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At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, The Otsego County Board of Representatives heard from Colleen Blacklock and Cynthia Marsh of Oneonta on energy preparedness.Blacklock said the county should take steps to conserve energy and prepare for ever-higher energy costs as the world runs short of oi l. "Energy preparedness is analogous to disaster preparedness," she said.The women advised that people take stock of their homes and try to prepare for electric outages, and that the county make its vehicles and buildings as efficient as possible. One conservation measure people can take is obtain their food locally rather than trucked in from afar, Blacklock said as Marsh showed a slide of a solar-powered tractor.At the end of the presentation, Rep. James Powers, R-Butternuts, a dairy farmer, told the women their analysis was "right on the money." Rep. Kevin Hodne, D-Oneonta, noted that nations such as Sweden are working on more-efficient ways to distribute electricity.Rep. Hugh Henderson, R-Oneonta, noted that certain segments of the population are opposed to many forms of producing energy, and Board Chairman Donald Lindberg said he believes the county should work to improve its energy efficiency.A few months ago, the board ebated whether to buy full-sized or compact trucks and chose the larger models, Lindberg recalled. "We should have stuck to our guns and bought the little trucks," he said.Terry Bliss, the county’s planning director, said the county’s bus system could play a role in easing transportation costs for residents.