I support Barack Obama's position of brushing aside climate change deniers and was pleased that his State of the Union address - while vague in many ways - spoke of the need to develop green energy solutions and to employ people in these industries. Obama's point is that just because we supposedly lack empirical evidence of all of the ways in which our climate is being affected by having 7 billion inhabitants on earth is no reason to deny facts or avoid formulating public policy today. Likewise, we don't know the precise place from which the next terrorist attack will come, but our government needs to always be heavily on risk avoidance.
Our alternative energy policy requires realism and that appropriate steps are taken to balance the need to curtail the environmental damage with our need to meet our energy needs. One need not look too deeply into the 2009 Reinvestment and Recovery Act Section 1603 to see that our government's current policy is to oversubsidize wind and solar solutions. Even if it were sunny and windy all the time, it is clear that production from these sources can never be so great to even make a dent in our supply. It is also unclear whether photovoltaic cells can ever be produced at such a low cost to make solar production profitable without govrrnment subsidies. We therefore shouldn't be putting large amounts of government money and incentives, and expecting large hiring, in the solar and wind areas.
In addition to wind and solar, Obama now seems open to more controversial solutions like nuclear, cleaner coal, biothermal or waste-to-energy solutions. These solutions may or may not address our environmental problems and meet some of our energy needs at the same time. Attention should be given to each of these solutions and research and debate on them should continue. Still, not one of these solutions provides a realistic alternative to oil or fossil fuels.
The simple reality is that we are not going to transform ourselves to an economy where the internal combustion engine is going to be replaced by a battery or fuel cell. In fact, the environmental impacts of hybrid cars outweigh any measurable reduction in greenhouse gases. It has been proffered by many scientists that the large and heavy batteries found in Prius pose a serious and underestimated disposal problem. We simply aren't all going to be driving cars fully electric cars like the Chevy Volt or the Telsa in two years or in twenty.
While plant oils as an alternative to fossil fuels are still under development, ethanol provides a realistic alternative to fossil fuels today. Yet, the economics of ethanol are very poor as too much feedstock (mainly corn) and energy is required in production. Ethanol production also results in large amounts of stillage which has terrible implications to the environment.
Politically, ethanol has been tied to the last administration and its lobbyists and has now been quickly quieted. Yet, it is not only an important piece of our energy puzzle, but it is one which, with 13 billion gallons produced in the US annually already, needs to be invested in.
I believe that it is possible to change the economics of ethanol and change its environmental impact, not through subsidies, but through investment in new technologies around ethanol. Our government should be funding or encouraging development in this area. Oil alternatives are as vital as any other energy needs and the sheer numbers demonstrate that it is a much larger marketplace than those widget technologies like wind or solar that are getting all of the attention today.
We need to clear the deck for a renewable energy and energy efficiency bill that funds research on renewable energy and provides financing and subsidies for a broader set of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects with less emphasis on wind and solar and other alternatives that - while politically expedient and environmentally positive - neither ween us off of foreign oil nor provide a long-term solution to our energy needs.
Sponsor Updates and Offers
|
|
|
Related Articles:
Senate Approves New Green Energy Bill by Ron Shays - Jun 22, 2007
Record Efficiency for Plastic Solar Cells by CherylW - Jul 14, 2007
Solar Stocks - Hot, or Too hot? by finblogger - Jan 04, 2008
Solar to be in 30% of Japanese Homes by 2030 by Sam Cass - Jan 04, 2008
Darker Times for Solar-Power Industry by ktexas - May 12, 2009.
Add to reading list
