A Green City?

Well, Huntsville, Alabama has been voted the ninth greenest city in the country.The Green Guide That's ahead of Denver, Seattle, and Anchorage. Although there is still a lot of work to be done, Huntsville does make an effort. As I look out my window, I see a large swath of Monte Sano mountain that is part of the Huntsville Land Trust. That's a mainly private group that buys up land to keep it for hiking trails etc. and keep away development. I like that way of keeping development away from the areas you would like to see remain green. It's fair to the land owners, etc. I would really like to see more homes have solar panels. Not the black boxes that heat water, but actual solar cells that convert sunlight to electricity. I may install some this year if I can figure out where to get them and how well they hold up under the sometimes harsh weather conditions around here.

In general there should be more solar and wind power. They still do not provide the power the country will need in the future even if adopted widely. We really need something like nuclear power. Improved technology there would help. Hey I know what you are thinking. Well, would you rather burn coal? ship oil across the seas then burn that? How are you going to power the fuel cell everybody is talking about for their hydrogen powered cars? Oh, I can just plug it in, well, that power comes from somewhere. You are going to have to do something till we eventually get Fusion-(many generations probably). I think synthetic fuels from coal gasification and other sources can reduce our dependance on foreign oil in the mean time. One more thing, I like the idea of hybrid cars, especially the recouping of energy when braking, but when you really look at it the actual energy used in the life cycle of the car, plus the additional cost up front makes them non-economical and not a net energy saver. See here:Study says Hybrids Consume more Energy than non-hybrid vehicles