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[pgreformer]

PROTECT AMERICA PROJECT
A SOLUTION FOR
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
I don't believe that we can drill our way to energy independence. I don't believe that oil, coal, or nuclear power is the solution to our energy independence.
I believe that solar power is the only solution. I want all the energy companies to join together in this country and develop a new type of solar panel that will be cheap to manufacture and that can convert at 2-3 times the efficiency of our current solar panels. That needs to be coupled with new battery technology that is of a biodegradable material that is light in weight and can store 1000 times more energy than our best batteries available today.

In short, we need a Manhattan project funded by the profits from energy companies that can bring this concept to market. You do that by offering a tax incentive to the energy companies. They pool 50 percent of their profits for the project, develop the technologies and build facilities here in the U.S. to supply all our future energy needs. If they spend 50 percent of their profits on this project until they reach fruition, they pay a flat tax of 15 percent. If they do not spend 50 percent of their profits on the project, they are taxed at a 50 percent rate on their profits.

Once they can develop the battery technology, have all new vehicles sold in this country equipped with electric engines only. Have all new power plants be solar generated.

Don't worry about whether electric engines will be powerful enough to power our vehicles full time. Remember that trains are powered by electric engines. Diesel engines power the generators that run the electric engines on trains. But it is the powerful electric engines that provide trains with their tremendous pulling power. We can easily build powerful enough electric engines to power and car, truck or even planes, once we have the battery technology developed.

What I envision is an energy source that would be sold at the equivalent of about one dollar a gallon for gas. Think of what a boost it would be to our economy if we had fuel for our vehicles that was equal to about a buck per gallon with no pollution.

For the energy companies, they would have an endless source of energy. Once the panels are in place and the facilities set up, their operational costs would only be a fraction of the cost of a refinery, coal or nuclear operation. The sun comes up every day and as long as we have a sun, we would have energy. The new battery technology would allow a single day of collection of energy to get us through a week or more of night time usage.

They have already developed new types of solar panels that will convert energy even on cloudy or rainy days. We have the talented scientists in this county to develop this technology if they have sufficient funding.

What I envision is an endless stream of low cost energy that would allow the energy companies a profit margin of 40 to 50 percent and rollback energy prices to one dollar a gallon for gas equivalent.

Then we, the United States of America, can export this energy and technology to the rest of the world. We keep all manufacturing here in the U.S. to provide jobs for Americans. We slowly fade out our oil based vehicle and truck fleets. Oil will still be needed for all the products it is used in other than fuel, and our current domestic production would facilitate that domestic demand.

The energy companies are not going to develop the technology on their own. We have to force them to do this, and the only way that can happen is to tax them into submission. How long do you think it will take them to develop these two new technologies if they are forced to put 50 percent of their profits into this project? I can promise you that they will bring products to market very quick in order to get a return on their investments.

If you take the combined profits from all the energy companies in this country and you put 200 billion a year of those profits into this Manhattan type of project, they will bring new products to market in just a few years time.

The energy industry’s current business model will still exist for years to come, but the newly developed technologies allow the American energy industry to take the lead for all our future energy needs as well as export these new products to the rest of the world to solve their energy needs.

Oil does not go away, it is simply used for other products other than fuel. Nuclear energy can be phased out and current coal plants can be retrofitted with clean technologies to reduce pollution to an acceptable level that we can live with.

We need to keep all the manufacturing of these new types of panels and batteries here in the United States to provide jobs for Americans and help offset out balance of trade deficits. It is also a matter of national security that the United States be completely self-sufficient in all of our energy needs. Oil cannot provide that security by itself based on our domestic reserves, but solar energy can if we develop these two new technologies for solar panels and batteries.

All major energy companies will tell you that they already have solar research and development plans. But they are spending a minimal amount of their profits on solar development. We need to convince them to take up this challenge now. Their current actions clearly indicate that it will take a substantial push by the voter to get them to develop these new technologies.

The best way to do that is to tax them into submission. We need to write our elected officials and demand that they pass legislation that mandates this type of Manhattan project by the energy companies or face the new tax rates. If our elected officials refuse to pass legislation requiring this mandate, then we need to vote them out of office and vote in officials that represent our needs and not the demands of a select few in the energy industry.

If the energy industry won’t develop these new types of technologies, then we need to look to companies that have clean balance sheets and substantial hordes of cash on the books, with slow core growth prospects. Companies like Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Apple, Google, come to mind. Convince them to set up their own Manhattan type of project, develop the technologies and let them simply replace our current energy companies with a new energy and technology company that they develop out of the project.

The demand is here for this type of energy, and our global environment is in desperate need of it. If you can’t get one industry to develop it you can set this concept in motion and let a new group of leaders rise to the top.

Now let us look at the big picture. The world changed on September 11, 2001 with the suicide bombing attacks on U.S. soil. We have been at war for 8 years now in 2 countries. We’re just coming to the end of a global recession the likes of which we have not seen since the crash of 1929.

In our current world environment, we cannot afford to rely on oil as our main source of fuel for transportation needs. It is likely that we will fight more wars for various reasons, one of which might be for energy resources.

I grew up during the Viet Nam war. I thought that after Viet Nam the U.S. would not get involved in regional conflicts anymore. Yet we have been involved in 4 major wars and 5 regional military conflicts since the end of the Viet Nam war in 1975.

The world is always going to have someone that wants to destroy someone else. Because we have risen to the top economically and militarily, faster than any other country in the history of mankind, we are a target of those that are jealous of our success.

This recession has also shown the weaknesses in our experiment with capitalism. In order for capitalism to truly work, we have to have a balance in our supply and demand of our resources in order to have steady growth in all forms for our society and our economy. Our energy demands and that of the world are out of balance with our supply. I believe that my solar power proposal will provide that necessary balance in supply which will allow the world to progress in a more orderly and peaceful manner.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE THIS A REALITY

If you agree with my position and feel that solar is the answer, then write your elected officials at the federal level and demand that they pass legislation mandating that the energy companies must spend 50 percent of their profits on solar and battery research and development. Demand that companies in the private sector of energy form a Manhattan type of project to bring this technology to market quickly.

If your representatives won’t pass legislation regarding this matter and cave into the special interests of the energy sector, then tell them you will vote them out of office and elect a candidate that will make this a reality. Remember that the people we elect to public office actually work for us. We can fire them just as easily as we hired them come the next election.
Take action now, write your elected officials and demand this solution. Write your local newspaper editor and ask him to post this position in your local paper. The power of the internet can make this a reality.