Clean Energy Stalled by Old Money

Cleaner, renewable, alternative energy sources are going to have to be a priority if our country ever intends to become financially stable. From driving a car to watching television, we must find alternatives for our energy needs.

Car manufacturers have made some progress, but electric cars will never be a good alternative because, while they may cut back on emissions from cars themselves, they still require fossil fuels in the recharging process and leave behind disposed batteries. Hybrid cars are a good temporary solution because they at least use less gasoline and generate their own electric power.

Inevitably, however, we need to focus on developing a vehicle that doesn't need oil or its byproducts. A growing alternative are biodiesel and ethanol - referred to as "biofuels." Biofuels are made from corn and soybeans which can be manufactured into fuels with similar combustion properties to gas and diesel fuel.

Until biofuels can be put into large scale production, however, they will be extremely expensive to manufacture. In addition, the excessive amount of fossil fuels still required in manufacturing these products makes the effort pointless.

Back at home, we still have no clear alternative to powering our electric razors and television sets. Electricity in our homes, schools and businesses comes primarily from power plants that use coal.

Coal is the single dirtiest fossil fuel used today and so-called clean coal is nothing but a myth. In fact, the term "clean coal" does not actually refer to the material but instead to the technologies intended to reduce the emissions that result from its use.

While many argue that coal is less expensive than other options, nothing could be further from the truth. Mining for coal is an expensive prospect for many reasons.

Locating and extracting coal uses millions of dollars in equipment, manpower and oil. Mining operations contaminate water supplies and destroy entire ecosystems. The costs of cleaning up after a coal mine has been exhausted are astronomical and in some cases, the environmental damage is irreversible.

Nuclear power, on the other hand, carries an entirely different set of problems, beginning with the disposal of nuclear waste and ending with the danger of a malfunction like those that occurred at Three Mile Island or Chernobyl. Just to enrich uranium for nuclear power plants requires massive amounts of fossil fuels, again, gaining little in either environmental or money savings.

The bottom line is that right now it takes fossil fuels to create alternative fuels. Logically speaking, we need to create renewable safe energy sources that do not require fossil fuels in their production.

Some of those options were already here, and we just need to find better ways to adapt them to our use. Wind, solar and sea current turbine power are all options that, while expensive today, would become cheaper over time and increased use.

My educational background is in engineering and I believe wind turbines are the best options right now. However, convincing people that the equipment is quiet and not the big eyesore everyone imagines will be a challenge.

If it was up to me, and we had the financial resources, there would be several turbines on our family farm right now. But, don't worry, the good-old-boy rural politics will block common sense and prevent us from doing it.

Speaking of politics, we spend a great deal of time blaming foreign interests for our high energy costs when much of the problem originates right here at home. Big oil and coal conglomerates lobby congress to block research money for clean energy technology and our legislators roll over every time - republicans and democrats alike.

Unfortunately, until the big energy companies are prevented from lobbying congress, it will be some time before we see any action. I don't think this is a technology problem as much as it is a money and political issue.

The United States was built in ingenuity and we need to get off our hands and fix this problem - if not for the environment then simply to make it cheaper and safer to live in our own country. If we can send three guys to the moon in a pop can and make cell phones the size of a credit card, certainly we can find a way to meet our energy needs that won't eventually kill us.

Columnist Gery L. Deer is syndicated by GLD Enterprises Media Group - www.gerydeer.com