Story 27. Renewable Living
The Warrens are an ordinary family.
Two parents, a son, and a daughter.
However, this ordinary family has done something extraordinary.
A few years ago, they sold their big suburban house and moved to the countryside.
But that's not the only thing special they did.
They built a small house which was powered by wind.
Mr. Warren had been reading about all the problems with the electrical system.
He wanted his family to play a small part in saving our planet.
The Warrens decided to make their own electricity to power everything they needed for their daily lives.
The kids were worried.
Will we still be able to have a television? asked the daughter, Jane.
What about my computer? asked James, the son.
Don't worry at all, said their father.
Just because we are going to generate our own power using the wind and the sun doesn't mean we have to live in the dark ages.
We are going to set up a small wind generator, explained Mrs. Warren.
The wind is a great way to make electricity.
It's free, it's clean, and it blows really well at our new home.
It doesn't blow every day, though.
That's why we need to have some batteries to store our power.
When the wind blows, it charges our batteries.
When there is no wind, we still have power in our batteries to run everything in our house.
Mr. Warren added, We are also going to have two solar panels.
They will collect the energy from the sun and turn it into electricity, too.
So when the wind blows, we have power.
When the sun shines, we have power, too.
It was easy to see that Mr. Warren really believed in renewable energy, and all his family agreed with him.
Now the Warren family lives in this self-powered countryside home.
They generate their own electricity.
They are more aware of the power they use now.
They turn off lights when they leave a room.
And they use energy-efficient appliances, such as their stove and fridge.
They live happily in this energy-self-sufficient special house.
