Melted snow on the Wasatch provides much of the drinking water for the city of Pleasant Grove. But Mayor Michael Daniels believes it can do even more for this Utah County community.
It can keep the lights on.
With some congressional cash, Daniels said he could attach turbines to city-owned water pipes creating a mini-power plant that would produce more than double the electricity used to run the municipal government.
His micro-hydroelectric idea is one of nearly two-dozen alternative energy proposals submitted to Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett this year, according to earmark disclosures posted on their Web sites in the past few weeks.
These earmark requests come from university scientists working on potentially revolutionary breakthroughs, companies trying to show off their technologies and cities seeking to line roofs with solar panels.
"The idea of increasing energy efficiency has really taken hold in the U.S., and that's reflected in the amount of money Congress sets aside for efficiency programs," said Hatch, who has seen alternative energy requests double or even triple in the past few years.
Bennett has seen a similar spike, particularly since he is the new ranking member on the energy appropriations subcommittee.
In all, Utah's senators received 22 requests for alternative energy funding in the new budget that add up to $58 million. These earmarks bypass regular funding procedures or grant programs and are largely awarded at the discretion of federal lawmakers.
Most of these are first time requests, responding in large part to President Barack Obama, who continued to espouse the need for alternative energy during a visit to Las Vegas last week.
"We can remain the world's leading importer of oil, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy," Obama said, calling the "renewable energy revolution" a pillar of the nation's 21st century economy.
Salt Lake County has aggressively sought federal funds as it tries to reduce its carbon footprint. Mayor Peter Corroon plans to place solar panels on the roof of the Salt Palace using $617,000 the county received in a congressional earmark last fiscal year. His administration is also working on a plan to use a little more than $2 million in economic stimulus funds on a variety of efficiency programs.
And Corroon has asked Hatch for two more earmarks in 2010 totalling $1.8 million for more solar panels and to replace 1,000 street lights with new efficient LED models.
Salt Lake County is not the only local government seeking this kind of federal help. Holladay asked for about $100,000 for new LED street lights. Park City wants to place solar panels on a new public works building. Provo plans to convert four garbage trucks to run on natural gas. West Valley City was a little more vague in its request, asking for $500,000 "for energy efficiency improvements" in city buildings.
Other cities are looking to build their own green energy sources. Draper wants $2 million to install a geothermal plant. Salem has requested $2 million for a hydroelectric project.
Then there is the unusual project in Pleasant Grove. If the tiny turbines work, the project would not only eliminate the city's $40,000 a month electric bill, it would generate a $50,000 per month profit.
"We could produce more electricity than we consume," Daniels said.
To do so, the mayor has asked Bennett to help him get $1.5 million in federal money to fund the water pipeline project.
"The amount of money that's being requested is not something a local government of our size could fund by ourselves," Daniels said. If Congress doesn't come through, he said he would seek funding from private companies. He hopes to create a model that other cities along the Wasatch Mountains could replicate, with an eye to creating a whole string of pipes producing "hydropower on a micro scale."
Utah's senators received requests to fund other big ideas, but none were bigger than what Utah State University has called the MobiElectric Highway System. USU requested $2 million to start laying the groundwork for a road that would provide the electricity directly to the car. The ultimate vision is an automated roadway, where drivers would be passive occupants in cars that use no gas or oil at all.
The university would use $1 million to study the logistics of remaking the highway system and $1 million on the science of transferring electricity from the road to the vehicle.
All of these earmarks are in the earliest stages and many may either receive reduced funding or no funding at all as the appropriations committee reviews them.
