This bird is trying to stay alive, it will die. We, as a country, have done nothing since the Exxon Valdez to become less oil dependent. In 1989, the year of the Valdez spill, we, the U.S., were using 17,325,000 barrels of oil per day. In 2006, we were using 20,687,000 barrels a day. In 2007, the latest data I can discover, the U.S. consumed 20,680,000 barrels a day. It keeps going up & up. We have learned zero. Alternative energies, while available to the public, are outlandishly expensive. The government, on every level, does little to nothing to encourage the use of these non-oil energy sources. For instance, the average cost for installing a complete solar powered electric system in a U.S. home, a normal sized home, is between $40,000 to $52,000 - nice chunks of change. In Wisco at the present time, you can receive a 30% tax credit for the installed price of a solar electric system. Even at the cheapest average price, $40,000, remember, you need to have the system installed & paid for, you will reduce your taxes by a sum of $12,000. This is not much of an encouragement to switch, particularly with the initial cost being so high. Again, the wealthier citizens of this country will benefit, the middle class becomes smaller & smaller. One of the reasons for this, in my opinion, is the intense lobbying electric utilities & electric coops do to keep the normal person priced out of just about any alternative energy usage. My local coop, for instance, has no incentives to help people get off the grid. Their idea of a program is that if I install any sort of alternative energy device, they must pay me for any extra energy I produce, of course, this is a state law, so Bayfield Electric's lack of imagination is evident. By the way, the brown pelican will still die.
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