State joins co-op in supporting Illinois coal industry

Governor George H. Ryan in March announced grants totaling $7.8 million to assist the Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) with construction of a new, cleaner burning, coal-fired boiler at its Lake of Egypt generating station, south of Marion. The project is expected to create hundreds of new mining and construction jobs for southern Illinois.

SIPC received $6.0 million in Coal and Energy Development Bond funds, a $1 million grant through the SLU Clean Coal Review Board, and a third grant of $800,000 through the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs' (DCCA) Coal Infrastructure Program. The total construction cost is estimated to be $89.6 million.

The plant upgrade will allow SIPC to generate more electricity, while emissions of sulfur dioxide will be reduced by 74 percent and nitrogen oxide by 68 percent.

"SIPC's commitment to use new technology to generate electricity from Illinois coal is right in line with Governor Ryan's energy policy," said DCCA Director Pam McDonough.

SIPC has a long-standing commitment to burn Illinois-mined coal, which is typically high in sulfur. The cooperative operates one of just a handful of sulfur dioxide scrubbers in the state. And, it has always burned Illinois coal, virtually all of which comes from mines within 50 miles of its plant site. The project will boost SIPC's consumption of Illinois coal by 40 to 50 percent.

Protect yourself against identity theft

The Federal Trade Commission reports that identity theft topped the list of consumer fraud complaints received by the agency in 2001. Identity theft accounted for 42 percent of the complaints tracked by the FTC. Want tips on how to protect against identity theft via the mail? The Postal Inspection Service offers them at http://www.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub280.pdf.

Source: United States Postal Services

Home sales remain high in state

The housing market in Illinois continued its expansion last year with both the number of homes sold and prices increasing. The Illinois Association of REALTORS (IAR) reported that existing single-family home sales increased 0.8 percent across the state in 2001. It noted that the housing market remained steady even with a weakening economy. The IAR cited the low interest rates as a factor and said that nearly two-thirds of households in Illinois own a home.

Statewide home prices for the year ranged from $454,500, the median price reported in the Barrington area, to $47,000, the median price of a home in the Kewanee area. The overall cost of a home in Illinois rose 7.1 percent last year to $150,800 from $140,000 in 2000.

Source: Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs

Cars for the future are here now

Electric cars that promise 70 mpg may be the wave of the future. Several years ago Illinois' Touchstone Energy cooperatives were a major sponsor of Lincoln Land Community College's solar powered car, the Prominence II. The Touchstone Energy cooperatives helped fund the addition of fuel cell technology that made it the first hybrid solar and fuel cell car to be tested.

An electric motor is more energy-efficient than an internal combustion engine. Electric cars have been in use in the United States since before 1900. But one of the drawbacks with battery-powered cars has been that they cannot go very far before you have to recharge them.

In the 1999, Toyota and Honda both started selling another kind of vehicle, the hybrid electric vehicle or HEV. Hybrid cars are vehicles that combine both electricity and gasoline. The hybrid vehicle has been the most popular thus far. Since the introduction of the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius in 1999, 23,884 have been sold. The Honda Insight gets 70 mpg, the highest ever to hit the mass market. The price is around $20,000.

While hybrids have advantages over battery-powered cars, they still burn gasoline and have emissions. This has made the fuel cell powered car an attractive option. Fuel cells were first used to power spacecraft and are now also available to power small businesses and homes. Fuel-cell cars could eliminate emissions from cars entirely.

Like batteries, fuel cells make electricity from chemical reactions, but fuel cells can produce more power and have less harmful emissions, especially if hydrogen is used to make the chemical reaction that produces electricity.

No fuel-cell cars are available yet for consumers to buy although Daimler Chrysler, Honda and Ford have announced plans to introduce them to the U.S. market by 2003.

6  ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING www.aiec.org

Louisan Mamer helped light the countryside, literally pulling her trailer from town to town giving REA home lighting demonstrations.

In 1935, Louisan Mamer responded to a local newspaper ad for a position at the newly created Rural Electrification Administration (REA) and began a life-long career of educating rural Americans on the uses of electricity. Mamer was born on a southern Illinois farm across the river from Hardin in 1910 and spent much of her childhood without electricity. Growing up, she experienced first hand the hardships of life without electricity. When she was 17, her family moved into town, but even then her family farm still did not yet have electricity. Mamer then attended the University of Illinois where she studied home economics. She later became one of the first employees of the REA.

