When I was reading the paper today, I got an idea about how to solve the fuss between the fracking camp and the no-fracking camp, the solar people and the drill, baby, drill people.
There was an article about how the City of Athens is thinking about passing legislation against hydraulic fracturing. It seems they want to be like Pittsburgh, which I think is stupid. It's stupid that Athens wants to be like Pittsburgh and it's stupid that Pittsburgh passed legislation that there will be no fracking in the city. I could be wrong but I think there has to be wells drilled for oil and gas before any of that fracking can take place. The last time I was in Pittsburgh, Point State Park was about the only place where there was room for a well and even I would be against that.
So here's my idea. Those of us who want to use coal to feed our power plants will get our electric from those plants, and those who want to use solar can go ahead and get their power from the solar fed power plants. Sign up for whichever you prefer and the electric company will bill you accordingly. Then, the electric company can determine how many of each kind of plant they need to supply the respective demands. That way, those of us who like to employ coalminers can pay $.04/kwh and the others can pay $25/kwh. No government subsidies, pay for what you use from the source you use it and everybody is happy.
As for the oil and gas, if you don't want fracking, fine by me. Just don't use oil and gas and you're good to go. Since I'm a drill, baby, drill sort, I'll have oil and gas options available for me to use.
Before you say my drilling will infringe on your access to 'clean' water that you claim fracking threatens - which it doesn't. Have you seen how deep they go? - you stay in town where there are no drilling rigs and I'll live out here amongst them. You're gonna want to stay close to town anyway since your electric car, powered with solar generated electricity, doesn't actually go very far between charges. Now, when it's time to replace that battery in a few years and it costs you a couple of grand and you need to dispose of the old battery, well, you figure it out.
And while we're on the subject of cars, you're going to have to make them out of something besides the plastic that is currently used. Plastic is made using oil. Maybe you could make them out of hemp. And bikes? Do you have any idea how much electric, oil, and coal the steel mills use to process metals?
Now, something else the EPA lovers might want to keep in mind about solar power. It doesn't always work. If the sun isn't shinning, you're running on battery. These last couple of weeks have been pretty cloudy here in Ohio and I imagine trying to keep up with demand during times like this will be kind of tough for the solar power plants. Winters get cold and summers get hot. And when the snow is flying and the sun hasn't been seen for awhile, you might want to make sure you have thermal underwear. Maybe you'll eventually be able to develop dependable batteries that last longer than the ones available now. I know my cell battery and computer battery are forever needing charged. They're power hogs. But then again, your curly fry lights use very little power so you should be able to see ok for the first few hours.
I'm sure there are some details that need to be worked out yet but that's the gist of it.
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