Energy what can I do:

Most of us can not come up with new ways of converting sunlight to energy. At best what we can do is perhaps even more important. We can conserve energy and thereby reduce our “carbon footprint”. As we live our day to day lives we are all net consumers of energy. That is to say we consume more energy than we produce. This has given rise to corporations whose purpose is to supply us with the energy we require. Initially these corporations were coal companies that mined coal in Pennsylvania and distributed it to cities in the northeast and Midwest. Today there are a number of companies distributing energy in many forms.

Regardless of the form energy takes it is today largely based upon the burning of carbon with the accompanying release of energy and carbon dioxide. This is where the carbon footprint comes in. The footprint is an attempt to quantify the amount of carbon required to be burned to accomplish the energy release. Obviously solar and wind generated electricity has almost no carbon footprint.

For the health of the planet we desire to lower the carbon footprint of the nation as a whole. The reasons for this is that scientific opinion seems agreed that higher levels of carbon dioxide are causing the average global temperature to rise. As temperatures rise polar ice will melt and cause elevated sea levels. Some would argue that the polar ice is a driving mechanism for the ocean currents which circulate the oceans and move heat from the equatorial zones to the cooler polar regions.

As anyone who has not been lost in space for the past 15 years can tell you this concept is rejected in some sections of the economy. America has joined in discussions but has not signed treaties like the Kyoto accords. There are legitimate reasons for not signing such treaties. There is no reason to not conserve energy where ever and when ever we can.

We are not going to conserve our way into energy independence. However as we transition to a solar based energy infrastructure we simply must husband our remaining supply of energy. That is to say we must all reduce out carbon footprint. We can do this by driving more fuel efficient cars and driving those cars less. We can do this by using more efficient light sources such as florescent lighting. We can do this by keeping our homes warmer in summer and cooler in winter. Individually these are small changes collectively they add up to large savings.

Solar panels: http://sharp-world.com/solar/

One last thing we can all do is to insist that basic research be funded to address these issues at a national level. I don’t care who does the research and ultimately I don’t care if Exxon becomes an electricity producer. So long as the energy produced is not based on fossil fuel burning. And that is it cheap enough for me to afford it.

More on solar:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=solar+energy+production&btnG=Google+Search