Kamal S. Prasad

From Greendaily.com:

Greenbang asks, “Would you spend more money on eco-friendly electricity?” There were quite a few responses, here is a sample:

• A resounding Yes! Absolutely. I actually pay a bit more each month to my utilities provider, which they use to invest in renewable power technology.

• No way! Not a chance. The average person has enough problems paying their bills, mortages, feeding their kids, and finding disposal income to buy a shiny trinket to make it through the daily grind.

• The government should do it! I don’t think consumers should have to make this difficult choice. The government spends billions of dollars on government subsidies … If it shifted its priorities, it could subsidize renewable engery for us so that prices would stay the same or, eventually, drop.

My thoughts: I don’t like government subsidies but it is necessary to kickstart new technology.  The government should get rid of oil subsidies, move them to renewables and once the renewables technology matures then consumers should be responsible for paying for it.

Govt subsidies is what has kept us so dependent on oil and who knows, if a future technology that is better than the current renewables emerges, we would not want to be held hostage to the new “old” technology.

My wife and I went to Arizona last week for a swimming competition she participated in. Her parents flew in from France to see her participate and we decided to take a few extra days off to do some sightseeing.

Overall impressions: People we encountered were very nice, friendly and helpful. We flew into Tucson and out of Phoenix.

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