"Energy-independance"... a complex and difficult undetaking to be sure. However, here's an idea which can save America 6.34 BILLION GALLONS of oil per year.. STOP HEATING OUR HOMES WITH OIL!! These homes, (10.6 MILLION), already have boilers, which can be easily converted to burning "pellet" fuels. These "pellets" (which look like rabbitt-turds) are compressed forms of "Bio-mass", such as straw, corn-husks, weed, hemp, or saw-dust. They already provide CHEAPER amounts of B.T.U.s than their fossil-fuel competition, and are totally renewable. Such fuels are also clean-burning, producing LESS sulfur emissions than coal and fuel-oil. Huge quantities of these fuels are commonly burned in our National Forests, in "Controlled-burns" to lessen the chance of massive forest fires. These same "bio-mass" fuels could easily be harvested and converted to "pellet" fuels for American homes. We MUST demand Federal incentives to convert ALL boiler-based home heating systems to such renewable "pellet" fuels. We must DEMAND a stop to the tax-incentives for oil companies, such as Exxon-Mobil, who reap obscene profits from their monopolies. Many of these boiler-equipped homes can also benefit from solar collectors which "pre-heat" the water in their systems. Small truck-mounted wood-chippers and pellet compactors could easily manufacture such fuels "on-site" in our National Forests, from wood which is currently burned anyway. Farm wastes and commercially-grown bio-mass such as hemp could also be profitable sources of income for America's farmers. WE MUST stop the ownership of our government by "Big-Oil" interests..... Has anyone yet learned the identity of those who attended Cheney's secret "Energy-Policy-Meetings" of 2001??? I WOULD BET MY LIFE THAT THOSE MEETNGS INCLUDED "MAJOR" OIL INTERESTS SUCH AS EXXON-MOBIL!!! If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!
- posted by Dave @ 3:50 PM