News item; Cornfield raises hackles in Wales. 

I'm not going to argue zoning. I'm going to get a bit religious here and say that land was intended by it's maker to grow things more than it was to build and pave over, no matter what a politician may deem.

Too often I'll see a farm field lay dormant and weedy while a sign is raised exclaimed "Utopia Estates" is coming soon. The loss of farmland is usually permanent yet the government is mandating more corn be used for fuel rather than food. So it would seem that any patch of land that a planter and picker can manuever around on should be planted with some useful crop rather than sprouting lumber and cement.

If tilling the land reduces tax income, tough! A field of corn doesn't need much in the way of police and fire protection or water and sewer. Nor does it diminish water from our deep wells.

In the past I've criticized new construction as putting a load on our dwindling water resource. This, even though the business that I'm in is dependent on new construction. Briefly, I don't believe that long time residents of the city or county should be put in the same boat of inconvenience to accommodate development and expansion. Those dwindling the resource should be the ones to carry the load. Water wise, this would be prohibiting watering lawns, gardens and washing cars in new developments except with water gathered from cisterns or other non-aqufier sources. On site water recycling of gray water should be included with conservation efforts.

Preparation for the diminished used of petroleum should be implemented in the the building code too.  Electricity is the energy of the future. We will power anything with a petroleum engine with it and we will heat our homes with it. As an expert in the heating and cooling business, I can see gas furnaces going the way of oil furnaces in the next twenty years. Honda has shown a natural gas powered fuel cell generator to recharge electric cars and provide power for the home's electric furnace and heat pump/air conditioner. For those of you with hot water heat, there have been electric powered boilers so don't feel left out.

GM will be introducing the electric car, the Volt, which will run entirely on electricity, recharge at home if desired, but have gasoline back-up so you don't get stranded. In my needs, the electricity range is adequate for most all of my driving around. So the Volt can replace one of my cars and the other can be the guzzler used to pull the boat and so forth.

The building code should anticipate the plumbing changes and increased electrical service needs of the near future and require that it be install NOW in new construction and remodeling of existing homes and buildings.