What is wrong in order to produce more cheap renewable energy?

Question

What is wrong in order to produce more cheap renewable energy?

Answer 1

I think the solutions are not so mysterious as the reasons for the footdragging. The delaying factors MAY include:

$ The vested interest and enormous political and financial muscle of the oil companies.

$ While the various Arab nations are scooping in oil dollars they are unlikely to want to rock the boat and will even provide nominal support to western policies re the middle east. A change could bring political instability in that highly inflammable region.

$ Words are cheap. Just saying you are for oil alternatives (or that you believe in the Christian ethic, alien abductions, etc.) comes with no particular imperative to prove or deliver.

$ We do not know what threats, if any, have been quietly delivered to high government by the powerful oil industry - or by the Arab oil producers.

$ Fuel oil is still much cheaper in North America than in Europe and the fact sometimes tends to promote smug complaisance in NA.

$ A perceived solution is always hovering there in the background in case things get really nasty. This is examplified by the farmer's working his farm machinery on chicken manure, the fellow driving his vehicle on salvaged french-fry cooking oil, the making of alcohol fuel from rotting vegetable matter and spoiled fruit and the small-sale gathering of methane pond-gas during WWII, etc. Perhaps none of these are practical as replacement technologies, but they do clearly demonstrate we are by no means in a corner with the perceived dependence on oil.

$ There is always the back-up plan of electric vehicles. The infrastructure may not yet be in place, but practical demonstrations and unfolding technology, and the potential of unending cheap electricity from nuclear generation, wind and tide-power puts it all within reach - so it seems.

$ However, Barack Obama may be just the one to get the ball rolling. He has specifically focused on this as a serious yet solvable issue, and there is less likelihood of his falling prey to the usual bribery, cajoling and political manoeuvring that typically dampens such fundamental initiative.

Answer 2

Not, sure I understand the wording of the question, but if you are asking why can't we, or what is postponing it, it is very simple. America's industry thrives on petroleum products. Gasoline not being the largest, actually. Plastics are also  petroleum by-products, made from the trash leftovers of gasoline refinement and chemically altered to create a snowy type product that is melted down into what we know as plastics. By cutting ties with petroleum, we'd lose plastic as well. Where would America be without plastic?  Back to the time of tin cans and glass bottles. No average person is willing to give up the convenience of plastic for that.

Second, America's industry is reliant upon gasoline, as we know. Look at airplanes, and freight trucks, and ships. They are what makes our industry run, and they have to have gasoline. By far, there is no replacement for gasoline that would provide comparable or adequate power for a long enough time to get our imports and exports from A to B, so cutting out gasoline would break our industry in two. There are plenty of ways to make an alternative fuel vehicle for standard families, that haul only four to seven people and minimal cargo, and have plenty of power, but nothing that can replace plane fuel or diesel.

Basically, it would be super awesome if we could stop drilling and importing petroleum, but it just isn't going to happen since we are already so advanced and dependent upon it for so many things. Gas, plastic, oil to keep engines lubricated, preservatives (yes, even food preservatives, yuck, right?), cleaners, and even artificial fabrics such as polyester and spandex. Also, tar for roads and roofs, paraffin wax, sulfur and sulfuric acid, many carbon based products, and a wide and ever growing variety of petrochemicals used throughout the selection of non-organic and unnatural everyday products.

Answer 3

Lack of leadership.

I recommend that everyone join pickensplan.com, and join with others to push this plan.

If enough momentum can be generated, this plan can become a reality in short order.

Peace