*** Quoting Roy J. Tellason from a message to Kevin Crosby ***
 KC> The cheap electricity, combined with relatively mild winters, 
 KC> make it difficult to economically use "alternate sources".  
 KC> Solar pre-heat for some of the local schools' hot-water and 
 KC> heating systems exist, but it is my understanding that 
 KC> maintenance costs due to the age of the system start building 
 KC> before the systems begin to pay for themselves.
RJT> Cheap electricity and relatively mild winters?  Where is this again?  
RJT> :-)
S.E. Washington State.  Tri-Cities area, to be exact.  Look on a map for 
where the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia rivers all converge.
Most of our power locally is hydroelectric, with a portion generated at our 
local commercial nuclear power plant...located in the Hanford area.
This region was basically a -very- rural ag area until the 1940's, when the 
federal government brought in thousands of workers to build the Hanford area, 
as part of the Manhattan Project.  A portion of the two gifts that we 
bestowed upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII was produced here.
On a little more pleasant note, 90% of the hops used in the beer industry in 
this country are also grown locally.
Kevin
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