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2007 ENERGY TOUR: Day 28 July 22, 2007It's hard to believe that our first Energy Tour is over. We have made many great memories and learned so much. We have learned things we will utilize in our daily lives and teach to others. We feel that our tour has been valuable and helped forward the renewable energy movement in the United States. We have met many interesting people. We have made friends we hope to continue working with. Many people are excited about renewable energy and biofuels and we hope to have a part in creating more excitement about it.  Here are some final observations from our trip. The knowledge, enthusiasm, and desire for change regarding renewable energy varies greatly from region to region and city to city. The availability of renewable energy produced electricity and biofuels also varies greatly. Some people we spoke with had never heard of biodiesel and don't know there are currently available substitutes for many petroleum products. Others are very knowledgeable and we were able to learn from them. Some are knowledgeable but seem to have tunnel vision when it comes to renewable energy. For example, we have met some people that think that waste vegetable oil is the ultimate solution. We feel that waste vegetable oil (WVO) for vehicle fuel is a great solution that will work for some people. People who are willing to collect the oil, have their engines converted to work on WVO, and take the time to fuel up in this fashion. That is great! We applaud people who do this and encourage the practice. This is not practical for many people and here is where ethanol and biodiesel come into play. These fuels are a current technology alternative that will work on your vehicle with no modifications and can be found with minimal research. We also met a person who felt that hydrogen fuel cells were the ultimate solution. For certain hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen energy technology are promising and will help build a renewable energy future. However, right now fuel cells are not a readily available technology, nor are they affordable for the majority of people. What we found interesting is that some people feel that until the "ultimate renewable energy technology", whatever that may be, becomes available they will just keep doing the same thing they are doing now, which is using fossil fuels. If only a fraction of the population switched to biofuels right now the results would be amazing. Our final words for the 2007 Energy Tour are: use whatever renewable energy sources are available to you now including solar, wind and biofuels. Conserve energy, recycle and most of all be aware. Be aware of the energy you are using, where it comes from, what the real costs are and what you can do better. Also we encourage you to join our community, add to the wiki and participate in the forum. Together we can build a community of people who will help bring about the necessary changes to better our world, our country, our communities and our lives. |
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