[tkflames]

Please consider that I do not work in the Oil Industry and instead in the mining and alternative energy industry before condemning this post

Solar Energy: Current solar energy requires the use of Silicon, a metalloid that requires 2000 degrees Celsius in arc furnaces to purify.. A few years ago, the amount of energy required to build a solar cell was more than then the amount of electrical energy that this Solar Cell would produce. I know it has improved since then, but we are talking 10% efficiency. The reality is, efficiency is created by taking advantage of economies of scale, however such operations are nowhere near effective enough for the footprint they require.

Wind Energy: As mentioned above, being anywhere near a wind generator has been shown to be unhealthy, but not yet proven to what extent. Preliminary studies suggest that this could have impacts on the heart, so it is critical that we know what we are getting into before jumping on these operations as the next big savior. As mentioned before the first common misconception regarding wind energy is that when the wind blows, you can harvest energy. This is incorrect, wind can only be harvested efficiently under very specific conditions and IPP's in BC spend a lot of money collecting data to find such sites. Sure everyone can throw a wind turbine on their roof, but overall this will not be a better solution than oil. I think wind can be used effectively, and will continue to become more effective, but not in the context of your local community windmill.

Biofuel- Jay Random did an excellent job detailing this; no need for me to add anything further

Hydro- Relatively clean, however have huge environmental implications. Since these are generally large operations, wildlife is generally very much affected. Also hydro requires very specific flow rates, so again this is not something you can throw anywhere. Having said that, with enough environmental care, I think these can be effectively used as a portion of a hybrid energy solution.

Wavepower/Woodpower/Geothermal Power- These are solutions that can only be applied only in specific areas and in the case of the first two are very much in their infantcy.

Saltwater Power- I think this is the only abundant resource on the planet that could equivocate Oil. There are very preliminary experiments on youtube regarding this energy source, but the reality is that we are probably 100 years away if it even works.

Nuclear- This is the cleanest form of energy - bar none - if you can justify the dedication to a cleanup effort 10,000 or more years from now. The entire waste generated by all of the nuclear power plants in Canada (mainly used in Ontario) fills only 3 hockey arenas to the boards in a year. In terms of environmental impact this is nothing, however, there are no guarantees that in the future, generations will dedicate enough money to this to ensure limited impact to the environment. Also it is impossible to predict how much a clean up effort would cost 100 or 1000 or 10000 years from now. I think the hope is that we can continue to develop associated technologies that limit the clean up effort and reduce the radiation caused by the waste.

Hybrid Energy Solution- The reality is, outside of Oil there is no "one-solution". I think most people can not accept this fact and therefore rather than solving the fundamental issues and mindset, dedicate themselves to biased hope in something that is in fact too good to be true. Hence movies such as "who killed the electric car" etc. are created and sold as truths instead of the bias that they are. Of course everyone wants to believe that the evil Oil companies are oppressing those poor suffering car companies and therefore we have low efficiency vehicles. The more logical answer is that car companies build cars that will make the maximum amount of profit within the limits with which they are forced (as do Oil companies for that matter). These companies don't have some evil-laughing master mind in a leather chair with a cat growling, instead these are your everyday investors that expect the company to make a profit. Managers receive their bonuses based on that and employees are promoted based on that. Some companies do a better job of promoting ingenuity and research over profits and sell this as "long term profits", but at the end of the day its about the bottom line. I am all for (while not endorsing) people like Al Gore educating on these matters and getting billionairs like the Virgin guy to invest massive amounts of money they can likely never spend in promoting these causes. However, protestors really anger me. Going into a private establishment, obstructing the ability of people to work and more importantly (in an industrial facility) endangering themselves and those employed there serves no purpose. Had they shown an equivalent amount of dedication to educating themselves on how to develope new technologies or educate those around them in a meaningful way to sooner reach those technologies, they would be far more effective. Sorry for the rant here at the end, but protestors, especially those disrupting innocent bystanders, really aggrevate me.