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"How should we reduce our carbon footprint?"
Move Away from Corporate-Funded Ethanol Development
Why has the entire effort to go green coalesced around large corporations. Those are the same captains of Industry who have failed us and led us to the crisis we face today. There are many green technologies that can be dispersed into the general population without encouraging a energy oligopoly. We can spend the billions of dollars used to subsidize huge corporation, and use it to subsidize homeowners like me.
Why can’t I be able to buy my own windmill? Why can’t I afford solar panels (even with the tax break)? Why can’t I heat water, and charge my electric car with solar power? I don’t need Exxon or Archer Daniels or Solar Energy, Inc. to put solar panels on my roof, I can call a local company, install all of this 50+ year-old technology, and begin saving energy in a week. My tax subsidy has to assure a return of capital within 5 years. That would still cost less the current subsidies to the industrial complex.
And oh, by the way, since most of this work has to be done on site, it will have to employ US labor. These jobs cannot be shipped overseas they way big corporations now do it.
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On March 31st, 2011 at 2:29 pm Ira Sorkin Said:
Most big corporations make the big bucks now. I fail to see why our government needs to subsidize their research labs. I think the competitive marketplace would supply ample incentive to these corporations to improve their product.
I like the ideas of government subsidies to homeowners who would like to upgrade their homes but are stopped by the huge up-front costs.
There are companies out there who are willing to install equipment on homes as testbeds for their product. Even schools are willing to do this.
I have seen mentions of this on a number of websites.
We need an easy-to-get-to list of these plus government incentives so the homeowner can benefit from all of these advances.