Transforming ourselves, transforming our Energy!
by Richard Andrews
Such irony, hope and obstacles there are in our digital savvy, online 24/7, eco friendly, clean tech, wannabe post racial Obama, go green society! Wow got that all out!
If only “Optimus Prime the Autobot” leader from the recent blockbuster action movie Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen and savior of us confused human beings could guide us through the maze of change and challenge that surely lies before us as the renewable energy world faces off against, big oil, coal, the status quo.
Never mind the fact that the movie Transfomers, Revenge of the Fallen was given thumbs down by just about every critic out there (it’s kind of silly). The film still had a remarkable box office performance with the highest Wednesday opening gross in history, bringing in $62 million in North America alone! In the battle of technology “Optimus Primus” fights for us humans against the “Decepticons” who seek our destruction by mining all the remaining energy on earth! So who I ask are the good guys? Who are the bad guys?
We Americans have a love hate relationship with our technology… today solar and renewable energy sources are the light. Does it represent Jesus, Budda, Moses, Shakti or Allah leading us out of a weary land of pollution and dark times? So too is Optimus Primus. But what about big oil…coal, the dark side….or are they? In many Science Fiction flicks, The Terminator, iRobot, 2001 A Space Odyssey, the Matrix: The computers, the technology is the villain and we are its adversary.
For recent pioneers of the solar and renewable world of energy it must seem a bit amusing…like the gold rush days in California’s history. It’s not so far back. It may feel like the heady hey days of consumer technology or the boom days of the internet. It’s the wild, wild west all over again – but different! For the John Schaeffers’ of the world (Solar Living Founder) there must be some inner reward for realizing just how ahead of the curve he was by harnessing the power of the sun for electricity long before it gained more popularity. Now as more people are “Going Green” there may be some elitist thinking going on, “you’re just in this for the money not the cause.”