Per Jank,
We can't rely on fossil fuels forever. At some point we have to move forward and find alternate means. Change is scary to some people. Mostly regressive conservatives. It's sort of like the gay marriage thing going on in our state right now. Regardless of whether the majority likes it or understands it...its the future and it will happen with or without their help or permission.
We progressive liberals will just keep dragging the rest of you along with us into the future. If we didn't we would all still be reading by candle light and believing that the earth was flat.
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If progressives were in vogue during the era of cave dwelling, we would reside in very nice caves with a few amenities such as a way to funnel the smoke out.
The progressives believe that government, under their supervision, is the way to the future. Central planning, at base, which assumes government bureaucracy are reservoirs of the smartest and the brightest. History leans towards the opposite view. From about 1790 until the early 1800s, canals and mule power were seen as the road for US western expansion. Governments issued bonds to finance the construction of canals. Private enterprise produced the steam engine, which bankrupted the canals. First, steam boats, then rail, replaced the canals.
At the same time, expensive candles for light were replaced with oil lamps – whale oil. Whales provided not only oil, but baleen – the plastic of its day. As the whales became scarce, articles bemoaned that a new dark age was upon us. However, oil was found in Pennsylvania – which provided kerosene to replace whale oil (private enterprise saved the whale). At first, it was believed Pennsylvania was the only source of oil – proved incorrect, of course.
Using government to pick the winners and losers is a fool’s errand. The best bets for new energy sources include nuclear, breeder reactors, thorium, and fusion. The Skunk Works at Lockheed-Martin announced they will have a working model of a fusion reactor by 2017 and commercial models available in ten years. Fusion reactors used deuterium, available in sea water for fuel.. The commercial model may be plugged in existing natural gas generators. If it works, this means almost unlimited electrical power -- pollution free. Electricty cheap enough to produce hydrogen economically from sea water. Hydrogen that can take the place of gasoline. Burning hydrogen produces two pollutants -- water vapor and oxygen. A US/EU research team hoped to produce such a reactor in 2030,