Posted by
Too Tall in Texas on Friday, July 11, 2008 4:52:05 PM
I swear I should have stayed in my media major back when I first went to college. I talked (and goofed around) myself out of a Communications degree. Seeing all these cheesy ads from every possible energy concern under the sun, I think I missed out on a goldmine. If you haven't seen any of these ads from the oil & natural gas producers, clean coal coalition, even good folks like T. Boone Pickens and others they all just complicate things. Just pester the hell out of Government to GET 'R DONE!! (Sorry Larry the Cable Guy)
I agree that America needs to get on the same page. I also agree that it is possible to supplement our electrical power needs by increasing the share of other resources (i.e. building more nuke power plants, erecting hundreds of thousands more wind turbines, and adding more clean coal plants). We would be best served if the government (federal, state and local) would get out of the way and let private industry upgrade our power grid across state lines (a la the phone companies). There is a clear need to do this for several reasons.
1) Remember that massive blackout a few years ago? Power was shut down all over the northeast and as far west as Detroit due to the inability of the aging power grids to keep up with demand.
2) If Americans start buying these electric cars that we keep hearing about debuting in the next 3-7 years, the demand for electricity will certainly double if not triple.
3) How many of you will be or have already bought a new digital TV recently because of the DTV switch next spring? They don't run on batteries yet do they?
4) It is a PROVEN FACT that when the Government tries to do something that a private firm can do...the private firm ALWAYS does it FASTER, CHEAPER, and MORE EFFICIENTLY.
I can tell you from my travels that wind power would be a wise choice. While I lived in Italy, there were windmills just like the ones you might have seen popping up in the US all over the place. There is a town a friend of mine lived in where the electricity was FREE and they even were getting money back from the town because their windmills produced enough energy to take care of them and still be able to sell the "extra" energy to neighboring towns. If you haven't been to west Texas - it gets pretty windy out here. There are a few wind "farms" out here that allow power companies to sell "green" power solely generated from these farms. My appliances, etc. didn't notice the difference when they were on.
All I know is that there needs to be a LOT LESS TALK and a LOT MORE ACTION by the Congress and the state governments to get this train out of the station. America...LET'S GET THIS TRAIN ROLLIN'!!