Gassed

The recent discovery of a new oil resource off the U.S. Coast may have initially sounded like a relief to the country’s dependence on foreign fossil fuels, but analysts are already saying that the find will do little to stave off the diminishing resources at hand. What’s more, the impact of this deposit will be years away and will do little to put a dent in consumer demand.

Really, all it did was buy a little time, further feed our addiction to a non-renewable resource and extend our political agenda in the Middle East. And it probably just fed the fire to encourage more digging and disruption into our ecosystem in a hope that there’s more down there. I’m having a mental image of a political cartoon depicting the U.S. as a crack whore.

On a brighter note, NPR reports on an emerging renewable resource called Solar Thermal, which is capable of generating much more power than the more conventional solar power cells at a cheaper price. While still not able to match the price and output of fossil fuels, it signals a step in the right direction for our energy needs.

Whatever the source (be it solar, combustion or nuclear) it’s still amazing to me that what it all comes down to is a way to boil water and have the steam turn turbines to generate electricity. You’d think we’d have found a better way by now.