When people first encountered electricity, they did not necessarily know how to use it effectively. Mamer attended to this need by establishing the REA Farm Show in 1938 in Iowa on a co-op farm near Davenport.

Mamer says, "I took the REA Farm Show through Iowa that first year and into Nebraska in the fall and winter months. It came back to Illinois the next year and then started on a tour of all of the states that have electrical co-ops. The REA Farm Show ran until war time, in 1942."

The REA Farm Show was often referred to as the REA "circus" because it was usually held outdoors in large tents. The show was a popular and effective means of promoting electric cooperative growth, farm and home electrical equipment, and the wise use of electricity. Farmers and their families attended the events by the thousands. All were eager to learn more about the modern laborsaving benefits of electricity and electrical appliances.

"One of the reasons for starting the farm show was that it was difficult to get electrical farm equipment to show in rural areas. So, we got it from the manufacturer and carried it on a truck from one place to another," says Mamer. The REA circus and Mamer's demonstrations were effective. Some farmers would purchase products on the spot because they were so amazed at how easily the equipment worked. The first thing people wanted installed in their homes was ceiling lighting, but women were also interested in irons, washing machines and refrigerators.

Mamer recognized the impact that electricity would have on women in the home, and her efforts greatly affected rural women's lives. "Look in the old cemeteries and you'll see that there were maybe two wives for one farm man. This heavy load of doing everything by hand the hard way, and bearing a lot of children, was killing women far earlier than they die today," says Mamer.

Mamer was recently recognized for her service and accomplishments on behalf of electrical cooperatives and was awarded the Clyde T. Ellis Award. She was the first woman to receive the award, which is named after the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's (NRECA) first general manager (CEO).

The Ellis Award is presented to "honor an individual for contributions clearly above and beyond the routine call of duty in furthering the principles and progress of rural electrification and the development and utilization of national resources."

After retiring from the REA, Mamer traveled extensively throughout the world and has maintained active membership in organizations such as the American Home Economics Society, the Women's International Network of Utility Professionals, and the REA Retirees.

When asked what her future plans are, she chuckled and said, "Well, I'll be 92 in August, so I'm just happy to be healthy."

8  ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING www.aiec.org

Annual Meetings — Why should you attend?

By Gina M. Troppa

Annual meetings are an important part of the function and livelihood of your co-op. And, you should attend your annual meeting because of the last two words of the previous sentence. It's "your co-op."

Being part of a co-op means you have a voice in what happens. A cooperative is a not-for-profit organization that is owned and run by the people who receive the products and services it provides. Members have the right, and the responsibility, to choose who is going to represent them on the board of directors. Individuals on the board of directors are most likely your neighbors and your friends; they go to the same basketball games and town meetings as you do.

Because your cooperative is locally owned, you have the opportunity to get to know the people who control the policies of your co-op. But you have responsibilities too. What better way is there to ensure "your co-op" is addressing your issues than by attending your co-op's annual meeting.

Many of your board members have served the cooperative for many years. It often takes that much time for them to really know enough about the cooperative to provide good leadership. Your board members attend a monthly local meeting, as well as several state and national meetings and training sessions. Important decisions are made at these meetings. Your board members are there to represent your ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Take advantage of the opportunities your annual meeting provides to you.

At your annual meeting, not only can you meet and speak with your board of directors' candidates, you can also ask questions, voice concerns and learn about new services and products your co-op has to offer. As part of a cooperative, your board of directors relies on you to ensure that they remain accountable for all their actions and that those actions are beneficial to you and your family.

Listening to what you have to say is an important responsibility of every board member. Your member-elected board of directors is committed to serving you and working with you to provide the best available electric service. Cooperative board members are unlike any others found in a typical business. They must be a member of the co-op. As a result, the issues that are affecting you are also affecting them and they are very interested in the quality and reliability of services provided.

By attending and participating in your annual meeting you are able to understand and learn about any changes within your co-op. There have been many important changes throughout the past few years and it is vital that you, as a member-owner, understand what's happening.

People have always said that knowledge is power. Attending your annual meeting gives you the power. So, pack up your kids, neighbors and friends and go to your co-op's next annual meeting. Not only will your co-op benefit from your attendance, you will walk away from the meeting knowing you were important, because you are.

MAY 2002 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING   9