In 1978 President Carter installed solar electric panels on the roof of the White House to show the nation an alternative energy source. He reinforced his energy policy by directing the DOE (Dept. of Energy) to develop alternative energy sources. President Carter’s bold action with regard to his energy policy is just one example of the leadership that marked him as one of the great presidents of the twentieth century.
Over thirty years ago we were on our way to an economy that would be driven by clean, cheep, and abundant energy. We were going to “ride the lightening” into the twenty first century. Then one of our greatest leaders failed to win his campaign for re-election. One of the first acts of President Carter’s successor was to remove the solar electric panels from the White House. President Reagan also shut down the alternative energy projects at the DOE. Our future hit a lightening rod, and America went without an energy policy for nearly thirty years.
President Obama has promised a strong energy policy, but in the mean time another hero has stepped up to the challenge. Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla Motors, which developed an electric car possessing the power to beat all comers, including every internal combustion car.
Early in 2008 the CEO of G. M. laughed at the fledgling car company, but who’s laughing now? G. M. is as good as extinct with sixty billion dollars of debt; only surviving due to a government take-over. Tesla has moved up to a production model of their $100,000 sport car, and they are producing 20-25 per week. The next generation, a $50,000 sedan, is coming off the production line in quantities of 400 per week in 2011. They aren’t stopping there. Within three to five years a $30,000 electric car will be available in your choice of a sedan or a SUV.
Tesla Motors is the American car company of the future.
This is great news, but it is also tragic. If President Reagan had continued President Carter’s energy policy we could have entered the twenty first century “riding the lightening” of electric cars that run on free energy provided by solar electric panels.
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What can I possibly say to this? In my opinion our government system is corrupt in many ways. A government that is supposed to act for the best interests of the American people, misses the point more often than not. In the case of alternative kinds of cars that don't run on fuel, well we are seemingly owned by the oil industry that lies within the middle east. I think getting anything other than the cars we have now marketed in the US in the near future is probably not going to happen. Realistically America would have to become more self sufficient and not be relying on the money from other countries, for the world to allow us to become oil free.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your opinion of other forms of cars such as the hydrogen car?
Jessica