There are lots of reasons that electric consumers may check into the possibility of generating some of their own power — after all, sunshine and wind are seemingly free, and modern technology has made it possible to use those resources at the household or building level in a way that’s never been possible.
But there’s much to consider before making that decision: economics — the real monetary potential of the system; safety — for both consumers and lineworkers trying to restore power during an outage; and reliability — ensuring a steady flow of electricity.
Buckeye Chuck, Ohio’s official weather-prognosticating groundhog, does not live what anyone would consider a tough life; after all, he’s called upon to work only one day a year.
But oh, that one day: Groundhog Day, February 2 — the day the entire world watches with bated breath to see what he sees when he comes out of his den.
Charles Young was born into slavery in Mays Lick, Kentucky, in the time just after Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation and just before the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
His parents, technically still considered runaway slaves, carried him as an infant across the Ohio River to the freedom granted them when his father enlisted in the Union Army.
The Salty Dog Museum, a top-notch assemblage of Model T and A Fords in Shandon, Ohio, came into being out of necessity for Ron Miller, his son B.J., and their friend Mark Radtke.
Before they opened the museum, the vehicles were spilling out of their backyards and garages.
“Everybody collects something, and we happen to collect antique vehicles and their stories,” Radtke says.
When it comes to adopting new technology, electric cooperatives are David beating Goliath.
“The smaller size of co-ops allows us to be more nimble because we have fewer consumers,” says Pat O’Loughlin, president and CEO of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, the wholesale power supplier and trade association for the 24 co-ops serving the state. “We can try new things and deploy them faster than some big utilities.”
Large windows inside Howard Miller’s office give him a prime view of Hartville Hardware’s main floor; he often leaves his desk to watch folks navigating his store.
Down on the sales floor, shoppers might run across anything from a bright green John Deere Gator to a hot pink, Lil’ Pig Traeger grill. From time to time, someone looks up, spots Miller at the window, and waves. Miller always eagerly waves back. “I grew up with so many people that work and shop here,” he says.
A look back
Country Living came into being at a time when the country was still getting used to the idea that farmers could get electricity from a centralized power plant, just like urban dwellers could.
A little more than 20 years had passed since Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed the Rural Electrification Act, which allowed for the creation of electric cooperatives to illuminate the mostly dark countryside. By October 1958, 28 electric cooperatives had formed and were successfully providing electricity to rural areas — mostly farms — in the Buckeye State.
Middletown was once a bustling steel and paper manufacturing hub along the banks of the Great Miami River in southwest Ohio. The majority of manufacturing jobs disappeared in the downsizing waves of the 1980s and 1990s, leaving behind an older population — including many elderly on fixed incomes and government assistance.
