Solar power in an unlikely place

A drive through the rolling hills of Lancaster County, Penn. is like stepping into a patch of colonial America. Turn down the side roads, flanked by white flaking barns, grazing cows and fields lined with crops. Weave around horse-drawn buggies and past women tending laundry on sagging clotheslines as toddlers play nearby with wooden toys. This is Amish country – American Gothic in the flesh – yet here lies a technology most Americans only dream about: solar panels.

When you think of the latest consumers of hip, green technology, the Amish probably don’t immediately come to mind. Known for their plain dress and strictly limited interaction with the outside, secular world, the Amish typically shuns the use of modern conveniences such as automobiles and electricity.

Although many today have running water, the Amish believe electricity would connect them with mainstream society, and so have found ways of adapting appliances to run on gasoline and now, solar power.

But as solar panel technology becomes more available, affordable and easy to use, Amish communities across Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana have embraced its use. Solar power is now being used to fire up buggy lights, sewing machines and power the rest of the community’s modest electrical needs.

Solar electricity fits seamlessly into the Amish self-sufficiency model. It is convenient, safe and, unlike some Amish-sanctioned alternatives, there are no noxious fumes or noise and no fuel costs.

The technology has become so prevalent amongst the Amish that Green Energy Ohio is organizing an Amish Country tour during the American Solar Energy Society's 36th annual convention, July 7-12, in Cleveland. About 1,800 people from across the nation are expected to attend the conference and trade show. Read more here.

It strikes ironic that it is the Amish who are leading the so-called modern world down an alternative energy path.