The United States - the "Can Do" Nation

Growing up in rural America, I have always been told that we are the "Can Do" country of the world, meaning that if there were a need for something, someone in the United States would invent it. After all, not only was the telegraph, Morse code, cotton gins, barbed wire, and amphibious vehicles invented by ordinary people in the United States, but even farm tractors and can openers were created by American inventors. Therefore, what is the problem with inventing new and creative methods of using, saving and creating new energy resources?

With the advent of windmills or the huge wind turbines, using wind for energy to make electricity seems a sane, viable, and sustainable reason to have them. So, why are there not more of these wind machines around? One problem seems to be the American people themselves because far too many people in the United States have become a nation of "whiners". Towns, cities, counties and states all apparently have a problem with devising regulations that would enable them to be used. In place of trying to solve the problem, they have given excuses that windmills and wind turbines are too big, too loud, and that they just "might" fall apart and injure someone. How many people die because of an automobile accident each year, yet cars have yet to be outlawed?

While it is true that if you do not have enough acreage to support these machines, it is not a good idea to have a 450-foot tower and spinning blades with an equal 450-foot diameter blade towering over the top of your head. After all - you "might" accidentally be decapitated. That said, why are we not producing - yes, even mass producing smaller, quieter, safer residential wind machines that can be attached to the house, garage or put on a pole and still be effective and efficient enough to provide electricity to cover part or all of the electric used by any household? Is this REALLY something only a rocket scientist can figure out?

Hybrid electrical cars are another example of energy saving machines that may become the new and common wave of the future. However, once again the hold up is that no one has figured out how to make battery cells that will hold a charge long enough to make them worthwhile to manufacture. Surely, someone out there can figure out how to make a battery last for 300 miles. Not only that, but why do we have to be concerned with finding a place to "plug in" in order to recharge that battery? Why is it seemingly inconceivable to have battery stations (as opposed to gas stations) where you pull in, drop off one battery, pop in another one, and ride off into the sunset - for at least another 300 miles?

What about solar panels, Americans? Are these energy saving panels so difficult to make that only a few people have figured out how to manufacture their own? Why are we waiting for some company to China or even another third world country to develop, produce, and ship us their mass-produced and cheaply manufactured products when we know we can do a better job ourselves - and make a better product at the same time?

Take it from me, folks. We do not need to build a better mousetrap. We built the mousetrap in the first place, along with airplanes, ice pops, cell phones, automobiles, electric washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers, stock car racing, mousepads, frozen food, and yes - even toilet paper. However, we, as citizens of the "Can Do" American United States, need to get our priorities in order and make our world work the way we want it to, both energy efficient and with clean, renewable energy sources.

Sources:
Timeline of United States inventions