Sunday, April 6, 2008

Alternative Energy’s Time Has Come

Societies must progress, that is the basis of being human, the future demands cleaner energy, and this energy will not be delivered by a prayer, rather it will be delivered by the mind and human action. The senate for the state of Michigan has voted to make the State government increasingly use more alternative energy as a source of power. Though worried about the costs of producing alternative energy, hence they feared to force the recommendations on residents and business, this bill is an important step in the right direction. Note from the referencing source that the Bill passed through unanimously through the senate.

Alternative energy having a steady market means that there will be a steady flow of cash into the industry. This means that research can now take place effectively because there is cash without the industry having to go cap in hand to the government whenever they need research money or grants. Once there is income an industry can improve itself, that has been one of the main draw backs of alternative energy lack of substantial incomes to pay off shareholders and have income for research. Remember that the first coal powered stations were not as efficient as they are today, for simple reasons, without incomes enough research can not take place.

Progress is usually made by government intervention, the internet itself that we are finding all this information was a direct result of government intervention. The governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm understood that with Michigan taking an early initiative into this sector it will “ensure that Michigan becomes a regional manufacturer of wind – power components, attracting an estimated $6 billion in investment and creating thousands of jobs.

Michigan is not unique in helping this new technology, most Western countries have a policy of supporting alternative energy as well as countries like China. It is the future, but what is interesting about the legislation in Michigan is that it is in America, a country with an image portrayed that it is heavily against any sort of alternative energy legislation, not true obviously, America is one of the leaders in the technology, they will not want to miss the future, even Exxon has joined in the bandwagon giving $100 million towards alternative energy, a company that unlike other oil companies had consistently refused to have anything to do with alternative energy. $100 million might seem like peanuts next to the $40 billion profits they made last year, but it is still something, it is a lot.

The cost of alternative energy have fallen drastically and they are about to fall further as they become more and more mainstream sources of energy, this is new energy though it has been around since the s60’s, it just has not been exploited therefore it remains new. However its potential is remarkable, they say every five minutes we get enough sunlight to power the world for a day in terms of electricity consumption.

With all US presidential candidates supporting alternative energy, the industry is about to receive majors boosts in the coming years.

Where does alternative energy come from, the same place fossil fuel energy comes from, the mind. All the societies that are behind are behind for one reason, they have absolutely no respect for the mind, no matter what the excuse, the bottom line is because of little respect for the mind.

The sad fact is that we know from knowledge economics that in the long run the growth of knowledge is exponential. That means those societies that have little respect for the mind and respect patronage as a means of controlling citizens, those societies will get left further and further behind even when it seems they are moving forward.

Bhekuzulu Khumalo

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Bhekuzulu Khumalo

I write about knowledge economics, information, liberty, and freedom