The Politics of Wind Energy: Just Waiting

My buddy Sara Huddle with the Invenergy exhibit on the corner, just in case picketers show up.^

Solar panels across the aisle from wind energy producer Invenergy. There's power in numbers.^

Virginia Tech mechanical engineering senior Andrew Karpin mans the desk at the experimental hybrid car exhibit, one of the Expo's most popular.^

Sarah Bumgardner of the Western Virginia Water Authority chats with children who have questions about water use. She turned the questions back on them.

There's an interesting political situation--potential political situation, we'll say--sitting up on the corner of the outside aisle at the Energy Expo at the Roanoke Civic Center. Invenergy, the controversial wind energy producer, is housed there across the aisle from a solar producer.

There's plenty of room around the booths for pickets, should some of the Bent Mountain residents who oppose windmills on their mountain show up. My friend Sara Huddle is manning the booth and my guess is that Sara's charm would disarm even the most ardent of those in opposition. Very interesting dynamic, though.