After successfully navigating around Normandy for the past week, I've returned to America with a wealth of new knowledge about WWII, an overwhelming sense of pride for what our soldiers did to combat evil during that war, an even healthier appreciation for how difficult the battle for Europe was, and, interestingly, a few Euro ideas about going green.
France is a country around the size of Texas (give or take) with a population of roughly 65 million people - perhaps 40 million more folks than live in Tejas. Yet while driving along the highways of France I noticed perhaps six or seven trucks, or about a quarter as many as I saw leaving the airport in Dallas upon my return stateside. Additionally, I was informed that about 80% of France's electricity is generated in nuclear power plants, and most of the rest comes from wind farms which are impossible to miss as they stir peacefully in France's lush countryside.
So what am I getting at? Texans need trucks and Parisians don't - that's probably true. Texas is not the United States while France is France - also true. But there are things going on in France that would work here if we gave them a shot. Nuclear power, for example, is a big step. If France can provide 50 million people with nuclear generated energy then so can we. While imperfect, nuclear energy is a vast improvement over dirty ole coal. Kudos to team Obama for already pushing new nuclear plants.
But if there is really one thing we should be doing, it's wind energy (and solar and hydro, etc, etc, etc). Driving through France's countryside, I witnessed some massive and impressive windmills. I mean these things were huge, and they're not unsightly (hear that Cape Cod?). If my man T. Boone Pickens is right and America is the Middle East of wind energy then we should have thousands of these turbines running from the Dakotas down to Texas. If an oil spill isn't enough to push us over the environmental precipice then I can't imagine what it will take.
Let's make America better today. As we try to prevent our gulf coast from turning black, let's go ahead and take steps to make sure we don't have to clean up our skies. Let's invest in the technology that will create American jobs, American products and a clean world for everyone. If it works in France, it'll work in America.
65 million and so many more! the french over-invested in nuclear energy, a source with such inflexible production capacity that they practically give it away to their european neighbors to prevent their power grid from melting. let's invest in renewable energy, but not without regard for economic rationality. "feel good" decision making is fiscally irresponsible, and subsidizing markets that are not yet viable will do nothing but amplify an appalling budget deficit.
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