Celebrate Thanksgiving with renewable energy

Renée-Claude (in red top with her left hand in the air) demonstrates how a windmill can not only pump water into water troughs for animals but aerate the water to prevent stagnation.

Fresh water pumped by wind power is delivered to livestock.

Click on the photographs for a larger view.

The Canadian Agriculture Museum in Ottawa is hosting an interactive exhibition this Thanksgiving weekend that lets visitors see how their food is grown more and more by renewable energy.

Wind power, solar power and biofuels figure prominently in the various displays.

Renewable energy has been around for a long time, but has not been embraced in Canada was widely as in other countries.

Currently, Canada gets about two per cent of its electricity from wind power, whereas Denmark gets 20 per cent. The Canadian Wind Energy Association would like to see Canada get to 20 per cent by 2025.

The displays at the Agriculture Museum show how Canadian farmers are using renewable energy to simplify their operations and increase their productivity and at the same time, reduce their carbon footprint.

"We want to let people know that we require a lot of energy to maintain our lifestyle and there are other ways to get energy other than by using fossil fuels," said Renée-Claude, one of the presenters at the museum's energy park.

In addition to educating the public about renewable energy, the museum will also hold workshops on cider and bread making.

For more information call 613-991-3053.