7 Ways to Switch America to Renewable Energy

This is an article that was last revised on 16 Dec 2002. Albeit a bit out dated, with the current environmental impact this current spill could have on the Gulf Coast, not to mention the economy that could reach across the Globe. I felt this article was worth rehashing.

7 Ways to Switch America to Renewable Energy from the Union of Concerned Scientists website.

Which was:

Excerpted from the Executive Summary of Powerful Solutions: Seven Ways to Switch America to Renewable Electricity, UCS, 1999

An excerpt of the preface and table of contents from the article:

Over the years, state and federal governments have taken a number of policy actions to encourage renewable energy production. In states committed to seeing them through, the policies have been very successful. New policies are needed if renewables are to compete successfully in deregulated electricity generation markets.

We identify seven effective ways to encourage the wider use of renewable energy:

* Renewables Portfolio Standard
* Public Benefits Funding
* Net Metering
* Fair Transmission and Distribution Rules
* Fair Pollution Rules
* Customer Information
* Putting Green Customer Demand to Work

I firmly believe that all ATS'ers should try to post any and all types of renewable alternative energy sources. We have to ween ourselves from BIG oil's teet! We have the ability, it's just going to take an effort on the part of..well the World to stop relying on Fossil Fuels. The more the knowledge is spread, and the higher the demand becomes, the more TPTB will have to concede to this effort. All it takes is a few strong voices to get the ball rolling.

We at ATS, are a STRONG voice IMO. Let's start now so that future generations aren't cleaning up our messes.

I like the spirit of your thread UberL33t, and so star+flag.

I agree with your sentiments that we here at ATS have a Voice that is heard around the world.

I have always said, that ATS is mankind's last best hope, and that ATSers will save the world!

I wasn't joking!

hey what do you guys think will be the current new leading form of energy?

cold fusion or zero point? any others?

reply to post by muzzleflash

ATSers will save the world!

I concur!!

reply to post by togetherwestand


I see a lot of articles regarding the progression of fusion energy.

From sources like the Advanced Energy Technology Group Center for Energy Research

Our research focuses on the exploration and application of advanced technologies to improve the economic and environmental attractiveness of emerging energy sources.

and..

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Mission Statement:

The DOE Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory works with collaborators across the globe to develop fusion as an energy source for the world, and conducts research along the broad frontier of plasma science and technology. PPPL also nurtures the national research enterprise in these fields, and educates the next generation of plasma and fusion scientists.

As far as Zero Point, there are definite strides being made on this front as well.

Zero Point Energy and Zero Point Field

Quantum mechanics predicts the existence of what are usually called ''zero-point'' energies for the strong, the weak and the electromagnetic interactions, where ''zero-point'' refers to the energy of the system at temperature T=0, or the lowest quantized energy level of a quantum mechanical system. Although the term ''zero-point energy'' applies to all three of these interactions in nature, customarily (and hereafter in this article) it is used in reference only to the electromagnetic case.

In conventional quantum physics, the origin of zero-point energy is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states that, for a moving particle such as an electron, the more precisely one measures the position, the less exact the best possible measurement of its momentum (mass times velocity), and vice versa. The least possible uncertainty of position times momentum is specified by Planck's constant, h. A parallel uncertainty exists between measurements involving time and energy (and other so-called conjugate variables in quantum mechanics). This minimum uncertainty is not due to any correctable flaws in measurement, but rather reflects an intrinsic quantum fuzziness in the very nature of energy and matter springing from the wave nature of the various quantum fields. This leads to the concept of zero-point energy.

Whatever the source, Fossil Fuels have to go, it's wayyyy overdue.

Laser ignited nuclear fusion!!!

Vote yes for Earth's star!

The largest hurdle I see to renewable energy is the capital needed to invest in infrastructure. The technology is there even now without fusion or anything like that. The entire world can run on solar and wind. TPTB control the capital though, and therefor control the system. It will be difficult getting the resources re-allocated to renewables.

It needs to be done now. Somehow.

reply to post by UberL33t


I dont think government can force through the things necessary to move to only using clean, renewable energy other than nuclear. This is something that has to be lead by the market. There is no sense in producing a bunch of renewable energy that is not cost competitive with fossil fuels. You can incentivize (tax breaks/tax incentives/regulations/penalties) renewables to bring down the costs in a fake sort of way, but what good is that. It still will cost the society as a whole more for their energy.

We have to wait until technology catches up with the need. Now I am not saying we shouldnt have agencies like Darpa seeding research in this area, but I am saying you cannot force society to move to inferior energy storage. Fossil fuels are great and convienient energy stores.

Originally posted by UberL33t
reply to post by togetherwestand

 

I see a lot of articles regarding the progression of fusion energy.

From sources like the Advanced Energy Technology Group Center for Energy Research

Our research focuses on the exploration and application of advanced technologies to improve the economic and environmental attractiveness of emerging energy sources.

and..

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Mission Statement:

The DOE Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory works with collaborators across the globe to develop fusion as an energy source for the world, and conducts research along the broad frontier of plasma science and technology. PPPL also nurtures the national research enterprise in these fields, and educates the next generation of plasma and fusion scientists.

Whatever the source, Fossil Fuels have to go, it's wayyyy overdue.

thanks for finding the individual articles!
i was thinking about buying palladium since it is used for cold fusion, i dont know if i should just stick to gold silver, thats why i am wondering when cold fusion is capable of happening, that would of course explode the palladium market.

the 'god' of the fed res:
gold
oil
drugs

also i have a feeling other newer energies will be manipulated just like oil..

and also be weaponized.

[edit on 2-5-2010 by togetherwestand]

reply to post by SlickOil

Fossil fuels are great and convienient energy stores.

For the most part, Fossil Fuels were the catalyst for the industrial revolution. Their convenience is due to it really being the only resource for energy. We built our infrastructure with it.

Because of the energy and technological break-throughs that have amassed since the industrial revolution we have had the ability to crawl out from under this veil of Fossil Fuel's convenience. However, we have become too complacent with this energy source thanks to Big Oil and TPTB.

But..

As convenient as it is, it will not be around forever.

Oil, and who has control of it is the epitome of Global Super Powerism. Without the reliance on this resource, more effort could be devoted to Global Comradery instead of Global Domination. At least it would be the first big step in doing so IMO.

Number one way I can think of is make everyone that has profited from the Department of Energy since its creation to start repaying that money back immediately since they have provided no results. FYI 2011 DOE budget is $28.4 Billion.

Make the people responsible or start busting heads (figuratively of course).