A solution to our "energy" problems, seriously
When I am talking about "energy" I mean our electricity problems. Those problems aren't as severe as our transportation problems, but its a start. "New" photovoltaics could probably remove the need for any new coal or nuclear power plant. These solar panels are cool. They are built just like roofing shingles that you can nail to the roof like normal shingles. I heard about them a while ago but just got around to do looking them up. In a nut shell, for really not that much your house can be nearly independent of the grid.
Solar shingles cost about $15,000-20,000 to install (about 85 shingles for a 1200sq ft. ranch house) and provide about 70%+ of a houses' energy needs during the summer. This means it will pay itself off over time. You also don't have to worry about blackouts anymore. You are still connected to the grid, and if you produce more power than you need your meter goes backwards, which by MI law the power companies must honor.
That seems like a lot of money, and how could anyone afford the upfront cost? Well, cars aren't that much cheaper and we still buy those, and cars don't pay themselves back overtime. If you can arrange a loan to pay for it over time, then the savings from your electricity bill could balance out your monthly loan payment, you'd be spending the same amount of money. The shingles will also last long than cars, the local company insures them for 20 years.
Another arguement I always hear against solar energy is that it isn't available all year. The biggest hit against it is our short days during the winter. However, when we use the most energy is in the summer by far (airconditioning increases your power use by ~70%) which is when most of the sunlight is available. This person recieved 94% of his power from the shingles in October! And he lives in Ann Arbor MI! There are some other examples in E. Lansing as well. And if you don't get all of your power from the shingles, you are still connected to the grid so you can still draw from that. The point is that your draw on the power grid is greatly reduced, not severed.
If you are all-american you will be supporting our industy, a company makes them here in Michigan at Rochester hills. Oakland U. (it also has the solar resource maps available) has a lot of info about this. So you will be helping to generate manufacturing jobs right here. And, since power generation will not be as centralized, we will not be as vulnerable to attacks by terrorists on our power supplies. If the main power goes out, every company and home will still have power to some degree.
So we should forget the huge subsidies that we pay to the nuclear and coal industries and start throwing as much money at this as possible. If everyone started to put solar shingles on their roof it would reduce the need for new power plants which no one wants in their backyard anyway, reserve our resources and create a whole new manufacturing industry that would be supported by the demand for replacement tiles.
This was my initial look, if their is anyone with more free time I would suggest starting at Oakland U. as they would have links to pertinet papers. The only question I would have is how chemically harmful is the manufacturing process, but from what I have seen initially it appears that they have both made it extremely efficient (making rolls of photovoltaics at a time like paper) and have cut the dangerous chemical use. make the shingles recyclable and it would be sweeeet.
I plan on writing a similar, more formal letter to our state legislature to get on something like this when I have time. No matter your political slant, this would benifit us all and improve our lives immensly. (and then maybe I should get stock in their company too). Any personal initiatives or ideas would definitely be appreciated.