Why It's Not Easy Being Green

ZDNet, has a piece about why its is not easy to be green when it comes to energy choices.

PALM DESERT, Calif.--Numerous technologies exist to curb energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that consumers lack the willpower to embrace them, according to at least one energy expert.

"This country only gets excited about energy when oil prices get high," Dan Arvizu, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said during a presentation at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit taking place here. "We do have a problem with how serious we are about our energy challenges."

Arvizu, who advises the White House on energy policy, underscored the point by displaying pie charts detailing U.S. and global energy consumption at the present and projected for 2030.

In 2004, oil accounted for 40 percent of the U.S. energy budget, while coal took up 26 percent. Natural gas accounted for 21 percent; nuclear power, 6 percent; and renewable energy, 7 percent.

Read the entire article, which is somewhat dismaying to this alternative energy advocate, here.