Why are we doing this?

Question

if people are making all these alternative energy sources how come we aren't rushing to use them? the world is falling apart and if we don't do anything fast it could crumble beneath our feet. sorry for it being long! thanks!

Answer 1

People are in denial about the problem. Also, growth feeds the economy, so if the oil industry stops growing, all h**l will break loose for them. Some forms of alternative energy are so cheap that no money can be made off them, like WVO as fuel. Therefore, no one will ever promote them, ever. There's no (financial) motivation or incentive.

Also, in America post-WWII our suburbs and cities were built around the car and we lack the infrastructure to implement some alternative solutions like mass transit.

This article is pretty informative and has a thoughtful analysis of some inherent problems with switching to alternative energy. It's about a town in Denmark that switched to wind turbine power:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/...

Answer 2

i have no effin clue. all of these discoveries are going to waste because people are to ignorant to get the point of it all

Answer 3

Three reasons: money, money, and money. Alternative energy sources either cost more than conventional ones, cost a lot to install (even if you do get a payback), or cost more in unintended consequences. The last may not be clear. Think of hydroelectric power from dams. That stops fish migration, requiring expensive fish ladders that still don't work perfectly.

Answer 4

Except for nuclear, all the alternative energy sources have problems.  Wind and solar are unreliable, and have a low energy density.  Ethanol takes more petroleum to make than you get back in energy, and starves the rest of the world.  Hydrogen is not an energy source, just a storage form -- you still need to create the hydrogen in the first place.  Every river that could possibly generate  hydro power in the USA has already been dammed by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Electric cars still need an energy source to charge them up.

The one alternative that is tested, economical, and ready to build today is nuclear.  When Yucca Mountain comes online the waste problem should be solved.  Unless courts decide nuclear waste must be safeguarded in pools scattered across the country for a couple of hundred thousand years.  (Of course nuclear waste from other countries with reactors is not a concern, and their nuclear plants will make up for any shortfall of waste in the USA.)

Answer 5

because most ppl are too ignorant to realize this crisis. others dont care. also ppl dont like spending the extra money for this stuff. but im not one of them...:)

Answer 6

The people that need the lower priced energy cannot afford to install it.

And the ones that can afford to install alternative energy, don't feel the need for it.

Answer 7

because global warming is profit driven. youre absolutely right, if the world is crumbling why do we have to pay $30-40,000 more just to get an extra 10-20 mpg?

Answer 8

People make alternative energy sources to MAKE MONEY, not to be nice or green or be good or anything wonderful.  These people are hoping that the government will tax oil companies so high that you are forced in a communistic way to get your energy from them. The people that make alternative energy systems are more greedy than any oil company.

You want cheaper energy, then don't tax oil companies.  Next prove the earth is falling apart.

Answer 9

The alternate fuels are just not that good. Most of the energy comes from burning corbin ,and it makes very little difference as to how much CO2 it makes.U can almost measure the power by the amount of CO2 that it makes.

Answer 10

people have been cryin the blues just like you for over a hundred years now.if we used alternative fuels them rich guys up top would lose a lot of money.now we would not want that to happen now would we?