I'm gonna lead this by saying that I have always been interested in Electronic Vehicles. I lived in the US during the Arab Oil Embargo. Let me digress for a moment and sum up the factors at play in that rude awakening.

First, the Primary issue for Saudi Arabia was that we were paying them a tiny amount per barrel of oil. Of course, once we got it home, the oil barons made a killing. But... and it's a BIG 'Butt'...

It was OUR experience, equipment, and delivery equipment that even made the discovery, retrieval, and then transfer of those volumes of oil possible. Otherwise, they were dead in the desert. We found it. We drilled it. We built the pipelines to the Suez Canal. Once there, it was OUR tankers that received it, and brought it across oceans to us. All of these things were what you call Overhead. Expense.

I was paying .25c a gallon. I had a 10 gallon tank. 2.50 to fill up.

Honestly not understanding these cost factors, or simply ignoring them, the Arab shieks flew into outrage, and boycotted oil sales to the US for 90 days.

Once that period was over, they came up with THEIR plan. Naturally, they received much more for their resource.

Now I am paying .75c a gallon. Nothing, right?

It wasn't just my tank of gas that just tripled.

Every trucker, every petroleum fueled form of transport just tripled their base cost: FUEL.

Every form of plastic tripled right along with fuel costs.

We went into a massive recession. Years.
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I was still in my teens, but I saw the ADDICTION to OIL to which we were now clearly bound. Naive as I was, I could still see the hypocracy of claiming to be 'The most Free Nation in the World'... while grovelling for foreign oil.
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I worked for a Christian man who had started his advertising business with an account for a company that was world renowned in the manufacture of portable drilling rigs. Wilson Mfg. Co., Inc. They were built right in my home town. As his reputation for honesty and resonable pricing for his work grew, two other portable drilling rig mfgrs here (Wichita Falls, TX) came to him for their advertising. (Wichtex Mfg and Walker Neer Mfg). So... I was exposed to some very knowledgeable oil industry players. This man was a TRUE father to me, and took me under his wing.

But my feeling was that we should NOT subject ourselves to being slaves to foreign oil. IF we didn't have it HERE, then shouldn't we begin aggressively pursuing ALTERNATE forms of energy?

The noise that I heard from these industry voices was that we had it, but that we had 'stored' it. We were using THEIR oil to preserve our own, with the intent to break into our hidden 'reserves' only when THEIR supplies diminished...

Okay. Wouldn't you say then, that if they cut us off, and then disrupted our economy by increasing the cost of oil 300% for us to continue purchasing that which we found, drilled, transported, and refined was the same as saying that their 'supply' had been FOR OUR PURPOSES significantly diminished? Any aggressive CONSUMER would pull up stakes and pursue other avenues.

I began writing about the potentials for these various alternate energies: Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Biomass... etc. Ironically, but probably very predictably, the Energy mogles moved in. My pieces were written in the '70's. So... today, you see wind 'farms' across the world. Why? Oh, because it is so environmentally RIGHT! Not at all.

But back in my beginning days, my employer asked me about one of these articles I wrote.  He proposed the story he had been assured of, that the oil was simply stored away, waiting for the day.  Young and foolish as I was, my immediate response was... if they are saving it for an 'emergency'... aren't we there yet???  

What we are seeing NOW is gross overproduction of equipment with very very limited foresight into the maintenance of those those gargantuine beasts. Because the Energy barons have figured out how they can make their money.  They have the whole thing set up!  Mfg, Delivery, assembly, ... 'maintenance'...

The HEART is the MOTOR of those wind generators. Have you ever seen pics of one that is or has caught fire? Not pretty, but... nothing to see here. Move along. Let us take a look at another catastrophic flaw. The Blades.

Those blades. Ironically, their design was FIRST engineered by another brilliant man here from Wichita Falls. But he designed their form and substance, NOT the massive size we see today. Why does that matter?

I do not know the exact substance the blades you see being transported down our highways today are made of. I'm not a scientist. But I DO READ. From that simple skill I have discovered: There is somewhat of a major flaw. You see, those blades are prone to CRACKING, BREAKING.... BUT there is no currently known way to repurpose that material. Instead, they are once again hauled on those petroleum fueled big rigs... to our land fills. In massive quantities. And covered in dirt. Worst of all? THEY ARE NOT BIODEGRADABLE. But they ARE made from an OIL BASED plastic, or something of that nature. (Kinda leaves us right back in that foreign oil addicted bucket, right?)  Whatever they are made of...

....they are not reusable. So we STILL remain addicted to foreign oil. Particularly when our own demented Resident of the White House, who has NEVER worked outside the political arena, has no clue and accepts whatever storyline he is hand fed.  He has no concept of how oil is (unfortunately or not) the lifeblood of all of our economic welfares.

So what about solar?  I am not going into that in this article.  I can only sum up to say... every sword has a sharp edge.  To draw from the elements of this environment will always have costs.  Ask those who harvest the elements needed to make those magic electric cars... I think the vast majority of them are children... in Africa ... in very toxic mines.