Article by Anne Long
As I’m watching the news and listening to the radio I am perturbed at how any excuse seems to be good enough for oil prices to go up and up. The effects on local, national and global economies are, simply put, frightening. More upsetting is the fact that I have no answers for myself when I ask, “How can I build a solar panel? How do I make a windmill? What are different types of energy sources I can utilize to get myself and my family out of the dependency trap?” Dependency on oil is killing our world, both in terms of economic stresses and decisions based on revenues, power and want that adversely affect ours’ and our planet’s well being.
Did you ever wonder where we might be today if oil corporations were to make money selling solar panels or wind turbines? While the technologies to enjoy different type of energy – renewable energy – have been around for a very long time there has been, unfortunately, a great deal of effort moving against those technologies. Those factors have been (and still are) those revenues, power and wants mentioned above, and the overwhelming desire to maintain that status quo. Indeed we have built nations (and destroyed nations as well) by way of fossil fuels and our dependency upon them.
Okay, enough of making my point. How do you make solar panels and wind turbines in order to decrease your dependency on oil. How do you do YOUR PART? Where do YOU begin? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to no longer see that ever-rising electric bill each month? But just how does solar energy work, and how do you get started? How do you afford it? Solar installation from a retailer can take thirty years to pay back and cost you well over ,000. In today’s economy that’s enough to scare a lot of us off. It scares me off.
Take heart, there are more and more stories of individual home owners like you and me that are demonstrating wonderful ingenuity. These people are not going to a retailer and paying for an expensive system to be installed. These home-owners are learning how to make a solar panel from scratch. Then they build another and another. They’re not stopping there, either. How to make a wind turbine is now something your neighbor down the road may very well be able to show you how to do.
The money being saved by making your own solar panels rather than purchasing retail panels is significant. I understand that you can make a solar panel in the neighborhood of 0. This alone can save you thousands versus paying a company to do it for you. Do-it-yourself is the phrase of the day, and it’s the way we are – one-by-one – contributing to a better economy and a higher level of responsibility for our environment and our role as stewards of it.
So, in the midst of all the stresses and concerns of our oil-based economies, the working family is becoming more and more knowledgeable of things like ethanol and hydro-electricity. There are now many, many sources on-line and elsewhere in which you can avail yourself of small wind turbine kits, solar panel kits, etc. Look around you. Small windmills and solar powered homes and businesses are rapidly spreading across America. I hail our progress – albeit forty years behind where it should be. But we are now moving in the direction – towards respect of our resources. In many small steps, we are now taking responsibility for leaving a better legacy for our children. At least many of us are. There are still many interests holding sway the opportunity to make huge strides. Do your part and know that, one-by-one, we can and will make a difference.
About the Author
As I’m watching the news and listening to the radio I am perturbed at how any excuse seems to be good enough for oil prices to go up and up. The effects on local, national and global economies are, simply put, frightening. More upsetting is the fact that I have no answers for myself when I ask, “How can I build a solar panel? How do I make a windmill? What are different types of energy sources I can utilize to get myself and my family out of the dependency trap?” Dependency on oil is killing our world, both in terms of economic stresses and decisions based on revenues, power and want that adversely affect ours’ and our planet’s well being.
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