On renewable energy...

I'm all for renewable energy. I guess no one will argue with that, perhaps with the exception of the Big Oil and the Bush administration. Most people like the talk (or concept) of it, but can't take it when it's $0.10 more expensive in unit cost.

I've always wondered how long it takes for vendors to come out with solar power panels and products. At least this past season, some products show up. It's a little more expensive, but I like it enough to buy myself a solar panel lamp from Red Envelope. Product information is sooooo inadequate, eg. how long the lamp/panel will last, how efficient it is, throughput info, etc. But I figure, I should start somewhere, and that somewhere is now.

So, I followed the instructions, and charged up the lamp for 20 hours. All I need now, is to wait for the sun to come out. And I don't even know where to buy the florescent bulb refill when it burns out.

If I haven't had kids, I would have bought a Toyota Prius, after my little Corolla runs its full course. The Big Three of American cars should be so ashamed of themselves. Instead of progressive thinking and forward-looking, they prefer to fight the environmentalists and the world, and stick with burning oil like crazy. Now, the world would pass them by, and they would play catch-up for 5+ years on the renewable energy car market behind all the foreign car companies that they were once so contemptuous of. It's not unlike the Bush administration squandered away the goodwill and moral opportunity to lead the world after 9/11. Bush thinks they'll go their way, and everyone has to follow; much the same way Amercian cars once thought. How wrong. That goes to show "leadership" (or rather, "non-leadership").