Troubling Times, Interesting Times

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Illustration by Fotolia/Kwest
In one simple image, here's the challenge and the opportunity we face in these interesting times.

Welcome to a crossroads in history. These are interesting times. A great challenge stares us in the face, one of the most significant the human race has ever known. But every great challenge is accompanied by great opportunity, and this too stands front and center.

The challenge is global warming. The opportunity before us is the chance to create a new, sustainable energy paradigm for human society.

As anyone who drives a car or heats a home knows, the prices of gasoline and natural gas are rising at an alarming rate. And Al Gore argues in our excerpt from his new book, An Inconvenient Truth, that global warming is causing climate changes at an equally alarming rate. But the good news is that the technologies we will need to resolve these problems already are at hand. In Easy Solar Power we report on a simpler way to use “thin-film” photovoltaic (PV) laminates to produce clean, renewable electricity. This thin-film PV isn’t yet less expensive than traditional PV, but its cost is likely to drop now that there is enough demand to support expanded production.

Even at current prices, a solar roof is a solid investment in many areas, as solar payback specialist Andy Black makes clear in The Cost of Solar Power: You Can Afford It. Soon we’ll have entire cities with PV roofs producing clean, sustainable electricity from the sun.

Energy Efficient Mortgages: Making Energy Upgrades Affordable describes a financial tool that can help you purchase a new energy-efficient home or pay for energy upgrades to an existing home.

  • Published on Oct 1, 2006
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