Yes, this is where I've chosen to live; in the Valley of the Sun. Its name refers to both the topography and the weather. With more than 325 days of sunshine each year, the Valley is a mecca for golfers and outdoor lovers.
    The Valley is home to the Phoenix-metropolitan area, made up of numerous communities like Mesa, Tempe, Glendale, Chandler, Paradise Valley and Scottsdale.
    With more than 300 golf courses throughout the state, this area is recognized as one of the world's premier golf destinations with internationally renowned desert courses, world-class instruction and year-round tournaments.
    Early golf courses, like Superstition Links in Chandler, opened in 1914 and consisted of oiled sand and oatmeal greens. These were later replaced by Bermuda grass and clover.
    Superstition Links, now known as the San Marcos Golf Course, was the first grass course in the state.
    Arizona is best known for the mile-deep Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is a place of magnificent beauty, a place unlike anywhere else in the world.
    The Canyon carves a colorful course across 277 miles of lush desert landscapes, its sandstone shoreline contrasting against the cobalt-blue waters of Lake Powell and the flourishing forests of breathtaking mountain peaks that seem to reach to the sky.

Goldfield Ghost Town and the Superstition Mountain

    Arizona is one of the few places in the United States where it is possible to enjoy a game of golf in the morning and ski atop the snow-covered mountains in the afternoon.
    In Nothern Arizona, Flagstaff's forested mountains, Sedona's famed red rocks and Monument Valley's sandstone spires are some of the natural wonders that await you.
    The West Coast of Arizona is wet and wild. The mighty Colorado River courses its way south from Hoover Dam to Mexico tracing a path of natural wonders and wildlife habitats – and of course, countless places to enjoy boating, swimming and water sports of all types.
    The North-Central region's four seasons allow summer getaways

to cool, forests, aspen leaves of red and yellow in the fall and the snowy wonderland of the White Mountains high above the cactus-studded desert in winter.
    At the center of all this splendor is Arizona's Sonoran desert with it's own spectacular beauty. After all, where else could you gaze out over forests of majestic saquaro cacti and palo verde trees, marvel at a sea of purple and yellow flowers in the shadow of distant mountains or watch hummingbirds darting in and out of the mimosa?
    In Arizona you can have coyotes watching your golf game from a cautious distance with tiny geckos and quail with their chicks scurrying across the cart paths eager for refuge in the shade of the brush.

"Energy" from Page 2

    Ivanpah Solar Electric is the world's largest solar plant. It is unique in that it uses "concentrated solar thermal technology." But, unlike PV Solar and Wind, you don't try this technology at home.
    Invanpah has 173,500 double-mirrored heliostats which turn to keep focusing sunlight toward "boilers" located on top of three 40 story towers. The boilers create steam that is then piped to conventional steam turbines, which generate electricity.
    Approved in 2010, this $2.2 billion project received $1.6 billion in loan guarantees and $600 million in federal tax credits. And yet, Ivanpah does not eliminate greenhouse gases.
    Gas is burned at night to heat the water used in the tower boilers so electricity production can start up more quickly when the sun comes up each morning. Gas is also burned during periods of intermittent cloud cover.
    Invanpah is unique in another way. Not only was it not good news for Mohave Desert tortoise population but it acts as a mega-trap for wildlife. The bright light of the plant attracts insects which attract birds.
    As birds fly into the concentrated beams of sunlight (800 to 1,000 degrees F) they are instantly incinerated, leaving wisps of white smoke against the blue desert sky. Workers at Ivanpah have a name for the spectacle: "Streamers." Federal biologists say about 6,000 birds die from collisions or immolation annually while chasing flying insects around the facility.

