The Alternative to the Norm?

I was struck by this fact while driving into work today. People really are creatures of habit. Now, this isn't a new idea, and its not what I am going to attempt to explain, but as I was driving behind a car going 27 mph. in the slushy snow, I wandered if this was the way it was going to be, or if something would change. In the lane to my left all the cars were going the speed limit, not even worried by the small snowflakes as they fell, while I followed the man driving like a blizzard condition existed outside.

No, in my post today I am referring to the Alternative energy options we have, yet for some reason choose to stay behind the "car" going slow. I have recently been fascinated by the idea that the sun provides more energy to the earth than man has used since the industrial revolution in one day. Maybe I am a green tree hugger, but doesn't it seem wasteful to not try and use free energy before we drill and dig for fuels from inside our earth? I am a fan of free. And yes, I realize nothing is free, there will always be some cost, but the energy is there for the taking, and so few people are taking advantage of it.

One of the biggest factors a friend of mine brought up when discussing this idea of "free energy" is the fact that the solar panels are so very expensive. She was right, for me to have enoupgh solar panels to fuel my electrical needs, well bluntly put, the cost is stupid expensive. The thought got me thinking though, how did Henry Ford make the car affordable, and how did Gasoline become affordable? What made air travel so cheap? Widespread use is the easiest way to answer that question. Ford made millions of cars, peple used airplanes more than trains. So why does a country that claims to want to be energy independant not start widespread use of these technologys?

It cant be corprate greed, the amount of money even after the initial investment could and would be enourmous, if a company was to sell you the energy your panels created from the sun to you at a discount from the established electric company. That said company would make millions.

All this aside, What makes the alernitive the norm? Thats the question that is nagging me, how do we as Americans and Humans in general, go from dependancy on a fossil fuel to that of free energy from the Sun? Is it really that big of a shift that we are afraid of it? It wasnt so long ago we had no Fossil fuels to power such an amazing world, and we relied on the Sun. It would be a nice jump to rely on that same Sun again, and not on dead dinos...

Well,
I hope todays a good one!
austininva