Abstract

Typical of many of our major cities in the U.S. Southwest, the economy of Wichita, Kansas, is almost entirely dependent upon natural gas as a heating and process fuel. This condition, coupled with a long history of increasing curtailments in the industrial sector, plus rapidly escalating heating and cooling bills, prompted the City in late 1973 to initiate a series of activities designed to reduce the energy consumption, as well as programming a search for alternate sources. Starting with minimal information and establishing a new City Energy Division, Wichita has made serious commitments and commendable advances in solutions to help our local community. Specific energy planning programs were developed to provide research regarding future energy needs and sources, as well as information for sound energy planning and management past the year 2000. These programs are designed to assess the local available alternate energies, to evaluate local energy demands and capabilities, and to prepare the Wichita public for a total consciousness and awareness of energy needs, demands, and problems. Background results, actual experiences, and hazards involved in this somewhat unique attempt to handle energy problem s at the local level will be presented. The program to date has involved, to a great extent, geologists, engineers, physicists, chemists, and the related disciplines in industry, government, academia, and most important, the general public.