I knew it was a sign of the times. When I attended the back to school night for my 3rd grade daughter, on display were their projects. One of them was to answer the question, "What would you do to make the world a better place?" Several of her classmates wrote about inventing an engine that doesn't burn gasoline and cleaning up the environment. Some 9 year olds clearly understand that they will have to create clean, renewable energy sources to have the same standard of living we enjoy today.
In my "Power Struggle" series, I talked with entrepreneurs, financiers, and policymakers who are working to make that happen now. What's clear is that there is no silver bullet, but there are people willing to take the risk to develop new sources of energy to fuel our future.
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The main source of energy for this planet is the Sun. Considering that, our focus should be on harnessing the solar energy as best as we can. In California, where I live, I see a tremendous oppurtunity for installing solar panels atop offices, apartment homes, condominiums etc.
Thanks. Power plants produce emissions; but reducing those emissions by using efficient and renewable sources should be the goal.
Part 3 touches on that. I hope you'll view the entire series.
Thanks to Stephanie Dhue for doing a series on renewable energy. One minor correction: electric cars are not emission free, except to the extent that the energy source used to generate the electricity is also emission free. Thus, if the electricity is generated from solar or wind, then the car is indeed emission free. If the electricity is generated from coal or natural gas, then there are carbon emissions at the remote generation site. Because global warming is a global problem, we must account for emissions globally.