Next to labor, energy is the single most expensive operational input for many industrial, commercial, farm and small business operations. Residential energy consumers in rural, suburban and urban neighborhoods are looking for ways to control energy costs too.
Darke County business and community leaders, as well as interested residents are invited to attend a special energy issues briefing, sponsored by the Darke County Farm Bureau. The briefing will be held at Darke County Nature Center 4267 St. Rt. 502 West, Greenville at 7:00 p.m. on September 14th.
The program will feature Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) Director for Energy Services, Dale Arnold. “Energy development is a key issue for Darke County,” Arnold said. “The area is being considered by energy service providers as a center for large, utility scale wind and biomass energy projects. Local companies want to tap into new manufacturing opportunities energy initiatives offer. Moreover, government and community leaders want to know how advanced and renewable energy generation can make an impact on their utility bills.”
During the course of the briefing Arnold will discuss current federal and state legislative initiatives that indentify communities such as Darke County as key areas for energy development. He will report on how several Ohio communities are already working with energy developers to establish utility scale wind energy projects. Also, he will discuss how project developers, government leaders, utilities and community members could work together to create and implement local energy development plans.
“Alternative and renewable energy development offers local communities a variety of new economic opportunities,” Arnold said. “All parties interested in these projects bring unique resources that, used in combination, create a win-win situation for everyone involved. These collaborative efforts and partnerships can generate success.”
Arnold has been OFBF Director for Energy Development since 1995. He represents farm and rural residential energy consumers on the Ohio Department of Development’s Ohio Wind Work Group and Biomass Task Force, as well as consumer advisory boards with Columbia Gas of Ohio, American Electric Power and Vectren. He is a member of the Green Energy Ohio board of directors. Over the past several years he has been involved with community electric and natural gas aggregation projects, utility-scale and on-site renewable energy generation and creating public policy that provides more opportunities for consumers to control their energy costs.
The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is the state’s largest general farm organization, encompassing 87 county Farm Bureau organizations and over 225,000 member families statewide. Darke County Farm Bureau leaders are active on state and local action teams working on legislation, regulations and issues that impact agriculture and its relationship with rural, suburban and urban communities. Locally, over 1500 member families belong to the Darke County Farm Bureau.
If you are interested in attend this meeting please RSVP to the Darke County Farm Bureau office at 937-548-6014.
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