The play on words is obvious, yet as we witness the cost of crude rising with each disruptive event (Gulf Oil Spill last summer and now Egyptian unrest) as a writer of a solar blog I’d be remiss not to ask what is the cost that is unregognized of maintaining dependance on oil flowing through the Suez Canal, Venezuela or other places which seem at odds either within or with the western world.
As we see prices rise today at the gasoline pump, its a fair question to ask ourselves if the “opportunity cost” associated with such instability is ever considered in the comparative exercises between using renewable solar energy or other forms of such “clean” power, and the dependency on “dirtier” power sources.
The price of instability to any operating society is very high, yet rarely quantified. If only for this reason, we can all be quite happy with President Obama’s speech of last week and the general move worldwide to lowering dependency on oil and moving towards a clean energy society. Notwithstanding the benefits to the environment we will leave our children, the peace of mind of stable and renewable power is, in my opinion, worth the price.
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Energy independence through renewables is always a win win