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The short answer is 'No'.
Bill Yenne, in his book
The World's Worst Aircraft wrote, "Like any great
technological leap with a timetable set by politicians,
(it) takes longer than expected to evolve" It fails
anytime it is "really more a political venture than an
economically justifiable commercial one."
In the 1980's, when the
global cooling scare ended because of global warming,
the alternative energy companies died. They could
not survive without the tax money they received in the
form of 'aggressive tax deductions'.
Thirty years later,
alternative energy still cannot stand on it's own.
It still cannot produce cost competitive power.
Only by offsetting a majority of the cost through tax
breaks and energy company rebates can alternative
energies come close to competitive. Without the
rebates, the industry will be left to the real
environmentalists.
The challenges that come
with the end of the alternative-energy industries are
predictable. The alternative power equipment now
being sold will have a challenge being serviced.
Solar panels on roofs
must last longer than the roof to yield the promised
return. That means the solar panels will need to
be removed and reinstalled sometime in the future.
If the solar industries are out of business, who will do
the service?
The 'wind' industry will
not be affected as much. Partly because more of it
is commercial and has service contracts in place.
Also because the return-on-investment is high with wind.
Someday, alternative
energy will be commonplace. People have been
trying for decades. But that day may still be
decades away.
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