The Green Energy Economy: What It Will Take to Get There

Reader Comments
Back to article

i don't eat chocolate so my mom tells me that i smell like a dolphin. then when i took my shoes off mr.carrots said no no no you can not have a dog for christmas. you can only have a microwave. the microwave will teach you how to spell salad. now that i turned 45 i learned that my nipples are as fake as michael jacksons nose.

Ben Dover of TX 10:49AM April 13, 2011

I appreciate your comments and suggestions about our transition to a "green economy". I am just getting on board with the idea of a "green economy", but it is very confusing... There are some who say we can transition quite easily, others say no we can't..Your article points to the idea that we do need to have a national energy policy..I appreciate that! I am all for "going green" but we must make sure we plan (as much as humanely possible) or we'll just end up having more of the same piecemeal policies we have had so far...

Charles Franklin of GA 3:34PM August 24, 2010

Take Ticket,respect act percent clear dry cut bad male housing regional some plenty construction corporate fire first fall pull whole member need present no county something link rest failure safety acquire store experiment recommend career studio turn hospital artist season whole congress dark package strategy arrive law cry attend sign order talk around breath early ground kid recover legal decide reasonable consider consist wife explanation journey human internal other on intend brother money oil colour front beyond argument version module sleep conduct fight rather copy speaker employ museum sense

side effects acai of 7:31AM May 09, 2010

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz now I know my abc's next time wont you sing with me......ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ now I know my ABC's next time wont you sing with me........oh man this really sucks.....I think that this class sucks aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcccccccccccccdddddddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeffffffffffffffffffffffffffgggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkllllllllllllllllllllllmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooopppppppppppppppqqqqqqqqqqrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssssssttttttttttttttuuuuuuuuuuvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz nnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww iiiiiiiiiii kkkkkkknnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooowwwwwwwwwww mmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy aaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbccccccccccc''''''''sssssssssssss nnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxttttttttttttt ttttttttttttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee wwwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnn'''''''''''''''ttttttttttttttttt yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu ssssssssssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee........................................................................................................................................aababcabcdabcdeabcdefabcdefgabcdefghabcdefghiabcdeghij

bob the builder of AL 12:16PM October 22, 2009

With so many greedy interests fighting for position #1, America is doomed to stalling and failing! We need Obama and his energy folk to create tax incentives in a single strong direction, but so far they have run in all directions, the most frightening of which is the initiation of the ground work for a pissing contest with China, who currently are building 11 yes 11 nuclear reactors in fine Chinese style complete with bamboo scaffoldings around their concrete pours and Quality Control from a central government office! A disaster here can become a disaster for humanity! Certainly some good will come of all the posturing and paper on this energy matter, but most likely, battered by a cyclical capitalist economy, and festering wounds from Asian competition, America will continue in Higglty pigglty fashion, limping along, and dying all the while from usury and the Uber-Rich draining the cream off the top for their own consumption. Thus it has been for two centuries, and will continue until America is a Third World protectorate of an organized and powerful Asian Empire, growing by force of population growth unprecedented in history! We need a "Manhattan" style energy plan put into motion now, to save us from our fate, but Obama simply does not have the mandate to do such great works! Neither did Hitler, Stalin or Genghis khan! We must settle for a mild mannered University professor, who will guide our children to school, put our "Legacy Workers" from our past industrial age to "make-work, busy jobs" supported by government handouts, and tax the Uber-rich to pay for it out of their ill gotten gains on Asia's semi-slaves by their investments on the Beijing, Shanghai and Hong-Kong stock markets! America! be prepared to "Downsize" your "Glory Days" are over, and now as a more mature young adult, you must pay for you ill-spent teen years! Welcome to the real world!

Uncle B 7:59AM August 02, 2009

There could be no better investment in America than to invest in America becoming energy independent! We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources. Create cheap clean energy, new badly needed green jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. The cost of fuel effects every facet of consumer goods from production to shipping costs. It costs the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to charge and drive an electric car. If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV's instead had plug-in electric drive trains the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota.We have so much available to us such as wind and solar. Let's spend some of those bail out billions and get busy harnessing this energy. Create cheap clean energy, badly needed new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. What a win-win situation that would be for our nation at large! There is a really good new book out by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now.

Sherry of FL 6:14AM March 24, 2009

As an organizer on streets across America, I have found that pressure groups largely mold public opinion. The success of a pressure group does not weigh on reasonable arguments, but their specific strengths and resources.
It is blatantly obvious that drawing our energy from fossil fuels is reckless and irresponsible for any democracy. It is a civil rights concern, a public health concern, an environmental concern, and an economic concern.
The measures in which we successfully create an efficient, healthy, environmentally friendly national energy policy will depend not on how well we allow fossil fuels to remain in use, but how efficiently we provide the means to take them out of use.
The more successful fossil fuel pressure groups are at affecting public opinion, the more successful they will be at hurting our "transition" into a sustainable society.

Kaleb of CO 11:18PM March 23, 2009

Coal is here to stay. I wish it wasn't so, however the world gets 50% of its electricity from burring coal. Even if you took a 96 square mile patch in the Mojave Desert for solar (They say that faculty level plant could supply the entire USA)the coal plants ain't going no where.
Burning coal is the source of CO2 gases, so why not mitigate the smoke stack gasses. BIO-REACTOR, uses blue green algae to attenuate the carbon dioxide and the by products are ethanol and bio-diesel. This installation will become a profit center by selling the byproducts, establishing a business model, where clean energy can pay for itself.

Rick of CA 5:26PM March 23, 2009

Taking into account the war costs,tumbled credibility around the world, broken foreign relationship, security costs, environmental costs, recession costs, volatility, declining oil reserve, fossil fuel would be a most expensive energy source, from my perspective.
We can not rebuild grand economy on the volatile, declining energy base, instead, the world has enough technology and its potential, I suppose.
I guess the great depression had a great deal of natural energy sources, today the current initial depression has great technologies instead. It is likely that this moment is the last chance to survive as the environment to invest in a new energy base is going to be getting worse down the road.

hsr0601 7:22AM March 23, 2009

As with so many articles, this one assumes that man-made global warming has been proven beyond a doubt. In the past few months I’ve focused my research on this issue for my website www.energyplanusa.com . I've waded through IPCC reports and concluded that they lack the 'smoking gun' that proves global warming is man-made. The reports are jargoned-up, rely too heavily on unproven computer models. Most importantly they ignore the facts from what seem to be reliable studies: The globe was warmer 1,000 years ago then it is today. The Vikings grew grapes in New Foundland and even named it Vinland until the little ice age set in. The Chinese grew citrus in locations that are too cold today to grow citrus. It’s also been reported that chilly England even had citrus groves. There are many of these type examples from seemingly solid sources. Before I get back on the man-made global bandwagon the proponents of that thinking must prove to me that it was not warmer a 1,000 years ago when C02 levels were 'normal'.

Rmoen of NV 8:30PM March 22, 2009