Part of the Solution
Before you get excited, this has nothing to do with solving the puzzles. There's still time for that. No, this is actually related to my recent switch to a new power company. Bear with me on this one.
Up until now, like most people in this country, the electricity I received came from a mixture of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power sources. Not one of those is so great for the environment. In fact, they are all pretty damn shitting over the long term. Coal is one of the dirtiest form of electricity production and what nuclear power lacks in carbon production it makes up in radioactive waste that will survive everyone of us. The current solution is to store it in mile long tunnels in a mountain in New Mexico and even that will probably not happen. All in all, not the greatest way of doing it.
Just a few days ago I switched to Green Mountain Energy. I don't know how it works in your state, but here in Texas you have your choice of energy suppliers. Every one of them produces electricity that goes into a large pool of community power referred to as "the grid". The consumer then uses electricity from the grid and pays the producer of their choice. So, technically, you end up using power from all types of sources but your money just goe s to one. Clear? Green Mountain Energy produces 100% of their electricity from water or wind power.
Why water or wind? Because it does not produce any pollution. A couple of years ago Green Mountain completed what is currently the largest wind farm in the U.S. I suggest checking out the link. The sheer size of these windmills will shock you. Granted, that is definitely one of the drawbacks of these type of production. The turbines are large and the farms take up a very large area of land. On the other hand, west Texas has a vast abundance of empty land and, if given the choice between a nuclear or coal power plant and a wind farm, I'd choose the wind farm. There's something magical about 160 wind turbines spinning effortlessly in the wind. I won't bore you with the statistics and I won't claim that 100% of our energy should be produced by wind, but it definitely is a method that should gain a foothold in this country considerin the current state of environmental damage and non-renewable resources.
I don't like pollution and I believe that this country is far behind in environmental causes than it should be. There's also nothing you can tell me to make me believe that we are holding ourselves back technologically from attaining a much greatly improved energy infrastructure. I'm not saying it's a conspiracy but between Congress and private industry there are a lot of people benefitting from the continuing usage of fossil fuels. Renewable energy is our future. The question is just how long will we put it off?
Up until now, like most people in this country, the electricity I received came from a mixture of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power sources. Not one of those is so great for the environment. In fact, they are all pretty damn shitting over the long term. Coal is one of the dirtiest form of electricity production and what nuclear power lacks in carbon production it makes up in radioactive waste that will survive everyone of us. The current solution is to store it in mile long tunnels in a mountain in New Mexico and even that will probably not happen. All in all, not the greatest way of doing it.
Just a few days ago I switched to Green Mountain Energy. I don't know how it works in your state, but here in Texas you have your choice of energy suppliers. Every one of them produces electricity that goes into a large pool of community power referred to as "the grid". The consumer then uses electricity from the grid and pays the producer of their choice. So, technically, you end up using power from all types of sources but your money just goe s to one. Clear? Green Mountain Energy produces 100% of their electricity from water or wind power.
Why water or wind? Because it does not produce any pollution. A couple of years ago Green Mountain completed what is currently the largest wind farm in the U.S. I suggest checking out the link. The sheer size of these windmills will shock you. Granted, that is definitely one of the drawbacks of these type of production. The turbines are large and the farms take up a very large area of land. On the other hand, west Texas has a vast abundance of empty land and, if given the choice between a nuclear or coal power plant and a wind farm, I'd choose the wind farm. There's something magical about 160 wind turbines spinning effortlessly in the wind. I won't bore you with the statistics and I won't claim that 100% of our energy should be produced by wind, but it definitely is a method that should gain a foothold in this country considerin the current state of environmental damage and non-renewable resources.
I don't like pollution and I believe that this country is far behind in environmental causes than it should be. There's also nothing you can tell me to make me believe that we are holding ourselves back technologically from attaining a much greatly improved energy infrastructure. I'm not saying it's a conspiracy but between Congress and private industry there are a lot of people benefitting from the continuing usage of fossil fuels. Renewable energy is our future. The question is just how long will we put it off?
posted by The Rube at Saturday, September 17, 2005
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