To turn the Titanic with an oar is the best way to describe making the existing Grid energy system green. Ones leaving the ship before the port is reached are regarded as mutinous rather than taking a smaller ship.
As long as we focus on the Grid as the primary method of distribution, control, and regulation, we will all suffer from the really, really slow transformation to green. How many wind turbines and solar farms will it take to shut down one coal fired energy producer or make one nuke plant obsolete? Will the energy concerns just consider the new production equipment as added resources rather than replacements? That is on the supply side, on the user side, all our stuff is made to tap into the grid power, even 12 volt devices.
What is that story about a dyke and a finger in a hole and how long has he been standing there, anyway? Oh, they trade off guys, do shifts and they have a union. You can only get the job if your finger is the right size, I bet. Now they are recruiting girls (with big fingers). And, there are college courses for stance training and free hand multi-tasking. You can dress to look like the wall to blend in with your community or be a stand-out, I mean, outstanding in your field. (comic relief)
The logic goes like this, since we have to make a heck of a lot of power for industry anyway, it is more economical to tap off of that for homes and such. So I pay not just for the tiny amount of power my home uses, but to maintain the whole grid system. If wind/solar is added, that is more stuff on the Grid, gee my bill does not go down. Then in the wind/solar market I am told how much power (for my whole house) I need to be off grid. The lawyers say I can't legally even get off the grid. The wind/solar people all grin, showing me pictures of entire roofs reflecting sun but actually absorbing sun and saying it makes more than I need. "You can be an energy producer too, your meter will spin backward, you can sell your surplus to the utility company." Oh, the tangled web (grid) we weave. Appeal to their greed, appeal to their greed, the marketing groups say.
The incentives presented and the motives perscribed do not entice me or answer the urgency of the problem that was put to me in the first place. If global warming is a problem and you want me to do something about it, why do you ask me to effectively do nothing, change nothing and hold every avenue of resolution just out of my economic reach? Wait, we will change the grid, you won't have to do anything, you won't notice any changes in your service or your bill! Yeah, and genetic re-engineering can make pigs fly (for the same price), eventually.
The real innovation and progress is when average citizens can handle the technology on their level, the regulations of use is set, the stuff manufactured and sold at resonable cost and the installation and operation skills does not require a college degree. Real innovation is not on new homes with advances built in, but retro-fitting new stuff on existing homes. Don't tell me about total home energy systems and twist my mind with energy audits. I want the incremental plan. But I want more than light bulbs and ceiling blankets and putty on windows, these things I know. You ask me to do my part, I want real change on my part that helps me, benefits me, then helps the big picture in the process. Otherwise we all should be sending ice cubes to the north pole, what a logistics nightmare with melt-proof pre-stamped and addressed pouches. And where is the land fill for spent pouches?
What if I don't care about the pending disasters I can't do anything about anyway? Maybe I just want to see progress, something new, something better, or doing things in ways to open up new markets, new avenues of opportunities, shift the wealth or dig a new hole?
Eventually that hot new high tech electrical motor that sips energy, is the size of a fist yet delivers the kick of a mule is going to have to be put in my washing machine. So what if it can't dry and fold clothes too, I never asked for that. Forced air furnaces with that huge fan in a squirel cage I can hear when it comes on, even up stairs, but I can't feel it. Multiple low power fans strategically placed and locally controlled might serve me better (solar powered?). Maybe the same flame that heats the air could heat water for a radiator system too. Hybrid heating using the same heat source, hey did I just invent something?
Every city should have a green test house or test home groups, a test green village. To research stuff that works in their area. This brings green tech to the people. Man talk about a reality show setting, though I would like Bill Nye the Science Guy than Desparate Housewives and Neighbors, we could call it "This Hybrid House". Forget new buildings unless old buildings are being replaced. Retro-fitting is like insurance companies dealing with pre-existing conditions. Most people live with pre-existing older homes. You must address this from the inside. Heating, lighting, water and waste systems in older homes are the users and abusers of the present energy crunch. Serious upgrades are required or we will have a glut of every energy producing mechanism possible sucking up resources and bucks in maintanence and cleanup cost.
OK folks, now that I've recalibrated or other wise screwed up your thought patterns, go out there and do something about it. When and if I actually get some income, I know I will.
Oh, and please include Lorain, Elyria, Avon and Amherst and such in your list of communities, we are a big part of NEO also.