The subject of alternative energy has been a hotly contested issue among politicians, economists, and environmentalist for nearly the last decade. Fossil fuels are expendable, dirty burning, expensive, and almost exclusive account for our unwarranted interest in the Middle East. Perhaps most frightening, fossil fuels produce greenhouse gases which are the principle contributor to global warming. I'll spare you the global warming lecture because if you don't know what going on by now you most likely have had your TV, radio, and computer unplugged for the past eight years or so. There are a myriad of other reasons why burning fossil fuels is a bad idea, among them the fact that there are many other useful employments for oil, such as the manufacturing of plastics. So why isn't our government doing more to prevent the world from entering another ice age or a watery Armageddon?
While I would prefer not to bash the Bush administration as I believe they have already taken their fair share of heat for this matter, it is important to note that the prospect of ethanol which had everyone so excited just a few years ago may be one of the biggest environmental shams of the 21st century. Just this past week Time magazine's cover story explains what many of us already knew, that the fertilizers used to grow the corn used to make ethanol actually contained more petroleum than the gas itself. Although Time was perhaps a little slow on the uptake, I applaud their efforts to expose ethanol for the fraud that it is to mainstream America. Hybrids too have unfortunately do not exactly accomplish what they claim. Although they use less gas, they do not save the owner money (at least at current gas prices) since they have a large and expensive battery (costs around $2000) which must be replaced every 6 years. Not the mention the fact that the manufacturing process for this battery combined with standard emissions rates results in more pollution than normal operation of a standard car, however it is mostly in the form of toxic waste rather than greenhouse gases, which is better... I guess.
However none of these really address the issue here, and whats more they do nothing for this nation's coal burning power plants which are extremely dirty and inefficient and account for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide. While this years presidential candidates have spend ample time discussing what they would do about global warming, virtually the only headway that has been made has come from the Judaical branch
. Mass v EPA most likely was the most important environmental case of time. In this case the state of Massachusetts along with several others who had all most coastal land as the result of global warming sued the Environmental Protection Agency for not doing anything to prevent or reduce it. The courts have not reached a decision yet, however the US Supreme Court ruled that Massachusetts did have standing so the case could continue and it was remanded back down to the lower courts. A BC law professor has also made headway in attacking these power plants with a public nuisance torte, an innovative concept which would result in an injunction of these companies if the courts rule in his favor.
There is, admittedly, a bill in the house right now, presented by Barbara Boxer, which would put some regulations of on greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants, but it remains to be seen whether Bush or the next president will sign it (McCain has said he would not, Hilary and Obama are for it.)
Despite all this doom and gloom emanating from our government, there is hope in the private sector. Here we get at the crux of this article and the reason why I wrote it, and I hope if you just skimmed this piece you will at least take the time to watch the video which I have included(come on, its a video, you can do it.) This man has found a way to make hydrogen a viable fuel.
Rather than summarize the video, I will just assume you watched it or will watch it and proceed. Is this the answer? I don't know, and I don't think anyone does. However what it is is a step in the right direction. Hydrogen is actually possible now. GM has announced plans of producing Hydrogen powered cars in the next few years, and Shell has agreed to include hydrogen fuel pumps at their stations in the GM's test regions. At this point, it is hard to tell what side effects hydrogen as a fuel may have, other than we know it explodes (but so does gas so why should this scare us?) GM has also announced plans to produce a totally electric car which can run for 40 miles in between charges and has a small combustion engine which turns on to charge the battery as necessary. It is reported to receive somewhere around 250 mpg. Much of this information has come out in the past few weeks. I believe we are closer to overcoming global warming than ever. And what a surprise, the solution came out of Adam Smith's Laissez-Faire economy. The government has proven itself simply too slow and inept to attack such a pressing issue as this. Fortunately we have received and I believe we can in the future expect more solutions to come out of the private sector to make the fear of global warming just a distant memory.
PS: The Clean Air Act does not address greenhouse gases or global warming in any way shape or form in case you were wondering
