The New Economy
July 10th, 2009 |
You may not realize it but it’s already begun…. the new world economy is happening right before our eyes. In a recent Sierra Magazine I read that wind energy now employs more people than coal mining, can you believe that? Coal supplies over 50% of the power that we use in the United States… wind energy supplies something like 1% if that! And yet more people are employed in the wind energy business, that is just incredible.
Let me ask you this question; would you rather be a coal miner or work developing, building and installing windmills. Which one of these two you think we are more likely to sell around the world in the years to come. Do you realize that when you build a windmill and install it at the cost of the energy it produces basically decreases from that day forward… you write down the value of the equipment, the wind is free, and maintenance is minimal, and every day it works the cost of the energy it produces is less.
When you build a coal-fired power plant you still have to supply it with the fuel. You have to go out and carve up the mountains to mine the fuel and pay for the miners and equipment to do that, then you have to pay for the transportation to get it to the power plant, after that you have to pay a tax for the pollution that it produces because of the problems it causes, and after that you have to pay the increased health care costs and deal with the 30,000 people who are killed every year because of the poor quality air they breathe in.
When you look at this it’s easy to see why there’s going to be a new economy, we will move away from traditional energy sources like petroleum and coal and all of the ancillary costs to accompany them. The rapid changes in technology will provide unbelievable opportunities in the areas of solar, wind, geothermal, wave and tidal energy. This low cost of energy will allow us to produce hydrogen on a localized basis so that there is no need to transport it… one of the biggest problems with using hydrogen as an energy source. Imagine if you produce hydrogen at your home to fill your car, he no longer need a service station to provide your fuel or you just use a battery powered vehicle. How hard do you think the petroleum companies will fight to prevent that from happening, how much money do you think they will spend to delay it as long as possible.
The new economy is here… most people just don’t realize it yet
About the Author Joel Koman loves to write about renewable energy. He is an avid proponent of alternative and renewable energy with an entrepreneurial spirit. He manages his own site QuestionAuthoriTees where all his passion and current projects can be found.
One Response to “The New Economy”
By Martyn Lowe on Jul 12, 2009 | Reply
You have made an important set of points here.
The only other thing which might be said is that most windturbines may be build within the region in which they are going to be used.
This is good news for most local communities, and the environment.
The other point to keep in mind is that helping to build this kind of technology within the developing world helps us all on a global basis,
while it might also be used to curtail the spread of nukiller power throughout the world.