    At Invanpah the frequency of the streamer phenomenon is estimated at one every two minutes by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). BrightSource has spent $56 million to protect and relocate the desert tortoises but still their work has met with unforeseen calamity: Animals crushed under vehicle tires, army ants attacking hatchlings and one small tortoise carried off to an eagle nest, its embedded microchip pinging faintly as it receded.
    The clearing and use of large areas of land for solar power facilities can adversely affect native vegetation and wildlife in many ways, including loss of habitat; interference with rainfall and drainage; or direct contact causing injury or death. The impacts are exacerbated when the species affected are classified as sensitive, rare, or threatened and endangered.
    Solar PV projects with their thousands of solar panels can fool birds into changing flight direction, sometimes during migration, because they appear to be lakes from a distance. Waterbirds fly to solar fields and realize too late that the solar panels are not water. They then collide with the solar panels and are critically wounded or killed. Some waterbirds also have great difficulty taking off from non-water surfaces, which could leave them stranded in desert areas without food, water or shelter.
    Wind energy can only be harnessed in locations where wind speed is high and migratory birds follow these wind currents. So when wind turbines are installed near wetlands, on mountain ridges, near shorelines, or at sites subject to frequent fog or low-lying clouds, losses are great during spring and fall migrations. Researchers estimate that 140,000 to 328,000 birds are killed every year in collisions with the turbines' spinning rotor blades and support towers or electrocuted by power lines which carry electrical power into the grid.
    Migratory birds also follow these wind currents.
    
There are two concerns over nuclear energy that have the greatest public impact; nuclear accidents where the core could overheat, melt down and release radioactivity and there is the disposal of long-lived radioactive waste.     The truth is, there have been only three accidents involving reactor core damage in the world since 1970. Three Mile Island in 1979; Chernobyl in 1986; and Fukushima-Daiichi in 2011 where 4 reactors were damaged.
    Although the U.S. generates 33% of the world's nuclear energy, there has never been any dangerous radiation released in the U.S.
    The reality of Three Mile Island was significantly different than the mass hysteria. No significant radiation was discharged outside of the TMI facility. The reactor containment vessel worked exactly as designed and contained nearly all of the radioactive isotopes in the core.

    One would actually receive more radiation living at an altitude like Denver, CO than anyone near Harrisburg, PA received as a result of the accident.     As for "nuclear waste" there is no such thing. Used fuel generally retains about 95 percent of the uranium it started with and this "nuclear waste" can be recycled. The U.S. developed the recycling technology decades ago but barred its commercial use in 1977.
    As a result there is about 56,000 tons of "used fuel" piling up at storage facilities. If it was recycled, it contains roughly enough energy to power every U.S. household for 12 years and could conceivably run the U.S. nuclear fleet for almost 30 years with no new uranium input.
    This "used fuel" could relieve our dependency on foreign countries to provide the medical isotopes needed for the 20 million nuclear medicine procedures performed each year. The best part, if recycled the total nuclear waste produced each year at each plant would measure just one cubic yard.
    When you weigh the unlikely risk of a dangerous release of radiation and the advantages of recycling waste against the benefits of nuclear power, the U.S. may be missing an opportunity to make itself the cleanest country on the planet.
    Electricity is vital to modern life. It powers our lights and appliances at home. It powers many industry processes. It is used to power trains and to charge electric vehicles. Why spend billions a year on sources that could never meet our demands and ignore having so much clean energy?     

    I once took one of those plane rides over the Grand Canyon but standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon is visually overwhelming.
    The majesty of nature stretches out before you. The canyon walls drop down to amazing depths. Ravens caw out from their distant perches and California Condors soar and glide on thermal updrafts.
    The Grand Canyon was carved out by the powerful Colorado River exposing nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history.
    The Grand Canyon is 277 river miles long, up to 18 miles wide and is 6,093 feet deep. The heights on the North Rim reach 9,200 feet above sea level and about 6,900 feet on the South Rim.
    Desert plant life clings to the edges of the canyon hiding 70 species of mammals, 250 species of birds, 25 types of reptiles and five species of amphibians.
    For over 4,000 years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves.

Phoenix University Stadium

    The site of Superbowl XLII, the University of Phoenix Stadium was completed in the fall of 2006 at a cost of $455 million.
    The grass field rolls out of the stadium on an 18.9-million-pound tray, residing outside of the stadium except for baseball, football and soccer events.
    The field remains outside the stadium in the sun until game day, which allows for the maximum amount of sunshine and nourishment, eliminating humidity problems inside the stadium and providing unrestricted access to the stadium floor for other events and staging.
    The roof has two large retractable panels that uncover the entire playing field while providing maximum shading for fans. The roof can be closed and the facility air conditioned in the hot months, while the roof can be opened to take advantage of the Valley's world-famous climate in cooler months.