Alternative Energy

I am all for forms of alternative energy (that is not from hydrocarbon sources)!

Recently, a local school district erected a massive steel structure... covered it in solar panels... and called it a "green project!"

I wonder though...  How much electricity was used to smelt said steel, the fuel burned to truck in the pieces, the fuel burned by said workers to get to the construction site, the hydraulic lifts used to raise the workers (I bet they ran on diesel fuel...), the arc welders, etc...  how "green" was this project?  And this massive solar array will power what?  One building?

This is my opinion: Unless you are stringing a cord outside, and using the sun and wind to dry your clothes... don't talk to me about "green" energy!

I once harvested rain water, even ran it to my toilet, that emptied into a septic system.  Flushes were minimized,because of the rain barrel volume... and the small pump that ran on batteries charged by a solar cell, that only had so much juice!  Showers were kept short because it was well water.  I even started building a wind generator (aka windmill).

So if I buy an electric vehicle... I ask, where will the electricity come from?   Coal? Oil? LPG? NG?  Nuclear? Oh... maybe from those windfarms I see when going to California... maybe from that Solar plant they just built...

The World needs a bridge... get from oil dependency to something else.  Don't force the transition... it will happen.