What is the solution to the energy crisis?

Question

As oil tops $200 a barrell we can expect $10 per gallon in the next few years. Petrol, a non-renewable resource must be on its way out. Ethanol, a renewable clean burning fuel, is a favorite, however critics have cited it as a poor choice as, they claim it will cause food prices to soar even higher, specifically corn. And cause a (further) food shortage among poorer nations.

What can be a solution that everyone can live with?

Answer 1

Ethanol has already started to drive up the cost of food. Cows eat corn, have you seen the price of milk and meat lately?

The only way electric vehicles are feasible environmentally is if you use renewable resources to charge them.

I saw a program last week where a city in India that is generating it's power with methane collected from cow waste. The waste is transported to the facility on small human powered carts. The same program reported that the cows in the U.S produce more greenhouse gasses than all of the cars.

I believe that vehicles are only a small part of the petroleum/pollution problem. Most of the plastics we use today are petroleum based Think of all the soda/water bottles, CD cases, toys, etc. that we are filling our landfills with.  

I think the bottom line is that we need to be better custodians of our planet. Every little bit will help. Drive less, recycle what you can, save energy where you can. Be an example to your neighbor. Maybe it will catch on.

Answer 2

This is a really tough question to answer because so many people disagree on whether or not we even have a true energy crisis and those who think there is a problem frequently disagree with everyone else regarding a solution. Selfish folks and folks who wear blinders will probably not solve the energy crisis but will always complain that fuel costs too much while they drive large cars and fly from here to there in luxury.

Unfortunately we really must solve the problem. Currently I think our best hope is to build massive solar energy power systems and convert vehicles to plug-in hybrids until a suitable alternative fuel can be developed. For example, a utility in California is already placing several square miles of solar panels on roofs of businesses and will be generating about 320 megawatts for the local community. If every community planned to do similarly, we might be able to avoid building dirty centralized power plants.

There are a lot of local malls in every community that no longer are utilized and are a blight on their local neighborhood. Why not ask out utility company to purchase panels in mass, ask for investors to buy shares of the power plant, then have the plant built and maintained by the utility and each investor would not have to spend a lot for their own solar panels but each would reap the rewards of our national need for more energy. The utility could pay each investor their per cent of the investment or that amount could be taken off each investors electric bill.

In my own local area, I could point to at least a dozen blighted areas that could be converted to power plants. Generally these malls are not in neighborhoods, so nobody would find them objectionable. And what could the objection possibly be? They make no noise, they don't kill birds, there is no pollution, little folks can benefit and make a little cash with small investment.

Plug-in vehicles that are charged at night would enable me to drive to work and back each day of the week, every week of the year and never use a drop of gas because I only travel 30 miles. If I wanted to go further, it would become a normal auto and use gas.

Wind is probably not the best for my area but there are locations where it would be very useful. It is comical how many folks say the windmills are so ugly but those same people never complain about putting cell phone towers atop their church steeple and dotting the mountain tops of every formerly beautiful horizon. Now that's ugly.

This country and most others are going to need massive energy increases and we'll need it soon, so we need to wake up and get started now but it has to be done far better than our previous designs.

Answer 3

combination of wind power, algae, and biodiesel. I have confidence the experts of the world will figure something out

Answer 4

Well, I would certainly be happy with an electric powered car plugged into my solar panels and windmill at home - but - the technology for vehicles has some improving to do before the entire modern world can switch to electric powered vehicles. That would be my choice though, no oil or corn. Pure sun and wind.

Answer 5

#1  Sell your car

#2  Join the democratic party

#3 Go on welfare

#4 Buy a big screen tv

#5 Complain about the government alot

Answer 6

Everyone get a little car like they drive in Europe that gets 50-60MPG. Build a lots of Nuclear plants. Drill for oil in Alaska, off Forida, and everywhere else we have oil. Build more wind and Solar plants where they are practical.

While we ae doing all this, continue researching Hydrogen Power uses, Fusion Energy, Clean Coal Technologies, More efficient solar collectors, etc. etc.

Answer 7

Magnetic energy reactor levitating above the North and South Pole.

Magnetic energy can be transformed into electricity.

Unfortunately there is no research on this object, or it is top secret.

Answer 8

Drive less.   I drive an average of 5000 miles a year, and could drive less if I really wanted to.   Driving an hour to the beach is a desire, not a necessity.   Our grandparents hardly ever traveled more than a day or two's buggy ride from home.

Answer 9

We shouldn't use the food crops on land to feed our cars, we should use it to feed people. It just ain't righT!

Sell more hybrids, have plug in hybrids and electric cars. Have you seen that movie "who killed the electric car?" It's a really interesting movie!

We kinda do have to change our lifestyle... no more SUVs and humvees. Depend more on renewables, like solar and wind. To do that, we need to invent a big battery to store all this, so we can power our homes and our electric cars. Right now California only uses less than 3% of renewable energy (not including dams)

Answer 10

if we stop useing un-nessesary things, it will be lot easier. The question is who thinks what is nessesary and what is not. Is a car nessesary, cant we live without it? It will take 20 min more to reach the office without it, but cant we get that time by reduceing the TV watching time? 20 mins less TV time will also reduce the electric bill & that regular 30 min walk to your office will prevent many dangerous deaseses, that will also save a huge amount of your money. so think a while before acting.

Answer 11

1) Cut back on consumption of oil resources by

2) Using geothermal, solar, people power, biogas, gasohol, electric engines,  etc.

3) meeting needs thru non-consumptive activities, ie, excercise, walking, helping someone, singing, meditating, dancing, laughing ..... fill up with things that REALLY meet your needs...

friendship, creativity, pets -

REDUCE (consumption)

RE-USE

RECYCLE

MOST plastics & synthetics are made from oil - use natural materials whenever possible.

Answer 12

Well I know what ISN'T a solution - sitting outside eating your McDonald's while letting your huge gas-guzzling SUV run for half an hour when you're just sitting there.

That made me SO ANGRY.

Really, I think the best solution is to make more hybrid cars and make them AFFORDABLE!  Don't manufacture anymore SUVs or Hummers.  Only manufacture fuel-efficient cars and hybrids.  I know they keep making other cars because people will still buy them...but really at this point, there are few who DON'T want to save money on gas (one of those few being big bad SUV driver I previously pointed out).

Answer 13

There is no solution to the energy crises but there is a chance of a redistribution of the energy use that will be more amenable with modern times and living standards.

Poor countries are gradually needing more energy and they will do so in the cheepest possible means such as cutting down their forests for wood fuel. Richer countries have already cut down all their trees except for a few left over for decoration so they are forced to look for other sources of energy. As the cost of energy rises it will become worth while to exploit the heat of the sun, wind and tide power, geothermal heat,bio-produce and nuclear decomposition and fusion.

One effect of the more expensive energy is that less of it will be wasted and more-efficient means of transport and home heating will result. This will probably result in the future generations having to pay a greater proportion of their earnings for theis energy and they will have to use more of their time communicating on the internet rather than making journeys to see their friends and relatives.

If we think that oil is expensive now, try to imagine what it will be like when it is so costly that only a few rich people can afford to run cars and the rest of the population will either walk, cycle or go by public bus or by horse-drawn carriages again.

Answer 14

first of all their is no oil shortage, only idiot people who wont drill for it ! second ,ethanol is a band aid and has run up the cost of food dramatically ,also has a huge federal subsidy of a 1.50 a gal just to produce and causes more environmental damage than oil. solution ,drill for oil and tell the environmental wackos to eat **** and die