Off The Editor’s Desk – 5-7-2014

IS SOLAR OR WIND ENERGY THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE?

At a recent meeting of the Glenwood City Council, during discussion about a proposed sand mine, Tom Quinn, Dunn County Board Representative from Downing addressed the council about his dream of every home and business in town being heated with solar panels.

I thought, what a bunch of hogwash! But the more I think about it, maybe Mr. Quinn is on the right track.

 

On the right track because the federal government will force us into changing the way we heat our homes. The federal government has invested and lost millions of our taxpayer dollars trying to get the American people to embrace solar energy in the hopes of changing our fuel of choice from oil, gas, electric and coal to the sun or wind.

Over the years I have seen several installations of solar panels in this area. The best that they can do is to furnish a little supplementary heat for the owner. The panels that I have seen installed mostly have been abandoned, because apparently they did not provide a cost effective way to heat a structure. This past winter was one of the worst in many years, and with the sun out for less than a third of each day during our coldest months and with heavy cloud cover during that time, how can we expect solar energy to heat our homes?

I just recently read that the federal government is spending another $15 million or was it billion to a new solar energy company for development. In my mind, the Feds under Obama are trying to get the price of our conventional fuels so high that it will cause the American people to seek other forms of energy for keeping warm in the winter, like solar heat. President Obama’s plan has won a big decision at the Supreme Court over coal. I have written recently about the coal-fired power plants that are being or scheduled to be closed and stop generating electricity.

I have a hard time believing in global warming, especially just coming out of the past winter. Maybe man’s footprint has caused the earth’s climate to change, but then it has been changing for millions of years before man first appeared.

I know I use a lot more fuel to operate my vehicles and toys compared to what I need to heat my home and business. I would ask everyone to compare what they burn in their cars vs. home heating and then decide if changing from fossil fuel to solar would make any difference in global warming?

Thanks for reading. – Carlton