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Energy Independence
Energy Independence, It's a term you hear in the news on a fairly regular basis, but what does it really mean? For our country, it means that we no longer need to import fossil fuels from other countries. Considering that our economy runs on fossil fuels, it would seem to me that we need to do what we can to find more sources for them here in the United States. We do have great stores of Oil and Coal Shale located in the United States, but currently we are not taking advantage of those reserves. We also have reserves of Natural Gas and Oil available off the Coasts of California and Florida, but we decline to take advantage of them.
The reasons for us not using these energy reserves are many. For those that fear an environmental impact, they oppose any exploration or drilling for fear of harming nature. Others take the attitude that we should import all we can from everyone else. They feel that when we bleed them dry, we will then have a huge advantage because we will be the only ones left with fossil fuel supplies. I don't really care about either position at this point in time. I feel we need to do whatever it takes to secure a fossil fuel supply that will keep our economy humming along. If we don't accomplish this, environmental impacts or supply advantage won't mean a thing. Our economy depends on a fuel supply to maintain. Everything we touch on a daily basis is affected by fossil fuels or fossil fuel use. We can't allow our petty differences to destroy our way of life. We must develop the fossil fuel sources we have here in the United States just in case we are cut off from our other supplies. We also need to explore other methods of creating energy. Nuclear Energy is a clean efficient way to produce energy, but is quite costly due to government interference. It is still a method that could be used to help the United States become more energy independent. Wind power seems to be somewhat feasable, but doesn't produce enough energy for the real estate it takes up. Of course further research may produce a more efficient windmill down the road. Hydro-Energy is a great way to produce power, but is limited to areas where water exists and dams can be built. It also has environmentalists up in arms because of the impact it has on nature. Solar power has never really taken off, but further research may produce a much more efficient Solar Cell. Fuel cells seam to be the coming technology that will help us with power generation, but considering most of the research is being done by the Big Three Automotive groups, it doesn't give me warm fuzzies. They have never been in the game for anything more than self preservation. I've also worked with individuals from all three organizations and I have to tell you that they are not the people to depend on for a prosperous future. The United States is made up of the worlds finest minds. We have more creativity in our country than any other. I believe that this is because of our standard of living. Those that live in our country have more free time to think and create. It is true that you must have the desire to do so, but living in the greatest nation on earth should allow those that do, the ability to make their creations become reality. Our energy situation is never going to get better until we find a better way to produce it. While maintaining our current methods, we must find better methods for the future. My Challenge to all of you out there, is to find individuals with new ideas. It doesn't matter if what they say sounds crazy or against all science as we know it. Most of the science we profess to know is based on theroies that have never been proven. We are taught these things as if they are correct, but conjecture is the mainstay behind most of our education. With this in mind, I want those of you that take my challenge to post links on our Blog. The link for the blog is: Energy Independence