to all the posts about Bush...

[Prometheus]

solar is highly inefficent right now.

[Jason425]

I know.. $ should go into it.. oh yea how could I forget WIND power!

[Prometheus]

Actually the candians just figured out a way to make them more efficent recently. Its in the slashdot archive somewhere.

[vee_ess]

Yeah, there are several ever increasingly efficient models of solar power, yet the most efficient to date is still not even close to where it should be. Some bushes, as small as 3 feet in diameter can receive as much energy as a football field filled edge to edge with today's most advanced solar panels. If we were able to harness that science as an energy source organically, then we'd actually have a source that's good for the environment.

Wind power has increased tremendously lately, yet we are still producing something like a total of 7000 megawatts (we use a little over 2 million megawatts). One of the problems with wind power is the cost; the current amount that we have is worth 4 billion dollars. Even though wind power is considered green energy, it has a negative effect on weather patterns and tends to cool ambient temperatures. It's probably considered green because we don't know much about the results of the effects on weather patterns or to what degree. The Union of Concerned Scientists seems to favor wind power over everything else right now. (note: their site is currently showing errors, but if you're interested keep checking it)

[Prometheus]

Chaos theory man

[Dragon]

what, like the butterfly effect?

[Prometheus]

bingo.

[vee_ess]

Originally Posted by Dragon

what, like the butterfly effect?

No. Fields of wind mills drastically slow down air movements, and, even more importantly, the air molecules themselves (which causes decreases in temperatures). It's bad enough polluting, but at least we can filter the air and fix it. Weather is a different beast, however. It's something that we are not more powerful than, and something we know very little about. Note that weather also affects more than rain and sunshine. Current levels of production of energy from wind power allow it to have a very minimal effect on weather, but if we were to take it from .35% to 35% it would be an entirely different picture.