American Corn Growers Foundation Continues Wind Energy Information, Education and Outreach Project Through New W. K. Kellogg Foundation Grant

WASHINGTON, DC, June 21, 2007---The American Corn Growers Foundation (ACGF), through its Wealth From The Wind program, is continuing its information, education and outreach project aimed at developing the economic and environmental potential of wind power generation for the economic benefit of farmers, the people living in rural communities and for the future energy security of the American economy and society overall.

The wind energy education and outreach project is funded by a two-year $300,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) of Battle Creek, Michigan and continues throughout calendar years 2007 and 2008.

“All sectors of agriculture should embrace the 20% Vision of getting 20% of our electricity from wind energy by the year 2030.  The 20% Vision is a natural complement to the 25 X 25 initiative which targets getting 25% of our nation’s total energy needs from renewable resources by the year 2025. The 20% Vision, like the 25 X 25 initiative, is being promoted by a wide range of farm and agricultural organizations as well as some state legislatures. Wind energy is clean, sustainable, renewable, efficient and low-cost. We must capture the economic benefits of wind energy for farmers and rural America,” said Dan McGuire, ACGF Wealth From The Wind project director and steering committee member of the national Wind Energy Works Coalition. ACGF carries out this far-reaching outreach and education program on a national scale through sponsorship of the American Wind Energy Association’s annual WINDPOWER conference. But the ACGF is using this new grant to primarily help rural America get its fair share of wind energy’s economic development benefits through community-based and locally owned wind projects wherever possible.”

Gale Lush, ACGF Chairman drew the connection between wind energy and water savings, stating, “According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Wind Powering America fact sheet, The Wind/Water Nexus…‘In 2002, fossil fuel and nuclear plants withdrew nearly 225 billion gallons of water per day. Wind energy does not use or consume water during electricity generation.  Greater additions of wind to offset fossil, hydropower, and nuclear assets in a generation portfolio will result in a technology that uses no water, offsetting water-dependent technologies. By diversifying the generating portfolio energy mix, a utility can manage its water supply risks.’…The least efficient water-cooled plants use as much as 50 gallons of water per kilowatt-hour according to NREL.”

The American Corn Growers Foundation (ACGF) is a nonprofit foundation that was formed in 1987 and is dedicated to meeting the needs of America’s agricultural producers and rural citizens through the development of educational and informational programs.  The ACGF works closely with the American Corn Growers Association as well as other foundations, governmental agencies, farm, commodity, rural and community-based organizations in carrying out its educational and informational programs.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.”  Its programming activities center around the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth, accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well-being;  and has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities. 

To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas.  These include:  Health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism.  Within these areas, attention is given to the crosscutting themes of leadership; information and communication technology, capitalizing on diversity, and social and economic community development.  Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.