A large percentage of the power Angelenos depend on comes from coal plants, which spew their filth hundreds of miles away, across state lines in Indian country.
The new book "Powering the Dream" examines why we chose to abandon green technologies in the past, and which ones we are likely to embrace in the future.
The region could provide nearly a third of U.S. energy demand with wind turbines. The only thing we lack is the political will to accomplish it, but that may be changing.
Tina Gerhardt, Lucia Green-Weiskel, AlterNet. January 15, 2011.
In China, a race toward self-reliance and clean energy technology is certainly on, but the U.S. still needs to make some key changes if it wants to compete.
There has to be a happy medium between living as a poor peasant in an adobe hut and living in a McMansion while driving a Hummer. But how do we find it?
Even without federal policies to catapult the U.S. to the world's leader in renewable energy, solar and wind energy has the potential to significantly increase its capacity.
A detailed study just released names 24 "solar energy zones" that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said are "best suited for large-scale solar development."
Since the fossil fuel industry is so highly subsidized by the federal government, it is impossible for solar, wind and other renewable industries to compete without incentives.
Whether they're right-wing survivalists, environmentalists or foreclosure victims, these folks are united by one thing: The grid, and everything it represents, has let them down.
It might seem crazy that anyone would think the incineration of wood and its byproducts are a green substitute for toxic fuels such as coal. Think again.
