ENERGY COULD COME FROM UNLIKELY SOURCE

With summer closing in, some Illinois residents may be shaking off the
winter hibernation and thinking about keeping cool in the sweltering
Midwest heat.

Of course running the air conditioner all day is not free, and thousands of
humming air conditioners can take a toll on more than consumers' wallets.

Increased energy consumption demands higher energy production, which can
have detrimental environmental factors according to Angelo Capparella,
associate professor of biological sciences at ISU. This could all change
however, if alternative energy sources like industrial hemp catch on.

"Most people don't realize how much danger we're in in terms of future
energy supplies," he said. "There's really a lot of negative impact in
continuing our dependence on fossil fuels.

"The need to be changing our energy sources to get away from fossil fuels
is very clear," he said, "but if we wait until the last minute it just
can't be done."

The energy picture is not all bleak though, ISU alumnus and Student
Environmental Action Coalition activist Gregg Brown said. He said he hopes
the day will come very soon when people realize a change must be made.

"You dig a ton of coal out of the ground and burn it, it's gone," Brown
said. Hemp on the other hand, is the only annually renewable energy
alternative that could provide the power needed to run the United States.

Brown said he has seen research that suggests the entire United States
could be run on hemp cultivated from just six percent of the total
farmland. He quickly noted however, that a combination of alternatives
would probably be best.

Nevertheless, the energy industry is skeptical of the plant and other
alternative energy sources because they may not satisfy the needs of
interested parties, Charlie Deal, manager of public affairs at Illinois
Power, said.

"With the environment it's always been this way to a pointSyou have to be
efficient and be competitive with energy prices," Deal said.

He said at least for now, the prospect of alternative energy is not
cost-effective for energy producers. Cleaner technologies for established
energy sources like coal and oil are most likely to be the trend in today's
energy market, he added.

"We will look at the open market just like everyone else," he said.
"Wherever the best price is, that's where we'll be aiming to go."

Brown said charcoal made from hemp could heat water, which in turn would
become steam, that would turn power generators much the same way a nuclear
power plant works. Plus, Brown said hemp would not create the dangerous
waste that nuclear power does, nor would it release additional carbon
dioxide into the air like coal and oil.

Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the air that has been out
of circulation for millions of years, Brown said, whereas hemp releases
carbon dioxide that has been in the air just months prior.

Additionally, Capparella said the use of fuel sources such as oil, coal and
natural gas is slowly but surely affecting the environment and the
organisms-including humans-that live in it.

"Too many people do not make the linkage between the negative health
effects and the negative environmental effects to their use of energy,"
Capparella noted.

He said if a switch is not set in motion soon, the consequences could shake
the economy and society to their core.

As good as it may sound, not everyone is jumping on the hemp bandwagon.

A measure to support industrial hemp research in Illinois has passed the
General Assembly twice, only to be struck down by Gov. George Ryan on both
accounts, Director of Programs for the McLean County Farm Bureau Mike
Swartz said.

Capparella noted that the opposition to such legislation stems from the
fear that legalizing hemp would open the door to the legalization of
marijuana, which are separate plants and issues.

The measure would have allowed research plots at the University of Illinois
and Southern Illinois University, among others, Swartz said.

He said the farm bureau supports research that would determine if hemp is
viable for commercial use.

"It providesSanother use for our ground, particularly as an alternative
crop, for additional income," he said.