Associated Press
10-09-06
Green is a hard sell
Alternative technology has yet to be promoted to a high priority for most people
By STEPHANIE HOO
The Associated Press
Solar panels were perfected decades ago. Turning corn into fuel uses the most
basic science. As for wind power, windmills have been around for more than a
thousand years.
AP photo
Today's wind turbines are adapted from aerospace and are used to generate
electricity. Like with solar, they suffer from a perception problem.
Yet, we're still burning gas and coal and obliterating forests. Why the long delays
in getting alternative technology to the market? The reasons are a brew of cost,
perception and politics. Consider the evidence:
Building Materials
Architects can now design houses made of everything from recycled plastic to
compressed sawdust, yet most are still made by chopping down trees for timber.
New York-based architect Michael McDonough, for one, is a proponent of
"structural insulated panels," which marry an inner core of insulating foam with an
outer shell made of anything from concrete to a paste-free mix of sawdust and
water.
"Imagine a piece of wood that comes with insulation, that works perfectly with the
most advanced heating and cooling systems," he says.
And, the technology has been around since the 1930s, he says. "It was invented
by the U.S. Forestry Service as a way to save wood."
Yet, 70 years later, the panels still haven't caught on -- even though they are
widely available, are more durable than wood, and cost about the same as wood
but with 300 percent more energy efficiency, McDonough says.
The delay "is simply resistance based on habit, nothing else," he says.
Solar Panels
Solar panels are billed as a way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, which
are nonrenewable and cause pollution. More and more homes have solar panels.
But most still do not.
Homeowners can save thousands of dollars in energy costs over time if they
install them, but builders may balk at the upfront costs. The price tag for an array
of solar panels to power an individual home is about $20,000 -- though many
states offer rebates to cover a large portion of the cost, as much as 70 percent.
Architect Michael McDonough promotes alternative building materials while at
the NextFest technology fair.
Still, "a home builder is not likely to put a system on if he's building on spec,"
says Joe Laquatra, a professor of design and environmental analysis at Cornell
University in Ithaca, N.Y. "Home builders trust technology they're used to. They
operate in a very competitive environment."
Part of solar's challenge is overcoming a bad reputation. Early solar panels
unveiled in the late '70s and early '80s suffered engineering problems, but those
problems have been resolved, he says.
Still, energy efficiency just isn't a priority for many consumers, he adds.
"What are some of the trends we see in home building? The home theaters,
higher ceilings, nice kitchens. And people still look at home costs as PITI -principle, interest, taxes, insurance," he says. "I tell people to put an 'e' at the end
of that, too -- think about energy costs."
Wind Power
Windmills date to 7th-century Persia, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
By the 12th century, they had spread to China and across Europe, as mankind
harnessed the wind for power.
Today's wind turbines are adapted from aerospace and are used to generate
electricity. Like with solar, they suffer from a perception problem -- as well as
resistance from town zoning boards, Laquatra says. "People have the
misconception that they're noisy," he says, but "you stand next to one and you
can barely hear anything."
Also, wind turbines are expensive because they aren't mass produced. To power
up an individual home with wind would cost about $50,000, McDonough says.
Again, many states offer deep rebates, but the price tag would ideally fall if
production is ramped up, he says.
Meanwhile, commercial wind farms have faced resistance when trying to sell
their power to utility companies, says David Osterberg, director of the University
of Iowa's Environmental Health Sciences Research Center.
"That's one of the problems with renewable energy; it's not the technology but
who is going to buy it."
Ethanol
Biofuels like corn-based ethanol are touted as the future of energy. In reality,
ethanol is made using the most basic science imaginable -- corn is crushed and
then turned into alcohol.
The delay in it becoming more widespread is, very simply, "the stranglehold of
Big Oil," Osterberg says. "Part of it is a policy that has been so biased toward
gas and oil that we've been allowed to get in a very vulnerable position," he says,
citing U.S. dependence on imported oil.
That said, corn alone isn't going to save us, says David Swenson, an
economist at Iowa State University. Unlike Osterberg, he is less than bullish
on corn. Not only is there is a limit to how much corn the U.S. can produce, but
growing corn requires a lot of energy and chemicals, and the U.S. ethanol
industry is protected by huge subsidies and curbs on imports from places like
Brazil.
"We're moving away from corn now to something else, which is any kind of
cellulose" such as field grass, rice hulls, peanut hulls and even unused corn
stalks, Swenson says. Scientists are still working on breaking down those
materials, but "we don't have anywhere near the public resources devoted to
developing alternative resources," he says.