Amish adopt solar power at home, work

[Kolesar]

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/17490519.htm

By Bob Downing, Akron Beacon Journal staff writer

Drive the rural back roads of Wayne, Stark, Holmes and Tuscarawas counties, and you can't help but notice the growing number of small black-and-purple panels on houses, barns and outbuildings.

Ohio's Amish, with their horse-drawn buggies, plain clothing and austere lifestyle, have embraced solar power.

``Solar panels are everywhere.... The numbers are amazing,'' said Athan Barkoulis, a spokesman for Green Energy Ohio, a Columbus grass-roots organization that is pushing renewable energy. William Spratley, former Ohio consumers' counsel who heads Green Energy Ohio, believes there is more solar power per capita in Holmes County than in any other county in the state. He's convinced that Ohio's Amish country is the heart of a green-power revolution and proof that solar power works in not-always-sunny northern Ohio.

Outside the Holmes County community of Charm, solar power from four roof-top panels runs the office lights, copiers and fax machines at Ivan Yoder Builders. ``It's working great for us and provides all of our energy needs during the summer,'' Ivan Yoder said of the solar units that were added three years ago.

A small natural gas-powered generator is still needed on cloudy winter nights, but Yoder said he is looking to add a few more solar cells to his business soon. Previously, Yoder's office relied on batteries that were recharged at night by the generator.
...
Thomas J. Meyers, a professor of sociology at Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., and an expert on the Amish, said the religious sect has never rejected electricity. What the Amish reject is tying into the public electric grid, Meyers said.

Sweet!

[CountAllVotes]

1. will these be installed in

the puppy mills MR. YODER!? :mad:

:kick:

[kestrel91316]

2. I always suspected this would happen with at least SOME of the Amish,

who have different sets of rules in every church district. My guess is some of the ULTRA-conservative districts will not go for this. There are some groups that do not permit covered buggies, only the open-air ones, lol.