I agree 100% with Gary.
Right Friggin on- This is EXACTLY what we need to do.
This is a very impressive "think-tank" here at the omegalist.
US Gov- are you listening?!!
I was in Mexico on vacation, in the city I was staying used
SOLAR water heaters on all the rooftops- of course it wasn't the climate
of Green Bay, Wisconsin-- but let's see some TAX breaks
passed to make this feasable in the areas that can support them.
A buddy of mine in California said that he can sell electricity back to
the
grid at 90 cents on the dollar, but here where I live, a buddy checked
into
solar
and found that he could only selll it for 8-10 cents on the dollar (back
to
the grid.)
Need some changes made.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Fritz" <fritz@xxxxxxxx>
To: <omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: RES: stock to buy- GPRE
On 4 Jul 2008 at 21:41, Randy wrote:
> No matter how much we want or hope for a solar , wind alternative
> energy solution .....it's not going to happen . Lump them all
> together
> and the most optimistic forecasts are 5-10 percent of current
> consumption.
It doesn't have to be. I did a back-of-envelope calculation once to see
how
much solar energy could be produced on the government-owned lands of the
desert Southwest. It would take an area of roughly 40,000 square miles
to
produce energy equal to the ENTIRE energy budget of the US, assuming
only 10% efficiency. The US Govt owns 200,000 square miles of prime
solar
real estate in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. If they would cede 50k
or
100k of that land to a US Energy Trust, they could launch a "man-on-the-
moon" class of initiative that could make the US entirely energy self-
sufficient, and virtually eliminate our dependence on polluting energy
sources like coal or nuclear.
Yes, there would be environmental impacts in the area -- but consider the
environmental and economic impacts of coal mining, burning coal or oil,
disposing of nuclear wastes -- or engaging in wars in the Mideast.
Should we try to replace 100% of the US energy consumption with solar?
Probably not, as there are other problems involved. But it could provide
a
HUGE percentage of the energy this country needs, with a self-built and
self-
owned source of endless clean energy.
Gary