The Future is Green

Green energy will be an ever increasing must-have in the global economy as populations rise, natural resources decline, and demand increases. The economic superiority of renewable energy will be fully recognized only after traditional sources of energy begin to get harder to attain. Utilizing the various forms of energy easily available has lulled many people into a false sense of security-a belief that the abundance of cheap energy will continue unabated. Senator Morris K. Udall commented in a 1973 speech on the desperation of the fuel shortages and the energy crisis of his time. Udall said that energy would be the driving force in the continuance of America's power, and said that we must more fully explore additional exploitation of fuel resources in the United States. Now, over 30 years later, there are still reserves of fossil fuels untouched, still people urging for more drilling-anything to get the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil. Udall, speaking to an environmental group, said that more drilling was the answer. Today, it is apparent that more drilling is far from the answer that is needed. Increased oil production in the arctic and offshore would allay, temporarily, the dire need for alternative sources of energy in the country, but would again lull the U.S. into false security.

The time for renewable energy exploration is now, there never having been a better time to create new ideas for how to power our lives. Today, many renewable energy sources are expensive, more costly either in money or effort than the easy alternatives. Many people continue their normal energy resource usage, and will only switch to the slightly less convenient renewable energy source under duress. But for those smart, diligent, and creative enough to enter the rapidly growing arena of renewable energy production and marketing today, looking to a day when traditional energy sources are depleted or over utilized to the point of exhaustion, the wait would be well worth while. Once fossil fuels have been depleted, as some believe is nearly the case, the masses of energy thirsty first world citizens would desperately turn to renewable energy as the savior of their suddenly unmet consumption demands.

For those unscrupulous parties interested in pure profit, there could be very high prices charged, as people desperate enough for fuel may pay a premium for it. But even for the honest dealers, interested only in healing the environment while providing fuel, the profits would flow, creating an economic situation as happy as that of the flowing black gold of previous generations. Already, renewable energy providers are showing themselves to be profitable and in ever growing demand.

How much money today is spent on developing renewable energy resources? How many innovations have come into the light in the last 5 years that have caught our imagination and encouraged us that there can, indeed, be light at the end of the petroleum tunnel? Consider the economic superiority of the Toyota Prius-limits were placed on the number of those vehicles that could be imported for sale in the U.S.-and they sold like hotcakes. Demand exceeded supply, a salesman's delight. There is demand right now for renewable energy in the U.S.-a demand that is going largely undersupplied. Even now, even while gasoline still flows cheaply from pumps, filling our cars at our ready demand, even now there is demand for clean renewable, harvestable, catchable, feel-able, green energy.

When gasoline reached $4.00 per gallon, people sold their SUV's en masse. When gasoline reaches $8.00 per gallon-what next will people desperately sell? They will flock to the renewable energy dealer, the place where their energy needs are met by sources that have been in use for thousands of years already-it only took human ingenuity to bend these sources a little to serve mankind while still providing for a future Earth that can support life, not only as well as we know it now, but better, for our future offspring.

Some people still say that there is no danger of fossil fuels being depleted in our lifetimes, or, for that matter, nearly ever. They may be right; I grant that I hold no experience in the matter and only opinions, of which there are probably nearly enough being brought to bear on the subject. I argue, however, that even if fossil fuels were to continue to flow indefinitely, even if people are not forced by circumstance to switch to renewable sources-people still will demand more and ever more renewable energy as the global warming crisis increases our awareness of how much our actions are changing this planet for future inhabitants. Global warming has, for better or worse, started a drastic change in how we treat the planet. The urgency of the planet's warnings is echoing the people's growing demands for increased usage of renewable energy.

The demand has never been greater for renewable energy, nor has the economic superiority of it ever been greater. I suggest that this is only earliest stage and the tiniest part of what is to come. Like the "black gold rush" for crude oil, this will become the "green gold rush" as investors and inventors compete to bring to market new innovations which will guide the U.S. and the world to energy independence through green, clean, renewable energy. Future generations will look back and wonder, "Why did they ever use those old fossil fuels when they could have had this all along?" and the planet will smile.

 

Trevor DoBell-Carlsson 

Media / Interview Requests? Click Here.