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The future of energy use needs to be moving away from CO2 producing
sources. The billions of dollars we spend for foreign oil each year
jeopardizes the security of our country. We not only are lured into
foreign wars to protect our energy sources, but that money is not
spent on productive goods or services. Dollars are shipped
overseas, forever removed from multiplying through our economy.
Yetas  our economy founders, we remain teethered to disappearing
hydrocarbon energy interests; as supply dwindles, the cost
inevitable will rise. Yet we continue blindly into global warming,
when the very source of the heat is the solution to all our
problems. Free, plentiful, non-polluting energy beats down upon us
daily. Solar energy cost is simple the cost of harvesting it. The
process of building the solar industry to do that will provide jobs
that will provide jobs as that money is spent again and again
instead of being shipped overseas, boosting the tax base, and
providing employment. Though small now, by demanding that
greenhouse gases be removed from the energy economy will provide
the incentive for that industry to invest and grow, which will
drive down the cost further. Legislation to require power companies
to pay the prevailing rate to the small producer (such as home
rooftops) will provide further incentive to commit the capital to
put those solar panels into service. But wait, that's not all,
because local electrical generation eliminates the huge loss of
energy that come with transporting electricity from central,
distant power generating plants. The solution to so many of our
problems are beating down on our heads everyday, a win-win
situation for our state and country (except for the big oil
companies). This strategy will make worries about reducing
greenhouse gases a moot point. As local solar power supplies 5%,
then 10%, then 15% and 20% of energy needs, the costs will fall.
The market for oil will collapse. Dangerous deep water drilling
will be no longer economically viable. And most of this can be
accomplished with requiring power companies to pay solar producers
to supply the electrical grid, and tax incentives to make investing
in solar cost effective.