That's gonna be the interesting part. I mean, if we get individual solar/wind/snarkonium generators to create electricity for our houses and use that to charge up our electric cars (or create the hydrogen for our H2 powered cars) where will Big Power (oil/coal/nukes) get their cut?
From making the parts that go into solar generators. If oil becomes too expensive to sell, they'll evolve or perish. Their interest is in making money, and they'll go where demand goes. No one's complaining about how Big Typewriter nearly pushed IBM out of existence. Because Selectrics turned into PCs.
And where Europe leads, other nations avert their eyes and pretend they can't hear.
Perhaps the U.S. will get a little more forward thinking when/if the government is run by a bunch of big oil people.
There are a bunch of articles on alternative energy developments here: [link]
Biodiesel is a big thing here in Illinois (what with all the corn/soy farmers), so I wouldn't be surprised if this expands across the midwest, and not just to governmental vehicles, but to retrofitted personal cars, as well.
I believe in 2007 there will be some tighter limits on sulfer in diesel fuel which will help diesel engines meet emissions regulations. I'll bet combined with higher gas prices, that this will bring a lot more diesel cars to the market in the U.S.
Dana, I recently switched to Virgin Mobile's pay-as-you-go. They were able to switch my old cellphone number over on the same day I signed up. So far so good, and I'm on track for saving a good $20 over my old Sprint plan.
Oh, come now. This is the perfect time for him to show up and declare war on, umm, the weather or something.
I predict a speech about Katrina that mentions:
- 9/11
- "America is strong"
- Terrorists
After all, New Orleans has been attacked by God. WAR ON GOD!!!!
On the whole energy thing, I really do think we'll see more nuclear power in our lifetimes. The pebble-bed reactors are remarkably safe. There is that nasty problem of disposal, though.
The real limitation to our ability to replace oil has been the physical limitations of batteries. There's only so much miniaturization you can do. Until we can find a way to store a lot of energy in a small battery, we're stuck with the high BTU goodness of hydrocarbons.
I'm waiting for Bush to invade the ocean, like Caligula.
if we get individual solar/wind/snarkonium generators
Oh man, if we only had a snarkonium generator Buffistas would be rich.
Raq, I don't think the Marigny has had much damage yet, but I'm really worried about the continued flooding which is rolling down Canal St.
Strega! Yeah, and thank you again.
Piss me off and I could supply the Four Corners.
From making the parts that go into solar generators. If oil becomes too expensive to sell, they'll evolve or perish. Their interest is in making money, and they'll go where demand goes.
I expect you're right.
I've heard (from the famous somewhere or other) that one reason Big Energy was reluctant to get into wind and solar was that it was much harder to control. With oil, if you own the oil fields, the refineries, and the distribution centers you've pretty much got it locked. Even if it turns out I have a couple hundred barrels of crude in my back yard, getting it to the point where it makes my Saturn go is pretty involved and probably not worth one person's effort.
If I have a way to turn my roof into an effective solar generator--one that handles all my home and travel energy needs--well, that seems harder to lock down. Silicon's pretty ubiquitous, so hundreds of smaller solar cell manufacturers could get in on the game. It could become more like nurseries, where every wee town could have two solar cell sellers competing as well as a few solar-Lowes that have market share all over the US, rather than Exxon vs. BP, where there are under a hundred or so companies world wide.
