One of the main issues in the recent US elections focused on government investments and dedication toward finding sustainable, cost-effective energy sources. Not that the world’s supply of oil is near depletion. Besides being harmful to the environment, the world, not just Americans, hates being dependent on foreign oil. Thus, the need to look for sustainable, alternative energy sources. Asin <edit>
It's called Solar. Or Wind. Or Tidal. Or Wave. Or Geothermal. Too bad the wonderful wonderful system that we have in place called "Capitalism" will never let that happen.
The funny thing is Biodiesel from non food crops could solve all this, provided all ICE's were switched to run on diesel... But Solar, and such which would require additional storage cells or batteries requiring rare earth elements from china like as with Hybrid vehicles if not simply the usual toxic sludge found in most Energizer batteries. The Batteries they make now for the most part are crap in 3 years or less, that's allot of landfills and sealed dumpsites we'll see opened just to contain the waste of these sites. Unless of course they dont store any backup charge to compensate for day's when the wind sucks more than it blows. And without storage, solar would be great in the daytime but cities would need to rely on other alternatives overnight. Tidal is a great solution for costal areas but how far inland do you think it wil supply and just how many miles of ocean are you willing to cover with generator stations to tap into it? Geothermal, waste heat and other sources can also provide abundant sources of energy for electrical generation. Charcoal plants used in making terra preta to revitalize the soils of Africa and other wasted ground's would be an excellent addition to the sources of "waste heat" to be utilized by Stirling engines in the production of electricity or mechanical energy. And the big payback in this method other than the energy would be the endless amount of carbon we could sequester from our atmosphere in the process, not to mention all the choice farmland that could be developed in the middle of the deserts of the world (Where one could pipe in ocean water and distill it to eliminate the salt using direct solar energies)
We all need to start by changing our own lives, for instance walking or riding a bicycle on a short trip instead of taking the car, etc... The BIG plans are great and fun to talk about, but don't hold your breath in expectation of them becoming an actual reality in your lifetime. The corporate world is dedicated to milking you for all your worth first.:coffee:
