Today: Iraq

[kandrathe]

We have coal fired plants, NG fired plants, some wind & solar farms, some nuclear, and many small hydro plants. But, unfortunately the bulk of our power comes from coal fired plants. The companies here are deregulated and so are starting to have more control over setting rates at profitable levels. Source: Xcel: Power Generation

In my area (which is currently very, very cold. -19C is our high today. ) we have any number of electricity and home energy conservation programs. And, I believe the majority of people participate in them. If you look at the home of 2004, you would find the electricity producing and consuming devices more efficient than predecessors, but there are also more of them. TV's for instance are 30-40% more efficient, but now the average home has 3 or more TV's rather than just one. So unless people curb their purchases, and return to more conservative living I don't see efficiency tips alone as an answer. What will make a difference is the price of electricity, but that is not popular here as it is anti-progressive and could harm the economy.

I do believe that the single largest contribution to a healthy economy is cheap, abundent energy. Secondary, are raw materials(or purpose) and trained labor.

Another difficulty here is that we have just the beginnings of any type of viable mass transit. In the past decade our economy has boomed, and the suburban populations have swelled which has clogged the roads with increasing numbers of vehicles. The only answer I see to the automobile problem is for the transformation of the automobile to alternative fuel sources, such as fuel cells.