One could say, and perhaps correctly, that ALL the energy we use is in one way or another solar. The tides are caused by the moon which may be a spin-off of our planet, which is a spin-off of...the sun. The earth's residual heat (geothermal) is the remnants of that heat which came with us when we separated from...the sun. And other cosmic forces. All the oil, natural gas, coal and wood we use is the result of photosynthesis. The sun produces about one horsepower of heat per perpendicular meter of the earth's surface. The blunt truth is that we need renewable resources in our daily lives. The sun will last us for millions of years. It shines without fail. How long will our carbon fuels last? We just don t know. Our fatal flaw is that we ve build our whole society on cheap oil. It is time to actively pursue solar air heaters, community power plants, methane generators, evaporative air coolers, innovation, conservation, and sane community development. Our last real energy bill missed by 1 vote. How did our District 2 representative vote on that? Nevada s governor is supporting plans to build coal plants in Eastern Nevada. I truly believe that it would be far more energy efficient for us to burn coal in our own homes, and recapture the lost heat energy instead of losing it to cooling towers. And, while it would be noticeable air pollution, to pretend that there is no pollution from coal plants is pretty slow. The price tag, latest I ve heard is going to be about $4 billion. This does not include a $900 million investor bonus which sounds pretty shady. The Truckee Meadows Water Association produces, with its hydroelectric generators along the Truckee river, about 8 megawatts of electric power. This is nearly enough to power all of our water pumping requirements. I have been told that there is probably another 6 Megawatts available between Sparks and Fernley. Something to ponder. Energy is our Achilles heel. Ugly is a nation facing Peak Oil with no dialogue on how to fix it. Coal and Oil are suicide technologies.