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Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger
...(so you can survive the temperature changes with no more that a wood-buring fireplace, using wood you chop yourself) and living in a commune-like enviroment far from any major population centers...
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Once again, someone talking from a US perspective. You are correct across the board on that post, but sounds like once again you haven't heard about the rest of the world and what we are doing.
First, in Ireland, we don't burn wood. We burn peat. It's abundant, cheap, and replentishable making it our #1 heat source in the winter, for centuries.
Second, we have many 'wind farms' in fact, much like in various states in america we can choose our electicity provider. I use a 100% wind farm provider. They however can only have so many customers because of their size, but each year they increase their farm size and output exponentially. At this rate we hope to have half the country on wind before 2020. Cheaper, more reliable, and global friendly.
More impressive is Scotland. Like Iceland, they now are putting in 'ocean farms', that run off the waves. They put out even more power than wind farms with less maintanence. The ocean waves power the generators. Some of the smaller islands in the channel are powered 100% by ocean waves. Not one drop of fossil fuel used in the production of electricity there (well, im guessing they use some to start the system). We also have solar farms here. Not as big, but the new solar technology is supposed to dwarf what was considered good just 10 years ago.
In fact, BBC just did a great show last week on these new doctors clinics in various parts of Africa. They use 100% solar power, are self contained, easily transported on trucks, and more importantly, they have a water purificaiton system so they can operate for months with no water hookup and never need any power hookups. They are putting them out in the middle of darkest Africa, allowing modern medical teams to work in ideal environments with no power or water and do so in clinical sanitary conditions. It's amazing.
These are things that are currently used all over the world as well, just not in the states. Why? Once again, follow the money.