Alternative Energy
 There is a silver lining to the current energy shortage: current technology is poised to shift our entire economy towards more reliable and environmentally healthy power sources.
Suddenly non-polluting wind power and solar power are price competitive with more traditional sources for energy.
Low-pollution fuel cells will soon be running everything from vacuum cleaners to bicycles.
So-called "hybrid" gas/electric power is already being used in production automobiles like the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight (which among other features uses "regenerative braking," converting forward motion into electricity while braking the car).
For an overview of coming technologies, see:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The Department of Energy's research and development laboratory for alternative energy sources.
The EREN Fuel Cells web site
From the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (sponsored by Department of Energy's Office of Power Technologies)
Wind Turbines
(from the Federal Energy Management Program and the Washington State University Energy Program) A briefing on wind turbine power generation technology, with links to major additional sources of information.
Old Coot next door has solar collectors in his front yard. His meter runs backwards as he feeds energy to the power grid, and the electric company sends him checks.
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