It will take a sustained public relations campaign to ween the public off of cheap energy. In general, we have been lead down the road of “cheaper is better, the future is later,” type thinking. If it is not right in front of their faces or effecting the size of their wallet, most people don’t care.

Hopefully, that will change soon. In the mean time, the best we can do is live the example and talk about it with our friends and neighbors. Thanks for commenting.

Take one of the more expensive renewable energy systems – solar electric – it gives you back 5-8% per year. If you have a local rebate program & you include the 2009 federal tax credit (US) then that number increases significantly.

Now let’s take one of the more attractive renewable energy technologies – solar thermal (i.e. solar water heating and solar air heating). These systems usually pay for themselves in 3-8 years and like solar electric systems last decades. So you’re getting 12-33% back on your fixed investment every year.

The only downside is that you won’t keep stock traders and brokers employed and may instead employee dozens of other folks instead probably firmly grasping onto the middle class.

If anyone is interested, I’ve documented the install on my web site. If you’ve ever wondered how solar is installed on an existing home, check it out at: http://www.jjhamilton.com/solar

Jimmyd