It's WINDSday | March 8, 2023

Celebrating the Power of Wind, Clean Energy and a Green Environment

Enter almost any room in Bob Krout’s home off First Colonial Road in Virginia Beach, and you will see something he installed to clean the air or reduce the cost of energy.

From LED bulbs to low flush toilets, from an EPA star washing machine to a car charger for his Leaf, from new attic insulation to block out curtains, and from ceiling fans to a UVC radiation device that removes viruses and bacteria from ducts, this 1980 UVA grad has tricked out three houses in the past five years to be part of Lynnhaven River Now’s Pearl Homes program.

It’s not hard. Do 15 of the recommendations at www.lynnhavenrivernow.org/vb-residents/, and you can put a flag in your front lawn. But this Arlington native, retired from a career advising companies nationwide on how to save energy, is not a minimalist. He wants to do it all. “I guess I am a born tree hugger,” says Krout, who wades out into Long Creek to test water for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and volunteers for the Sierra Club, which is vitally interested in offshore wind and the jobs it will create.

“I am constantly updating the club’s Hampton Roads Offshore Wind Inventory,” which Krout says lists every known company, school and agency involved in Dominion’s CVOW project as well as the utility’s stated plans for solar, hydrogen and other non-carbon fuel generation. Email him at bk128@verizon.net to learn more.

There are more than 6,000 Pearl Homes in the area, plus Pearl Churches and Pearl Businesses, all helping keep waterways and the air clean and their structures healthy. Join them. It’s free.

Ethiopia has 324 megawatts of wind energy today, with the potential for more, which frees that poor African country, and its neighbor Eritrea, from having to burn straw, corn husks and other biomass for energy. Want a taste of Ethiopia in Hampton Roads?

Go by Mesob Café (www.mesobcafe.com) on South Parliament Drive in VB, just off Indian River Road, for some Sigo Wot, Kitfo, Mesir Wot, Shai Tea and a host of other authentic dishes and beverages, prepared by Eritrean native Znab Teklit, who opened the restaurant eight years ago. They bring out the food on round platters, and you stuff it inside the spongy injera “pancake”. No utensils needed. 

With Daniel G and other family and friends, Znab is “thanks to God” making a living at Mesob. Give our newest WINDSday friend a try for lunch or dinner, seven days a week. 

We gave Chesapeake Rotary a program recently on what’s happening with offshore wind.

In return, they gave us a free lunch and a request to tell you about the Chesapeake Spring Arts Festival, April 22-23 at City Park that they produce along with the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission. There will be 125 artists selling their works, food trucks and local breweries (like Chesapeake’s Big Ugly) peddling their products, glass blowing and wood turning demonstrations plus plenty of performers, including on Sunday, the Deloreans and WINDSday partner Tidewater Winds’ Little Big Band. Free admission.

Visit www.chesarts.com for the schedule.

While at the Chesapeake Conference Center for the Club meeting, we met Rotarian Jeb Britt who runs family-owned Elite Service. Count on Elite for lighting, electrical, refrigeration, HVAC and even solar installation. They also participate in Dominion’s Energy Conservation Rebate program.

Learn more at www.eliteserviceva.com, or stop by for a visit at 2001 Old Greenbrier Road, where you see the WINDSday sticker.  

Higher Education that is.

Virginia Wesleyan University, situated along the Virginia Beach/Norfolk line with about 1,600 on- campus students, has a solid commitment to environmental science. At the modern and spacious Greer Center, students learn about the interrelationships among science, society, technology, culture, and nature. Recently, the Elizabeth River Project honored VWU for its leadership in education, landscaping and its decision to invest its full endowment in an environmentally friendly way. This video tells the story.  

WINDSdays is proud to call VWU President Scott Miller, Elizabeth Malcolm, Ph.D. Professor of Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and Maynard Schaus, Ph.D., Director of Graduate Programs and Professor of Biology/Environmental Science, our newest WINDSday friends.

This spring, we will attend a major event involving the VWU Honors College, where educators equip “high-achieving students to be problem solvers and strategic-thinking global citizens”, who are, what else, “environmentally conscious.”