A Small Effort Can Have Big Effects

So I've been asked, "you talk a big game about energy independence through renewables, but it seems so hard and expensive. Isn't it just a pipe dream?" (ok, no one asked me that... I asked myself) In truth, it's far far more expensive for us NOT to develop renewable energy. I talked about a gas tax, and then I came across this article that agrees with me, basically saying that while we've dithered and fought over what to do with our energy policy, the price of oil has jumped from $40 to $100. And there are signs that it could go to $200 or more. We're absolutely shooting ourselves in the foot with every dollar we don't spend right now on renewable energy, dollars that in the future will go three and fourfold into the pockets of foreign governments hostile to us. What a waste.

Let's look at what a little tiny change now could do for us when applied over ten years. I'm going to use the example of my 20-cent per gallon gas tax below, and say that each year we took those proceeds and built a solar plant, using the cost model of the Victorville solar energy station. Are you ready?



Doesn't that just kill you? $10 bucks a month and in ten years those 13 million people could get 40% more energy from solar, using existing technology. Considering SoCal Edison energy is already 18% renewable, this would bring the total near 60%! Victorville is being built right now, with available technology. It's not a pipe dream. Why are we not building a hundred of these, and a hundred wind and geothermal stations as well? The cost of the alternative is about to get more expensive than we can imagine.