Conflicting points of view

You never know who to trust, who to believe. My research around renewable energy has led me down a path of confusion. With so many points of view, theories, speculations, and government mandates, it's difficult to find out when we will be able to lessen our dependence on traditional methods of energy. Wikipedia lists each of the United States and their stated goals for renewable, most of which fall within the next 10 years at a rate of 20%, sounds reasonable, even encouraging.

Then I came across this depressing graphic and associated website. The chart shows oil and gas rising dramatically through 2020 with renewables only barely above flat.



But there's always Al Gore to put a bright spot on this topic. His "Repower America" goal is 100% clean electricity in the US within 10 years. His plan includes efforts around efficiency, generation, transmission, and transportation.

Of course, I joined Al Gore's campaign and will do what I can to keep my personal carbon footprint low. I took the eco quiz at conservation.org
and was labeled an "eco-apprentice". I'm not sure that's good?

The more common world-wide theme is the very attainable goal of 20% renewable energy by 2020. This statement has been voiced in areas such as the US (se Wikipedia link above), EU, and China.

For my image this week, I placed the original photo of my lamp into Illustrator and applied the Live Trace feature using the Grayscale filter, then colorized the lamp to give its yellow glow.
























The purple background was used to give the feeling of looking through a tunnel to see the light. This is meant both figuratively and literally. Figuratively, I am asking the viewer to search for the truth in renewable marketing and to determine what is possible both personally and globally.

The wind turbine image is from a blog on Climate Change Social Change and one I find beautiful. The wind turbines are made to look like flowers and I added the line of dragonflies to give a feeling of floating away. Simply, energy powered by the wind benefits all creatures.