Revolutions are defining moments in time. The Revolutionary War led to the creation of the United States. The Industrial Revolution changed society in ways that no one could have foreseen. Two new revolutions are almost upon us, and they will reshape the world again.
Global warming, peak oil, high gas prices, increasing federal deficits, declining household savings, a real-estate recession – it’s enough to make the average American want to skip to the funny pages when the paper arrives. Is there hope for the future? Yes, there is, but not many are talking about it, and when they do, it sounds as if it’s a long way off.
What the press, politicians, and public are missing is that the right mix of technology, politics, and economics has finally come along to wean us off of our dependence on fossil fuels within the next fifteen years. The huge market for personal electronic devices is driving the need for better energy storage devices, which will enable electric cars to overcome their previous range limits. Despite the recent movie Who Killed The Electric Car, the electric car is not dead, and in fact it is finally poised to dominate the automobile market. If you think this is only an evolutionary event, and not a revolutionary event, I urge you to give this some careful thought.
The other revolution that is near is the dramatic increase in renewable energy generation. The United States could generate three times today’s power requirements from wind energy alone. Wind power is cost competitive with fossil fuel power today. Critics contend that wind power is unreliable, but we get our imported oil from some of the least stable regions in the world. The United States government has $35 billion dollars worth of oil sitting in the ground to deal with oil “instability”. One has to think we can find an economical way to store wind energy for a calm day.
Ethanol and biodiesel are being touted as the answers to our dependence on foreign oil. However, if electrically powered autos are superior to combustion powered ones, who will be buying all this biofuel? Are politicians, farmers, and investors in the midst of another bubble?
How will United States foreign policy in the Middle East change when we no longer need oil from the region? Can we become an energy exporter instead of an energy importer?
How soon are these changes coming, and when do these questions have to be answered? A lot sooner than you think. Electric cars will be in mass production within the next five years. Within fifteen years, electric cars will completely dominate the automobile industry in the United States. Wind power has become a significant source of energy in Europe, and will grow in leaps and bounds in the United States for the foreseeable future.
Eliminating our dependency on imported oil and becoming an energy exporter will dramatically improve the financial fortunes of the U.S. Treasury and the American taxpayer. There is hope for the future, and the future is almost here.
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