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I live in Texas, the land of aging hippies (mostly in Austin & West Texas) and a pretty pragmatic bunch, even some of the old hippies. Independence is King.
Maybe not Solar, because it's unreliable and too expensive - but it might make the list someday. Wind is good and we put the big Wind Farms in very windy places and actually like the way they look .... kinda arty. Some of the Bird Watchers don't like them, but they also don't like buildings and we are not likely to start living underground to "save the birds". We do a little Hydro, but not many sustained flow large rivers - if we did, I'm think the Ski, Kayak & Canoe crowd would object. We are not much on cutting down forests, except in East Texas, where they need thinning and we tend to eat corn more than drive with it. We are pretty big on Power Delivery Systems - which is why we have a great system for getting that wind power from empty West Texas to Austin .. added bonus is they pay extra for the wind stuff and happy to do it. Of course we have our own Power Grid that is not connected to the rest of the USA.
Nothing Texans understand more than Pipelines and Gas/Oil - we get some complaints from the aging Hippy crowd, the imported yankees/westies and from the klueless kiddos, who don't seem to understand that it's the Oil/Gas/Pipelines on Texas Owned Land, that fund Education and our University System. Nice bundle in our Rainy Day Fund also.
We tend to go for an "All of the Above" Energy Independence program and make it work for us. Largest Wind producer in the USA & 5th largest in the world. Oddly enough - we are 10th largest in solar in the USA & have almost none .. which says a lot about solar. OIL/GAS/GASOLINE ..... we lead the Country and that will grow larger.
We are on track to become a World Power in export of LGN - that will help with a lot of things - Jobs, Trade Deficit and a big help to Europe, Putin doesn't like this a bit - so that's a plus also.
I'm thinking our new Energy Secretary is going to work on some new Nuclear Plants and perhaps some of the SMR's (Small modular reactor) can move forward. I don't think we will see a new Solyndra or another Private company like Tesla that makes $100,000 cars that only the uber rich can afford on Taxpayer Subsidies.
Back to the Thread Title - I would feel a lot more comfortable with these Polls that tell us what we "think" IF they would be transparent about who they are deciding is telling us what we "think" and "believe".
It's certainly NOT like they have a very good Track Record for the last several years.
Our greenies are very sincere in their save the earth priorities but they just plain don't see that nothing is free. All energy production has an impact. Going green here means more fields must go solar, more ridge tops must have windmills (and I agree with you, I think they are pretty neat to look at), pipelines must be laid to distribute natural gas if we want to reduce oil usage, and power lines need to come from Quebec if we want more of their abundant hydro power.
Get the government out of regulating energy PERIOD. Let the market decide what is developed and what isn't developed. People that want green energy need only pay to have it installed on their homes then disconnect from the grid.
Oh wait... that's not what you want. You want someone (government) to mandate (via force) that the electrical energy producers build solar and wind and whatever other pixie dust, fairy farts and unicorn poop ideas you can come up with, have them sell this energy at the same price OR LESS, AND have it be reliable.
Exactly! and when ever the green fantasies fail to met the lofty (and unrealistic) expectations of the spoiled children, extra charges for the conversion should be imposed.
I take no issue with those who see "alternative" power as a backup; the problem is that it isn't reliable, and therefore, isn't adaptable to the needs of continuous-process heavy industry with high fixed (overhead) charges. But you can't seem to get this point through the thick skulls of the touchie-feelies.
Our greenies are very sincere in their save the earth priorities but they just plain don't see that nothing is free. All energy production has an impact. Going green here means more fields must go solar, more ridge tops must have windmills (and I agree with you, I think they are pretty neat to look at), pipelines must be laid to distribute natural gas if we want to reduce oil usage, and power lines need to come from Quebec if we want more of their abundant hydro power.
I'm looking at Kentucky out my back window and do not want windmills spoiling my view of the Land of Milk & Honey ...
I'm looking at Kentucky out my back window and do not want windmills spoiling my view of the Land of Milk & Honey ...
Nothing wrong with that opinion so long as you aren't screaming we need renewable energy sources or expecting other communities to incur the impact of providing you with "green" energy. If everyone that demands NIMBY had their way we'd all be living in the dark.
I look out at a ridge line rising 1,500 feet above my house maybe 3/4's of a mile away. I'd be OK with that ridge being lined with windmills.
Nothing wrong with that opinion so long as you aren't screaming we need renewable energy sources or expecting other communities to incur the impact of providing you with "green" energy. If everyone that demands NIMBY had their way we'd all be living in the dark.
I look out at a ridge line rising 1,500 feet above my house maybe 3/4's of a mile away. I'd be OK with that ridge being lined with windmills.
I'M not a greenie ... drill baby drill ... mine baby mine...and the nations railroads will haul it to where ever you need it!
Our greenies are very sincere in their save the earth priorities but they just plain don't see that nothing is free. All energy production has an impact. Going green here means more fields must go solar, more ridge tops must have windmills (and I agree with you, I think they are pretty neat to look at), pipelines must be laid to distribute natural gas if we want to reduce oil usage, and power lines need to come from Quebec if we want more of their abundant hydro power.
Ironically I wouldn't mind having windmills or solar in my backyard. To be honest, there isn't room for that here but if there is I'd vote for that. I'm not even a liberal or a greenie at that too.
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