Why Not Renewable Energy?

In light of the crisis in California, and predictions of the same for the rest of the country this summer, I do not understand why the movers and shakers will NOT push for renewable energy rather than depending on nuclear energy or our current obsolete, and obviously limited, energy supplies. I just don't get it.

Just think how much energy could be saved if entrance doors to large retailers actually required you to PUSH them open rather than automatic...driving through Dallas at night, all the commercial lighting that is wasted...lots of ways to conserve too...

I'm not digressing but remember when computers used to run at 133 mHz with a *huge* 1 gig hard drive and we did fine? But now, we can run at 800 mHz with a 10 gig hard drive and it seems like we still need storage space.

That's kind of how I feel about the energy crisis. Bush pushing to build more power plants, etc. is like solving that problem with buying another 10 gig hard drive. We're going to use it cause it's there. In the meantime, we have more pollution and ugly power plants marring the scenery. If we can all go back to conserving, we'll do just fine.

But isn't the problem that conservation alone isn't working? It seems to me that President Bush's plan is to have more conservation AND more power plants (and more discovery of oil, etc).

the underlying problem is....moe thna one thing! lol Energy is wasted...not as much by homeowners, to me as by signs that stay on ALL NIGHT LONG when places are closed. That is not a secuirty measure..it is advertising. Turn the junk OFF.
There truly need to be a few more energy plants. I have a friend who works in the industry and he says that there have been no new factories built since like 72. How much has the US's petroleum product cosumption increased in 30 years, yet the same factories are pumping out the fuel. Makes sense to me for he price increases.
Lastly we need to employ renewable methods. When we move this summer, I will build a greenhouse, and I plan to heat and cool my greenhouse using renewable methods. It is not that diffficult, but the Powers That Be are not encouraging it so it is not as wide spread as it should be.
It is a 3 punch method...renew, build and conserve. It will take everyone country side to make it work, but it needs to start at a grassroots level.


Kathie

Why Not Renewables?

Probably becausae our boyz in the Whitehouse are all oilmen and have a bit of a conflict of interest. That, and there seems to be no imagination with out leadership.

Oil is old hat and familier to the leadership but with enough badgering on the part of the electorate (us) asking for renewables we may be able to change the tide.

Go and write a letter or a hundred to the Pres, your senators and your rep. Tell them how you feel and be polite about it.

Before we start bashing the sitting president, let's remember that we've had decades to deal with this problem, and regardless of which party's been in office, or their take on the environment, they haven't done squat to fix it.

What can we do?
1. Write letters; as Ohiorganic said - be polite.
2. Carpool. If you must drive alone, plan several errands so your trip is as efficient as possible.
3. Turn off the lights when you're not using them.
4. Turn up your thermostat in the summer, down in the winter; buy a setback thermostat to be even more efficient.
5. Close your blinds in the summer, open them in the winter.
6. Check the temp on your hot water heater and turn it down as low as you can and still run your washer and dishwasher.
7. Many foods can be put in a cold oven, and heated as the oven heats up. Turn the oven off a few minutes before the timer goes off. Don't use the oven for one thing - plan your cooking, and use it for several dishes at once, even if they get refrigerated or frozen to reheat in the microwave later.
8. Line dry your clothes. If you use the dryer, make sure the vent is cleaned (it's a fire hazard as well as inefficient.)
9. Don't run the heat cycle on your dishwasher. Allow the dishes to dry by themselves (mine has a timer; I set it to run in the early am, by the time I'm up, things are dry and ready to put away.)
10. Check your a/c filter and clean it/replace it religiously each and every month.
11. Check your home's energy efficiency. Now that winter's past it's easy to forget the urgency of sealing up cracks and adding more insulation. But guess what? Now it's just taking more energy to run your a/c unit to keep you cool. So if you didn't do it last winter, do it now, and you'll be ahead of the game come fall.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the enormity of this global problem. But every thing that we do, as inconsequential as it may seem, will help. And if others see us doing these small, painless things, they may join in as well.

I'm sure you're right,Ohio, about the conflict of interests.If the subsidized tobacco farmers would plant corn for methane, instead of killer tobacco, we'd all be better off.

Oil and coal are used to produce electricity and...polution.
Wood and waste are burned to produce and they produce..,polution
Nuclear power creates nuclear waste...
Dams are used to produce power and the waters are diverted from their natural courses producing problems with the environment and fish and game suffer...
Windmill generators set up along the hills produce "clean" energy but they say too many birds are killed in them and they are ugly....We can't live in caves because most of them are being "protected"

There are too many people on the planet for us to "get back to nature" unless we want to kill off the vast majority of people on the planet.

So what can we do? We can each do a little toward solving the problems but no one person....not even the President...can solve this on his own! We are going to have to all cut back and learnto compromise. We may have to give up some of our easy living ways....if we want to continue to LIVE!

Why not produce some of the energy with sugar beets.
~more alcohol per lb than corn..

Burning alcohol as a fuel, by product co2 and water.

When fuel was $0.50 a gal, the gas station in the Congress and senate parking garages was $0.25.

Some noted that the fuel problem was the oil was in Tx and the dipsticks were in Washington.

Root--it's not that conservation isn't working. It's that it hasn't been heavily pushed. Many people don't want to be "inconvenienced", that is, doing laundry on Sundays/after 7:30 pm, turning off lights/appliances that aren't being used, etc. Most people don't even realize how much energy some of their electrical equipment consumes for it to be an issue for them.

Yes, as Zanymuse said, there are a lot of people on this planet. Maybe we should consider Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal (sarcasm, for those who are ready to lynch me) or plan our families better (of course, the Bush killed that idea for millions of people internationally alread) but that's another issue altogether.

I suppose there would be someone to argue the downsides to any type of alternative energy....some folks just like to argue for the sake of arguing.

We lived off the grid for 15 years. Finally gave in and hooked in because, in a nutshell, as I got older I HAD to have an air-conditioner and we couldn't afford the solar panels it would have required to produce the necessary power. So now, we have a 'hybrid house'.

But in every part of this great and blessed country, there is some renewable resource that could be used, be it hydroelectric, geothermal, solar or wind. The sun shines, the rivers flow and the wind blows for free!

Conservation of oil resources would indeed help....for a time. But what happens when the N. American sources are depleted? Will we have to depend on foreign sources for our fuel? No doubt, when the time comes (which it will), the ones who failed to speak out now will be the ones who scream the loudest then.

There never was an oil shortage or never will be as long as the sun shines . We grow millions of acres of grain above ground that can produce millions of gallons of oil . Once again big business doesn't want to share the $$$$$$$$ / market . Hydrogen produced fuel , NOT produced with nuclear products , IS the only real answser to a clean world . Rock On !!