The Green Movement

The growing concern over the loss of our cheap oil supply has engendered ideas and innovation from people all over the world. It's an exciting time where we're seeing more and more green technology appear, stemming from our need to clean up the earth. A great example is the wave powered boat, Suntory Mermaid ll, which will travel from Hawaii to Japan on the propulsion of wave energy.I also love the idea of the Air Powered Car and capturing energy through a device attached to one's knees as one walks.

$17 billion in tax credits & incentives

It looks like progress, but is there enough being accomplished in the fields of energy conservation, renewable energy incentives, more high tech green gadgetry in this country? Will there be enough successful bridging technology to carry us past our oil dependency as this world gets closer to permanently having less oil? Congress is just beginning to open their eyes, but will bureaucracy continue to hinder the progress we desperately need for more and affordable renewable energy sources? We need to pass the laws before we can contend with our oil dependent infrastructure and agriculture. This article reports on the governments' current action concerning tax credits for renewable energy.

Investing: oil vs solar

California is seeing exponential growth in alternative energy investments. Venture capitalists invested $654 million in 2007 in solar energy from $253 million in 2006. Read the article about how the Bay Area is beginning to invest in the future. On the flip side, Exxon Mobile's 2007 net income rose 7% from 2006 due to escalations in oil prices. Of course, they could continue to see this upswing for a few more years as oil becomes increasingly more challenging to find and the price of a barrel grows beyond $100. It seems absurd to me to that a company can make such an enormous profit off of our world's resource depletion. I suppose, you're good (for a while) if you have crude oil investments and good if you have solar technology investments, but wouldn't it feel better if you were making money off of a promising future rather than one based upon desperation?