Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a recent AlterNet
article "America Could Have Dropped Big Oil Decades Ago -- What
Happened?" [Skirboll (2012)] at <http://bit.ly/NjtuDo> .
Skirboll wrote [bracketed by lines "SSSSSS. . . .; my insert at ". .
. .[[insert]]. . . ."]:
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This story is not new. Today, solar energy is picking up momentum.
But despite the current numbers and the recent raves, the solar saga,
and that of renewable energy as a whole, has been going on for
decades. It is a history of false starts and stutter steps.
First, the good news. According to the Solar Energy Industries
Association (SEIA). . . . .[[<http://www.seia.org>]]. . . . ., 2011
showed record-breaking numbers for U.S. solar installations. The
industry's best year ever saw demand rise by 109 percent over the
previous year. With tremendous incentives and benefits for
homeowners, and as prices continue to decline, the future looks
bright for this alternative energy source.
However a quick glance to the past throws harsh light on the fact
that we've been at this precipice before. In 1978, the White House
Council on Environmental Quality issued this glowing statement: "Our
conclusion is that with a strong national commitment to accelerated
solar development and use, it should be possible to derive a quarter
of U.S. energy from solar by the year 2000. For the year 2020 and
beyond, it is now possible to speak hopefully, and unblushingly, of
the United States becoming a solar society."
The key words here being "strong national commitment". . . . .[[a
covert link is given to a news report of 2 May 1978 at
<http://bit.ly/KPjzXB>]]. . . . because just as timber, coal, oil,
gas, and nuclear received enormously strong federal support, solar
needs the same kind of government backing, which as of yet, the
sector has not seen. The statement should instead read, WE COULD
BECOME A SOLAR SOCIETY, IF ONLY WE WANTED TO BECOME A SOLAR SOCIETY.
. . . . . .[[EMPHASIS in the original]]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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REFERENCES
Skirboll, A. 2012. "America Could Have Dropped Big Oil Decades Ago --
What Happened? Renewables are still just scraping by, while we're
beholden to dirty fossil fuels. An important history lesson explains
why," AlterNet 20 June, online at <http://bit.ly/NjtuDo>.