Energy in the 21st Century - Part 4

Implementing the Plan

All alternative energy sources we have involved in our plan have similar problems.  None of them have a cost advantage over oil and therefore there is little incentive for the average person or company to switch to these new sources.  For many of them, there is inadequate infrastructure to support the source.  Most have a need for additional research.  Unfortunately, the free market system is not pursuing any of these ideas with enough speed to make them readily available in time to soften the problems that will accompany disappearing oil.

The last time we face a similar change in the basic way we lived our lives was over 100 years ago.  There was no crisis, only a better way to do something that required additional research, was more expensive, needed the creation of a suitable infrastructure, and promised a new world.  A patent for the incandescent light bulb was filed by Thomas Edison on November 4, 1879.  At that time, nighttime illumination was by a candle for most people or by gas among the rich.  The electric light was a safer choice than gas (what happened if you blew out the flame instead of turning it off) and it was brighter than the light of a candle.  But they were expensive, at least in part because electric wires need to be laid to bring the electricity to a home.  Left to the free market system, it took the United States at least 60 years to become fully electric.  We simply do not have the time to let the markets repeat this process.

As a result, we recommend that the government provide incentives of some kind to stimulate the market for alternative energy.  This can be through implementation of laws requiring usage of such sources or it can be done by providing financial incentives either to produce the alternative source or to use the alternative source.  For instance a $10,000 tax credit for the purchase of a natural gas powered vehicle after 01/01/2011 would spur the purchase of such vehicles and give investors time to build the infrastructure that will start on 01/01/2001.  The government will receive a portion of the incentive back through the sales tax on the new vehicle or the income tax on the revenue increase of the manufacturer or dealership.

We offer this report and plan for your consideration and simply ask that you begin to take action that is reasonable to you to begin now that transition that may be force on us in a mere 37 years.