So Al Gore has issued a challenge to the next president to achieve 100% renewable electricity within 10 years. He says it will cost between $1-$3 trillion, but is otherwise doable if we have the will. Apparently, it would cost roughly the same to build all the coal-fired plants we'll need, anyways...
What's interesting to me is what a massive difference this would make to our economy. $3 trillion injected in infrastructure like this would go primarily to US firms who manufacture solar, wind, geothermal, and (cough) clean coal technologies. This would create jobs and inject a huge amount of money into our flabby economy. It would also make a big impact on staunching the flow of US capital to foreign oil producers... especially as an updated high-capacity grid could support widespread deployment of electric vehicles.
So is it a good idea? Well, clearly yes. But can we actually do it in 10 years? I think the answer to that is yes, as well. By some estimates, Iraq will have cost us $3 trillion by the time we get out. Which is absolutely insane. And think about that for a moment... instead of buying a pointless war that's weakened global security and the US image abroad, and killed thousands of Americans and maimed 10s of thousands more, and killed or maimed hundreds of thousands if not millions of Iraqis... instead of that, we could have had a 100% renewable electricity infrastructure.
Seriously. What the fuck.
What's interesting to me is what a massive difference this would make to our economy. $3 trillion injected in infrastructure like this would go primarily to US firms who manufacture solar, wind, geothermal, and (cough) clean coal technologies. This would create jobs and inject a huge amount of money into our flabby economy. It would also make a big impact on staunching the flow of US capital to foreign oil producers... especially as an updated high-capacity grid could support widespread deployment of electric vehicles.
So is it a good idea? Well, clearly yes. But can we actually do it in 10 years? I think the answer to that is yes, as well. By some estimates, Iraq will have cost us $3 trillion by the time we get out. Which is absolutely insane. And think about that for a moment... instead of buying a pointless war that's weakened global security and the US image abroad, and killed thousands of Americans and maimed 10s of thousands more, and killed or maimed hundreds of thousands if not millions of Iraqis... instead of that, we could have had a 100% renewable electricity infrastructure.
Seriously. What the fuck.
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