The traditional tendency to use fossil fuels is diminishing. The
installation of a pipeline within the heartland and above our
nation's largest underground freshwater aquifer the "old-fashioned"
way is becoming extinct. The subsidies provided to the
fossil-fuel industry by the government for the construction of the
mechanisms to harvest fossil fuels should be used instead to
diversify our energy production portfolio especially in solar wind
and others. Approximately 32 million watts of energy per
square mile day strike the surface of the earth daily (11.5 billion
watts/square mile annually). Furthermore, The EIA reports
that in 2011, fossil fuel powered generation was 1,593,912 MWh. In
order to replace 30% of the fossil fuel production, we would need
only to install 40 square miles of solar cells. Now that's
the a way to create jobs. The efficiency of solar technology
cells will increase at the rate of doubling for every three
years; I believe that if the consumption of the solar energy
increases at the industrial, commercial, and residential levels
production and innovation will occur and the photovoltaic
efficiency will increase. With this increase of solar power
consumption the pollution in our environment will decrease. The
health of our people will increase. Land, air and water
quality will improve. New markets for the construction,
distribution, installation, and maintenance will be created.
The expansion of the new economy does not include fossil
fuels. Fossil fuels are being phased "down." For
this reason it is prudent that we aggressively seek alternative
sources of energy.
- Santee Riverkeeper
Figure1. - U.S Energy Production for the past decade by type
Figure 2 - Energy production % change by type from
previous year and as a percentage of total production for current
year.
