This little known factoid may come in handy some day.  There apparently is a 40 foot wide strip of petroluem that was poured on the ground all the way from Bakersfield to Pismo beach.  Locals use it to help propel automobiles westward towards the ocean....As we all know, industry could completely shutdown and move to Mexico, and the air quality here would not meet standards.. But thank goodness for that ribbon of good old organic petroluem that was spilled on the ground.

Lol.

...and the sooner we put electric vehicles on that strip of asphalt to Pismo, the better off we will be.

Where's the electricity coming from AG?  You have a solar or wind driven vehicle?

As soon as PG&E agrees to buy my surplus production I will put enough solar panels on my roof to run my house and my car (golf cart for local trips and plug-in hybrid for Pismo Beach).

We have a lot of sun, and wind in Kern county.  Why not?

Certainly the problem can't be too big for Kern county to figure out, can it?  It would be healthier for all of us, and just might create some much needed high tech jobs along the way.  If any place is a good place to see where we can make a difference, it's right here.

I'm no scientist so I don't have anything to back this up other than common sense.  If people can't put enough solar panels on their houses to be totally PG&E independent how will you manage to plug your car in and go to Pismo on it the charge let alone have surplus to sell to the power companies?  The cost would be more than most around here could afford for the panels as well as the car.

Until they find a way to fly airplanes on solar and wind energy along with your cars daily commute, out of town trips, manufacturing, and farming just to name a few,  we'll never be independent of oil.

I'm all for a little petroleum independent car.   I'd like to see the little Smart Car run on electricity too, I just don't see it being feasible for a long long time.  In fact, I'd like to have a Smart car right now but what retiree can afford to have one in addition to a car that's practical for long trips and hauling grandkids?  My family made a good point about the little cars that even with a great safety rating, a collision with a Hummer for instance wouldn't be a pretty thing to see.

JMO

Quest, Your comment about having both sun and wind in KC is true but only in certain areas.  We don't have a lot of wind here in the valley so a personal windmill wouldn't do you much good.  Solar panels only work when the sun shines so what about the winter days on end here when our roofs don't see the sun?   Since you can't store up renewable energy like you can gasoline, there would be times when you had no lights or heat.

In the 80's when my ex and I had an electrical contracting business, he wired an all solar house up in Golden Hills outside Tehachapi.    It was even heated by solar panels with some kind of heat pumps and lines that ran through the house.   If I remember right it had a room where all the controls and lines ran to.  I've often wondered how that worked out for them.   Wish I remembered more about it, but it kind of creeped me out at the time.  Seems like it was partially built into the hillside for more natural heating and cooling.

There used to be on in Cummings Valley on the east slope that is built into the hillside too.  Maybe that's what we'll all have to do eventually, then the price of now useless land would skyrocket and valley level land would be cheaper.

How about we settle for something we can achieve now, and in the mean time reach for the improbable?  Great things sometimes take great effort.

Strides are being made~ there's that paint that could turn a  whole building into a solar plant,each year all those "magic boxes" with wires and gizmo's are smaller and easier to use,they will get cheaper. Right now the air and my PG&E bill are making me cringe.

We saved the world a couple of times, we went to the Moon~ we can figure this out.