Our energy usage and production is a very talked about subject. Most people have their view on which is best for our coarse of action in order to produce the power we need in a cleaner more efficient way. I agree, we do need to look for the best means to do this. I had done a study on energy production a little over a year ago and posted many articles on the subject on a political discussion site. When we speak of energy production most people like myself would like to see our dependence on oil from other counties reduced. There are a few things to look at here. Most believe that oil is the main fuel for our electrical production. This could not be further from the truth. Very little oil is used for electrical production. Coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, solar and wind are the primary methods. Hydro being the largest of the gang. At least world wide. None of these sources are without drawbacks of some kind. Personally my home is set for wind and solar. No outside lines from an electric provider. There are always new technologies being looked into for the purpose of developing the electricity our society requires. We should be embracing the research into these possibilities. A cleaner, more efficient means of production should always be the goal. We can not however, ignore our current methods and shut them down at every turn just because we are not fond of them.

 

In the production of power there is the need for equipment in order to create it. Most of which does require mining of ore for metal parts or the use of oil for the plastic parts. In the solar and wind drive plastic would be a main need. This does require oil in order to produce. Instead of the dependence of ground oil which is drilled for and most of it imported, why not convert to the growing of hemp for the oil required for these things. It's cleaner, and is not as harmful to the environment as fossil fuel.

 

This subject is much to large to cover in a short blog and really get into the vast subject of energy production with percentages on what each method produces, cost comparisons, environmental impact or anything else, and this short blog was not intended to go there. The intent here was simply to point out a couple of simple facts and ideas in order to encourage a more open train of thought as to our approach in dealing with electrical production.