Originally Posted by
Sparky
There are many alternatives to energy take your pick(wind, solar, ethanol, hydrogen) or a combo of each.
Wind--One wind turbine can power 500 homes. There's enough wind energy in Western South Dakota to power the whole country. The coal lobby has blocked all effort for any wind farms in that area.
Solar--Technology is advancing dramatically, and becoming very practical and econmical.
Ethanol--Corn sucks for ethanol, the only reason we use it is because we grow it in abundance. Switchgrass is not only native, it grows fast, needs no fertilizers, and one acre can produce 1,000 gallons of ethanol a year. That's almost 10 times what corn can produce.
Hydrogen--The true answer to long term renewable energy. If we would of taken the trillion dollars spent in Iraq for their oil and invested it in a "Manhatten Project" type approach to our energy needs, the Middle East would be somebody elses problem.
Oil companies are the biggest lobby against any government research for alternative energy.
I did see a special where a college professor was able to use something other than traditional electricity to separate the H2O molecule. He said the problem was that it was still more expensive then oil. However, if this were to be duplicated and massed produced, the price would be driven down immediately. Then try flying a plane into a building with the tanks full of water.