Is Nuclear Energy Worth the Risk?

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by June

Because 30-odd years ago when Carter was president and was telling everyone that our dependence on oil was bad and we needed to conserve and look into alternate energy sources AND he went so far as to put Solar Panels on the white house, people mocked him and then that fucker, Regan got elected and took the panels down.

We could have been so much further ahead, but EVERY single politician has oil dollars in their pockets.

Imagine if even one out of 5 households had solar panels. Even here in Oregon, it's viable. It's also fucking expensive to start up. We looked into it and it just wasn't financially feasible without going 20K or more into debt.

I am so glad you brought this up- yes, think of what could have been developed from the time of Carter! And now, solar panels - initially developed in the USA- are no longer produced here!! We freakin' import them!

We could do so much to improve the cost factor if all new construction had to have whatever solar (or other more cost effective method for the consumer) type set-up or heat-pumps configurations, etc. was required. This would have to make sense in total cost, but installing these kinds of thing to begin with is much less expensive.

Are there any rebates/tax breaks from utility companies for solar power where you live? These can help- but you bring up a big problem for people- the damn cost in retro-fitting.

I have been looking into some DIY hot water heater solar systems that are cost effective and actually not complicated (sun and gravity!). But, this old butch doesn't trust herself going up on the roof anymore.

Most likely, the US will need many sources of power/energy. I just hope we start getting a whole lot smarter about it!