We need to invest in renewable energy sources.

I've only seen a handful of homes with solar panels on the roof. In NJ we only have 4 or 5 large windmills (that I know of) they are near the marina in Atlantic City. They should be all along the Turnpike and the Parkway. Ocean water produces waves that can be turned into energy. Why is the USA, as a country, not doing more to use safe, clean, renewable energy?

IMO it's because certain wealthy families and companys couldn't make money from it. People like the Bushes, Cheneys, various big oil companys and of course Halliburton.

In order to retain their wealth they have to shoot down any and all pretenders to the throne. Of course, we should be harnessing the power of the ocean and making solar panels and hybrid autos more economical for the consumer! I think the reason we aren't is because the good old boys club that rules this country hasn't figured out a way to make money from that yet.

The US is investing gigantic amounts of money in renewable energy in both the private and public sectors. A few things come into play here though, fossil & nuclear energy is still the cheapest way too go and macroeconomics dictate a slow changeover when instilling new sources.

Check out this website ...

Department of Energy - Homepage

... and especially this website ...

U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Home Page

... to see what our government is doing i.e. spending billions every year on renewable energy technology.

All that I need is a patent for my generator, and a world patent for it, and I guarantee that I can solve MOST of our energy problems with it.

Problems I currently face:
Not enough money for the patents.
WHEN I get the patents, how do I keep the oil/energy companies from knocking me off or making me suddenly "disappear without a trace".

Solar energy is not efficient enough

LETS GO NUCLEAR FUSION

We need to do that so we won't get our a** f**ked by those oil companies

Heating water can account for up to 25% of your energybill.

Where I live nearly 100% of the homes have solar hot water systems. It saves so much money not using electricity or gas to keep a tank of water hot 24/7. The new systems are really quite efficient. Even if the the previous day wasn't fully sunny, the water is still really hot the next morning. They can have an electrical element built into them for use when we have little direct sunshine.

I think that if people in a "second world" country like ours can invest in this, so could people in wealthier places. I saw very few roof top heaters in Florida last year and they certainly have enough sunshine. My father made his own and it works great.

The complete system for my place cost 650 USD installed.

most nuclear power nowadays is a result of fission. nuclear fusion releases and exponentially larger amount of enery and i dont think we've figured out a safe way to harness it. nuclear fusion is what fuels the sun. so its obsiously some pretty powerful shit

This is actually a critical, critical issue. A few good links are The Oil Drum | Discussions about Energy and Our Future for daily information about oil and energy generally. If you haven't heard about Peak Oil, you should read The Oil Drum | Peak Oil Overview - March 2008 (Pdf and Powerpoint available) to learn about this very important subject. The website OilPoster.org has a large image of a poster about oil that has a lot of very useful data and information. I have the poster on the wall behind me. Oil production has been flat or increasing only glacially for nearly 3 years now.

Tonight I was hanging out with a couple of friends and we went to meet some more at a bar. When we settled down into our chairs next to the people already there they informed us they had been talking about oil (and by extension gasoline) prices. At this I thought, "Oh dear" because I didn't know these people well at all and as you can see from my profile I list oil as one of my interests. The people I spoke with are successful, educated Manhattanites and they knew nothing. In fact, what they said was the opposite of the truth and dangerous. The main guy arguing with me had never heard of Peak Oil and all his numbers were wrong. And he claimed to also be a student of oil.

2 weeks ago I decided I was going to build a website myself to provide people with a way to learn about energy and truly be informed because so many sites out there are hard to understand if you don't know a lot already. They are either for people who already have a large base of knowledge or they completely skips over an explanation of energy and fossil fuels so that people don't understand why energy is important, how we produce it or how we use it.

Anyone who wants more info can shoot me a PM.

Using solar hot water heaters in Florida isn't as cost effective as it is in areas where the tap water is much colder. My tap water is about ~80F May thr. November and so it doesn't take a lot of energy to bump that to 120F. In So. Fla. the water gets even warmer, ~84F. When I lived in W. Palm Beach I would sometimes use only "cold" water for a shower.

Most of the solar heaters that exist around here are used as pool heaters and that would be only for part of the year. I've been told they do save a lot of money versus using gas or a heat pump and the payback is reasonable despite the short winter.

A big problem is: communities that forbid or severely restrict solar heaters, either by municipal ordinance or by homeowner association bylaws. Many folks regard the things as "unsightly" or as "eyesores". That mentality is rather widespread, unfortunately.

It would be nice if someone could develop a practical solar-powered A/C system. [And I am aware of such a system, marketed by Arkla, back in the 70s/80s but it was complex and expensive.]

A huge wind generated electricity site was supposed to be built miles off the coast. Ted Kennedy slipped up and told he didn't want to see it when he was out sailing. He killed the project. All the wind gusts coming out of Congress should be harnessed. It should be enough to power the eastern seaboard.

I don't consider my generator to be revolutionary at all. Just extremely simple and easily adaptable to most anything including hybrid or all-electric cars, houses, even trains. And it only requires something that everyone has tons of. No fossil fuels. I really just want to be the sole owner of the patent, but if I do decide to let someone back me, they would get reimbursed their investment plus 1% of what this thing will bring in. A million dollars spending cash won't be needed.

What kind of business are you in that can offer protection like that? Hope your protection is far superior than whatever the government or big oil can throw at us. Can we get Chuck Norris to be my bodyguard??

When can you see this? The only way anyone gets to see these little beasts is if you sign a non-disclosure. I built 3 of these in 1989 and ran them for 7 years. 2 have been dismantled and studied for wear. At the moment, my last old design generator is wearing out and I'm in the process of redesigning it but am having trouble finding the right software to help me and I'm still looking around for superior and more efficient parts to let me retain it's current small size while being far more efficient. Let me get the new design built first.

If you really do have something the problem is that you are being cheap. I would think 10% would be the least that you should offer.

Wind energy is becoming a bigger deal in Texas. There are giant wind farms out in west Texas, and the state is the largest producer of wind generated electricty in the United States. Maybe, they'll start lowering their polution emissions. Also, a company near me is producing the large turbines used on those wind farms.