Barriers to Production Line Alternative Energy Sources

There are many:

• Legislative Barrier: The need is not seen or understood. Continuous short term view.

• NIMBY Barrier: Many things are now unnacceptable to the public

• Ignorance Barrier: The public doesn`t understand the need to invest in alternative energy sources now

• Industry Barrier: Economics of alternative energy are not well understood, can industry make a profit?

• Capital Cost Barrier: Without government subsidies, some facilities just can't get built

• Uncertainty Barrier: Will new technology come along and make obsolete what has been done?

• Environmental Barrier: False perceptions of risk replace objective reality

• Energy Storage Barrier: All forms of alternative energy require efficient and reliable energy storage to compenesate for low duty cycle

Breaking Down These Barriers:

• Legislative: Difficult, traditional energy providers are a powerful lobby employment issues are very important does the alternative energy field give enough jobs? Will the product be affordable for the consumer?

• NIMBY Barrier: I have No Clue!

• Ignorance Barrier: Use the WWW, clue the public in! Re-educate Joe Six pack! Unless the population is better educated, there seems to be little hope for progess.

• Industry Barrier: This is difficult, several new startup companies in the energy generation field are required, many will fail. Taxing fossil fuel use as a means of subsidizing these startup companies would be a good idea.

• Capital Cost Barrier: Your congress at work. Only TAX breaks and low interest loans can solve this one.

• Uncertainty Barrier: this can never be solved, just pick something and go with it but its important to remain flexible and modular

• Environmental Barrier: Shoot the Media! Poor media reporting (in particular, total failure to articulate a global view) combined with NIMFBY is a real problem.

• Energy Storage Barrier: again a sizeable investment needs to be made in energy storage technology. In the area of batteries, this at least is recognized and progess is being made.

Seizing the Green Initiative:

• Public cooperation, change of conscience and habit?
• legislation at the local level (Eugene is a fossil-free zone)
• Legislation at the state level California will clearly be the leader here
• Legislation at the Federal Level probably unconstitutional so we need another FDR to just do stuff, unconstitutional or not

Leadership requires Big Brass Balls but, somehow we don't grow them anymore.

Do we have a cultural impediment towards sustainability?

Hierarchical World View Linear Time.

This world view may well divorce us from a meaningful relationship with nature which then promotes economic based decision making over morality based decision making. But that's for you to think about later ...

Connected World View Cyclical Time.

This view that everything is connected is an ancient one but also one that can be reconciled with many scientific principles and measurements. We are slowly re-discoverying that Man and Nature are part of an intricate and complex partnership, necessarily linked by the Laws of Physics. The more we ignore this, the more we threaten our future. But this is also something for you to think about later ...

Is technology the problem or is it our management of technology that causes our rapid depletion of resources? The story of Fred, Sam and Ralph

What Can You Do?

Use flourescent lighting

Drive less

Have an appropriate number of children

Exercise responsibility wisely

Learn Humility

Educate your peers about the need for alternative energy

Ask your local energy provider what their future plans are

Consider small scale methods that help decouple you from the power grid.

Stop the NIMBY attitude

Think locally and act globally

Previous Lecture Course Page