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Man Runs Energy-Saving Mail Order Business
When an ice storm wiped out electrical power in parts of Kansas last December, Bob McBroom used some of the energy-producing products he sells in his catalogs. The Holton, Kansas, businessman sells an eclectic variety of items to consumers interested in saving money and being self-reliant.
  McBroom runs a rural, one-man company. He selects the thousands of items in Kansas Wind Power's three catalogs, handling advertising, taking and filling orders, and updating his business's website.
  It all started in 1975 when he began buying and rebuilding wind generators for people in remote areas. He gradually added solar and water power-generating supplies. More than 30 years later, his catalogs offer everything from generators and invertors to windmill pumps and propane appliances to electric garden tractor accessories and dehydrated food.
  "I feel the more efficient and self reliant people are, the better off we all are," McBroom says.
  "I encourage people to save energy and be efficient before they try to make their own power," he adds. "Most homes waste 20 percent of their energy. We have a kilowatt meter ($29) to see how much energy appliances are using. You want to know where you're wasting power and then make changes. That's important to do first, so that your generated power isn't going to be wasted."
  McBroom says his catalogs include everything customers in remote areas need to produce all of their own power. He also supplies many repair parts including voltage regulators and equalizers, transfer switches, transformers and relays.
  He also sells composting toilets, solar pool purifiers, solar cookers, propane refrigerators and bed warmers. A food catalog carries everything from dried fruits to meats to Mountain Chili in pouches and grain mills.
  "We have health products too. If you don't have reasonable health, nothing else hardly matters," he adds.
  Check out his website or contact him to purchase a catalog: Energy ($4), Food ($3) and Windmill Water Pump and Hand Pump ($5).
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kansas Wind Power-F, 13569 214th Rd., Holton, Kansas 66436 (ph 785 364-4407; www.KansasWindpower.net).


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2008 - Volume #32, Issue #2