Even the Amish are using green sources of energy

Fascinating story in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. Apparently the Amish are embracing solar power:

The Amish shun connections to the outside, including the power grid, to run their buggy batteries, electric fences, refrigerators and sewing machines. But within their religious framework, using the sun to charge their batteries is acceptable, at least for some purposes, says Donald Kraybill, an expert on the Amish at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College.

"It's like tapping into God's grid instead," he said.

The Amish fear becoming too materialistic and worldly, which is why they do not use solar to power batteries for iPods, TVs, laptops but do use them for water pumps, washing machines, and battery-powered floor lamps.

"I could run a Game Boy on the same power I run the refrigerator," solar vendor Beiler explained. "But it's hard to maintain your culture if you have a TV. Then your kids are worshipping the latest rock star. Eventually, it would erode our culture and ultimately destroy it."

This probably doesn't prove much, if anything, about the utility of solar power -- the Amish don't really have an oil-addicted culture to retrofit. But it's interesting, nonetheless.