What are Real Solutions to America's Energy Problems?

With all of the troubles facing our nation on energy and with the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico I thought I would give my oppinion on what the United States should do to solve its energy problems.

First of all, the United States will always rely on fossil fuels for products and transportation.  Hybrid cars and the like are a great experiment, but they are not practical for every citizen in America to use.  They aren't as powerful as other cars and they are usually more expensive.  Ethonol fuel is not very practical for vehicles either because it is a waste of corn and food products.

If America wants to be more stable in matters of energy the government needs to drop some restrictions on drilling for crude oil.  One reason the Gulf oil spill leak was so difficult to slow down was because it took place deep under the ocean rather than in more shallow waters.  Crude oil spills would be even easier to clean up and stop if the rigs were on land.  I would contend that some areas in Alaska and other places in our country hold the key to our energy independence and our energy stability.

Second, America needs to have energy to generate electricity.  This is something that doesn't have to require coal or oil.  Windmills, solar panels, geothermal, and hydropowered power plants are great things to use for electricity, but they do not generate even a fraction of the electricity that fossil fuel plants create.  There is however a very good option for creating electricity and that is through nuclear energy.

Nuclear reactors and power plants are rarely heard of in the United States and yet they are amazingly clean energy.  The only real waste is the rods used to split the atoms.  Nuclear energy does not take much material, other than the reactor and plant, and from that small amount of matter comes great amounts of energy.  I would say that building nuclear power plants would reduce our dependance on those "evil" fossil fuels for electricity.

In the end the earth has the resources that we need. We just need to find ways to harness and reach those resources.  The earth is meant for the use of man, but we are still meant to be careful.  Just not so extremely, careful that it becomes more important than human life and the well being of the human race.  Moderation is required between both extremes.