panels and small wind turbines.

Mark Lawlor, Horizon Energy, Overland Park, said some states have aggressive incentives to help offset the costs of installing wind turbines. Kansas is not one of them and he thinks it is because renewable energy supporters have not supplied legislators with the facts.

“We don’t have a terribly pro-active representation,” he said. “Our representatives aren’t on the cutting edge of bringing new technologies to the state. That’s not universal to everyone. Look to our neighboring states; they have lots of wind, not that we have better wind, but they have more manufacturing jobs and more wind farms installed and better policies because they, perhaps, had a vision long ago they wanted to make a reality.

“The energy debate in this state for the last several years has been skewed by kind of a misguided concept of traditional generation versus wind. We have good lobbyists, we just don’t have the resources to compete and that’s a big part of educating them.

“We are the third windiest state in the country and we lag dramatically behind other states because the energy debate has been misguided for many years.”

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