Some things need to be cut. Others don't. As far as the military budget is concerned I'd like to see a budget sheet that details exactly how much is being spent on what. If possible I'd like to divert some of the military budget away from some things and into others. Namely, renewable sources of energy. What's even better is that we could still claim it's being used for military use as renewable energy would be a great strategic resource.

Seems most of the money that has already gone to renewable energy was wasted since the companies went bankrupt. But I'm all for the government buying and installing solar in my house ;).

I'd like that to happen in a lot of houses, really. As far as I've been thinking, there are two things I've wondered about. First of all, if we attach a treadmill to a power generator, how much electricity would a human be capable of producing if he or she works out for an hour on said treadmill? Second of all, how much electricity would be generated if we rigged an electric car with tiny wind turbines that fed power directly into the car's battery?

How expensive would these setups cost? How much power would they generate? Are they economically and environmentally feasible?
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Maybe we should start a thread on wacky theories for generating power for our nation's power grid. Seems like an entertaining thought experiment.

A lot of American solar power companies went out of business because it recently became so damn cheap to make solar cells in China. They were a victim of renewable energy's success, really. Oops.

As for wacky power generation ideas, several countries already use a mechanism called feed-in tariffs to encourage renewable energy generation. The government doesn't pay you to install solar panels on your house. You do that yourself. What it does is sign a 15 or 20 year contract with you to buy any extra energy that you generate for a fixed price. The price is set high enough to make sure you can earn a bit of profit after your costs of installation. However, this is lowered over time to encourage green energy producers to become more cost effective. Eventually it shouldn't cost any more than electricity from conventional sources.

In some countries the government pays small renewable energy generators. In others, far as I can tell, no government money is involved. I think in Germany they avoid using tax funds by requiring utility companies to purchase the electricity generated by small renewable producers. Since utility companies are usually monopolies in any case, this has the added benefit of introducing competition into the power generation business.

That is such BS. Seriously, you need to stop drinking the Fox News Kool-Aid, and start basing your arguments from a factual foundation.

I know the truth has a well-known liberal bias, but that doesn't mean you can ignore it.

Sorry I thought the little ;) at the end of my comment would indicate the tongue in cheek nature of it.

I thought that was aimed at the solar-buying, not the going-bankrupt.

It was for the whole line, but I understand the confusion.