Reply #68: What we really need to do is nationalize energy resources

[primavera]

The inevitable criticism of alternative clean energy sources is that their implementation on a large scale is too far off in the future, that the research and development isn't ready to assume the burden of meeting an entire nation's energy needs at this time. And I daresay that's true, because R&D in alternative energy constitutes only a tiny portion of what we spend on supplying the nation with energy, it's the black sheep, not the mainstream.

What I can't help thinking about though is how the mainstream oil and gas industry has, in a remarkably short period of time, managed to build fracking stations that destroy the environment, at a density of, oh, about one per block, across nearly a third of the country. The resources that are being expended to destroy the environment through fracking are staggering, trucks by the thousands working around the clock to transport all of the toxic pollutants to be injected into the ground, along with all of the heavy equipment needed, it just takes your breath away. Yet it's but chump change to the oil and gas industry that makes hundreds of billions in pure profit every year by raping the planet.

I have to wonder: if we were investing those kinds of funds into clean alternative sources of energy, would we still have an energy crisis? People used to talk about fusion as a potentially much safer and more ecofriendly alternative to fission reactors. According to Wikipedia, fusion remains a theoretically wonderful alternative to fission, but the research and development into how to make it viable in practice is such that it isn't expected to be available for another 30 years at the earliest. Yet, if we were to divert even a quarter of the money from oil and gas into fusion, I bet we could have fusion reactors running by Christmas. If we were to take another quarter of the money we spend on oil and gas, I'd wager we could have a solar roof on every home in America within a few years. Hell, I even read a while back that someone was exploring using nanotechnology to make a photovoltaic paint. Just imagine how much electricity one could generate if every painted surface in the country converted solar energy into electricity! A fantasy? Maybe, but even if photovoltaic paint is just a pipedream, I'll bet the research into the application of nanotechnology to solar energy production would be incredibly useful to other more conventional methods of collecting solar energy.

The point is, we're never going to get there as long as alternative energy remains largely the province of a handful of small institutes and eccentric inventors working out of their garages. It's got to be researched and developed seriously, with resources appropriate for a top national priority. And we can't afford to do that as long as the oil and gas industry has all of our money. Bottom line is, we've got to regain control over our nation's wealth so that it can be invested in beneficial activities as opposed to being pillaged by profiteers. Piracy is a crime recognized around the world; it's time we we opened our eyes and recognized Big Oil for what it is.