mainejeff wrote:GannonFan wrote:While oil is as cheap as it is, sadly, it's just the market that is driving that - oil always ends up being the cheaper way to go and no one is willing to pay a surcharge to use something else.
Wrong. There are SOME people willing to pay a surcharge to use something else. But I will admit that it is not enough people to initiate a change in our energy consumption and practices.
GannonFan wrote:Wind and solar are silly things to focus on right now - they make good headlines, but they are a pittance and will be for years.
Maybe for places like Delaware........but they are being developed and sustained in many areas of the country. Obviously, you have to have enough sun or wind to make it cost effective though.
Actually, Delaware is one of the leaders of wind adoption with their new offshore wind farm plans. Of course, I don't live in Delaware, nor work there, nor have family there - I just watch football games there.
But that doesn't change the fact that wind and solar are only cost effective if we don't have cheaper alternatives, and between coal and oil and nuclear and countless other things, we do have cheaper alternatives. Not to mention that we also have them today and will for decades to come, which is by the time that wind and solar might even start to help us more than just marginal, like they do today. Don't get me wrong, I want us to limit our exposure to oil - I just think there are plenty of realistic things in front of us that can happen much sooner than chasing windmills (literally and figuratively).