Gore's CRRAAAAZZZZYYY Goal

Former Vice President Al Gore challenged the nation today to convert its electricity ENTIRELY to solar, wind, and other environmentally friendly energy sources within ten years. Imagine Mr. Gore's happy country, Midwestern prairies full of windmills, solar panels propping up in the burbs, etc. I guess I could imagine myself having a giant solar panel as a roof but honestly how the fuck are we really going to do this?

I am as strong an advocate for alternative energy research as anybody. Such research will be the key to preserving the world economy as oil prices continue to skyrocket and fossil fuels fade away due to their deleterious environmental impact. But the United Sates as a nation is nowhere near the point where it can realistically convert entirely to alternative sources within the next decade. We are addicted to greenhouse gases as a nation, and that will be hard to break. Solar, wind, and geothermal energy are certainly great alternatives but technology is nowhere near a point where they could produce all of the electricity that we need as a country. While we certainly need to continue pursuing these technologies aggressively, they are not a near term fix by any means.

Fortunately, a relatively inexpensive altenative to fossil fuels is available right now and actually contributes significantly to the grid already: nuclear. I know Americans never trust the French about anything (cheese eating Socialist snob assholes.... moi je n'ai pas de probleme") but the French have enjoyed ample, relatively clean electricity through their extensive network of nuclear plants that provide approximately 76% of the country's energy. The United States, on the other hand, only receives 19% of its energy from nuclear power. With the current technologies available, the only way for the United States to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in a signficant manner would be to build nuclear plants aggressively throughout the country, continue to pursue other alternative sources, immediately enact stricter fuel economy standards for cars and reinstate tax breaks for buying hybrid and other highly fuel efficient cars (that Bush scrapped, fucking asshole got rid of the tax break to buy hybrid cars- why does George Bush hate trees and babies?). Al Gore is living in a dreamworld if he really thinks this country can convert entirely to alternative sources in ten years without increasing nuclear production - even if the technology was available the cost would be astronomical. Come on Al, the optimism is great but stop taking so many fucking crazy pills.

Now check out the new poll question....