Tuesday, April 5, 2011

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor

thyme0314 Volume III, Issue XIV

An Energy Policy for the 21st Century

The 'other' weekly news magazine has discovered shale fracturing. They admit that the technology could supply our energy needs for a hundred years. They are quick to ask though if it can be done 'safely.'

There is risk in every technology man has ever employed. Innovation has been employed to reduce those risks and mankind has benefited from the advances.

America is at a crossroads. We can allow 'green' technology to push us towards higher unemployment and eventual disaster or we can take a new role in world leadership. We can show the world how to use and manage resources by using and managing our own. There is no one 'magic' solution to our energy needs. Instead, there are many good ways to power our society.

Just because it comes out of the ground does not make a source 'bad.' Just because it has solar panels and batteries does not make it automatically 'good.' Battery arrays are horribly environmentally unfriendly to manufacture.

Efficient technologies using petroleum might be the right solution in many cases. Simply designing cars that last longer would have a very positive environmental inmpact.

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