Davies foresees a new rural economy based on renewable energies like wind and solar. Global 500 firm Asea Brown Boveri advertises 'fields of windmills . Photovoltaic solar panels, too, are becoming more competitive every day. British Petroleum is selling these. And some newer technologies, like the fuel cell, could be truly revolutionary, not only for cars and trucks, but also for stationary users.
Energy efficiency is easier, and cheaper, to come by than it used to be.
Many shops currently stock energy efficient light bulbs and appliances. The new hybrid automobiles, the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius, which combine gas with electricity and get between sixty and seventy miles to the gallon, are now for sale. Although Toyota is manufacturing only a limited number of the vehicles, as The Washington Post reported on May 3, the Prius is popular enough that dealers now have five-month waiting lists. And these technologies make even more sense if you figure in the public health and environmental costs of sticking with the dirty old favorites. But the Bush Administration doesn't want to hear about that.