The Little E.P.A. Winnebago That Could … Thanks to Wind

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken its share of lumps (and rightfully so) over the past seven Bush years, so it’s nice to see true acts of environmentalism occasionally coming from the organization.

Writing in Greenversations, the EPA’s blog, Jeffery Robichaud writes about his travels through the Midwest in a Winnebago to audit regional air-quality monitors in areas around Kansas City and St. Louis. The typically breezy nature of the region inspired one of the EPA audit team members to supplement the Winnebago’s gas-powered generator with wind energy.

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And so the mobile air-monitoring laboratory recently acquired a rooftop wind turbine, becoming, as Robichaud puts it, “The Wind in the Winnebago.” When conditions are right, Robichaud writes, the turbine can charge up the Winnebago’s on-board batteries enough to power the entire mobile lab for eight hours “without a single wisp of generator exhaust.”

The addition helps the EPA team not only save on gasoline consumption but cut its own carbon footprint while on the road. Now there’s an example of an environmental agency living up to its mandate: good for you, Jeffery and team!

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