Tuesday, May 18, 2010

CASE STUDY: Scotland's Alternative Energy Push

By Lance Winslow

Few nations have put forth the number of large alternative energy projects as Scotland, and mind you this is a relatively small nation. Many have taken notice of their wonderful attempts to bring alternative energy projects to the forefront, it is indeed amazing. Not long ago, I was having a conversation with an acquaintance about this very issue and the Scotland reality and focus on green energy.

And, I must say, I've certainly been watching Scotland on the alternative energy front for the last 4-5 years, yes, they seemed to be all-in, especially before the global meltdown which slammed their economy, it was really flying like no other back then. Thanks in part to their great work sending all their kids to college starting back 15-20 years ago. It did wonders for their economy, along with their excellent demographic percentages.

They've invested in wind, wave, solar, etc. and some of these projects are huge, in fact a few are the largest of their kind in the world when it comes to wind and ocean wave energy, or their latest wind farm projects.

So, what is the US doing these days to curb our thirst for oil and solve our future energy challenges? Can we really all drive electric cars one day? And will those electric cars be made in the US or by Greely, a Chinese company?

It is rather interesting that Warren Buffet owns 10% of the Chinese Greely electric and hybrid car company, and he is trying to buy more of it. Also interesting the new Café Standards that have recently come about to be enforced by 2016 or those car makers will pay stiff penalties and fines.

Let's face it, we cannot expect our oil needs to stop growing or for us to catch up with the pace of additional need even with Iraq coming online, the new oil found in the deepest areas of the Gulf of Mexico, or the new Mexican fields because China is really using much more oil. Even the san tar in Canada may not be enough, and it's not so cheap to refine from the get-go.

Thus, cars will be running on more electric methods with hybrids, city cars, and lightweight three-wheelers for local usage - perhaps like the UK where fuel is much more costly per liter. Anyway, if we do go forward with electric cars, we will need more efficient and clean ways to generate that energy. Efficiently is king, including the cost to install and ROI on that investment.

Meanwhile, all the energy savings by things like better light bulbs, conservation will never be enough, we are going to continue to need 3% more energy per year no matter what we do. If or should I say when we hit $100 dollars per barrel again, perhaps during this Iranian war coming up + summer high-point usage and cyclical trends - we will see it take a toll on our economic recovery, as well as our economic stability.

Maybe Scotland is spot-on with many of their projects, we might even learn something? Please think on all this, it's serious.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes in constructing efficient buildings; http://www.yakimabuilders.com.

Note: All of Lance Winslow's articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers.

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