@Scotian,
in my honest opinion, we need to focus on technologies that do two things:
1. save $$$
2. be easy to use
People are inherently selfish. I've told some lefties to go vegetarian as that'll do more good than getting a Prius. Of course they preferred the Prius since it was too hard to go veg. Whatever, that's just how the world works. Might as well play to the tunes of reality and give people something that is easy to use and will save them money.
This is why Kyota protocol etc don't work: there is no real economic incentive to follow them. All these international meetings are focused on who should sacrifice what. No wonder they always fail.
On the other hand, I'm pretty big on solar and its potential:
- check out: http://i2.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files...ranium.png
Also real estate wise, seems solar would beat wind and biofuels (although correct me since the renewable energy sector changes extremely rapidly...my info might be outdated).
Additionally, storage technology needs to improve. It's no secret solar can't generate at night. Need ways to store that energy and store it cheaply and efficiently. Also, prices still need to come down. This is where the government needs to work: Invest $$$ into R&D. Once technologies seem realistic, let the private market take care of funding. None of this giving out loans to Solyndra, Tesla Motors crap.
- Private market won't fund research/tech that might not pan out...government step in here
- Private market will pay for research/tech that'll pan out right now
We need to get to a point where prices for solar are so low the debate on global warming is a non-issue: have solar be so cheap you have to be a dumbass not to go with it.
Same goes with electric cars...get them so economically viable people want to use them. This does mean R&D investments in batteries etc. Also, think about it: how awesome would it be if you could plug in your car at night (and avoid gas stations) and save $$$. Make it easy, make it cheap.
Hit the two biggest sectors of energy consumption: electricity (with solar) and transportation (also actually with electricity through solar):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USenergy2009.jpg
in my honest opinion, we need to focus on technologies that do two things:
1. save $$$
2. be easy to use
People are inherently selfish. I've told some lefties to go vegetarian as that'll do more good than getting a Prius. Of course they preferred the Prius since it was too hard to go veg. Whatever, that's just how the world works. Might as well play to the tunes of reality and give people something that is easy to use and will save them money.
This is why Kyota protocol etc don't work: there is no real economic incentive to follow them. All these international meetings are focused on who should sacrifice what. No wonder they always fail.
On the other hand, I'm pretty big on solar and its potential:
- check out: http://i2.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files...ranium.png
Also real estate wise, seems solar would beat wind and biofuels (although correct me since the renewable energy sector changes extremely rapidly...my info might be outdated).
Additionally, storage technology needs to improve. It's no secret solar can't generate at night. Need ways to store that energy and store it cheaply and efficiently. Also, prices still need to come down. This is where the government needs to work: Invest $$$ into R&D. Once technologies seem realistic, let the private market take care of funding. None of this giving out loans to Solyndra, Tesla Motors crap.
- Private market won't fund research/tech that might not pan out...government step in here
- Private market will pay for research/tech that'll pan out right now
We need to get to a point where prices for solar are so low the debate on global warming is a non-issue: have solar be so cheap you have to be a dumbass not to go with it.
Same goes with electric cars...get them so economically viable people want to use them. This does mean R&D investments in batteries etc. Also, think about it: how awesome would it be if you could plug in your car at night (and avoid gas stations) and save $$$. Make it easy, make it cheap.
Hit the two biggest sectors of energy consumption: electricity (with solar) and transportation (also actually with electricity through solar):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USenergy2009.jpg