Poll: Americans aren’t optimistic about energy

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  Ralph Hansen said on Oct. 30, 2011 at 5:51 p.m.
  The public as well as many others do not understand that wealth is only created through the expenditure of energy. Since the 90's this country as well as the rest of the western world has not increased the energy available per Capita. Without any increase in energy the living standard has become static. With the present policies that exist it is improbable that the situation will materially change within the next couple of decades. The Americal public as well as many countries expended much of their accumulated wealth during the last 20 years. It is highly unlikely that now anyone will be happy with the status quo as we have become such a consumption driven society. Once it becomes understood that our basis of wealth in the level of energy consumption, than and only than will it become possible to develop policies that address the situation. It may be that the environmental concerns that many people have will have to be modified to allow the economy to grow again. Everything needs to be placed on the table including a discussion about our standard of living. Even if a course of action is determined it will be decades before it can be fully impliminated. The sad truth is that the green movement has promised answers to our energy concerns that fall far short of providing a solution. It is like a using a tea cup to bail out an olympic swimming pool. The only real answer to our energy problem is a source or sources that would add 40% to our total amount of production within 40 years. After that period of time the growth must continue for our standard of living to continue to grow. The above discussion only deals with the western world. For the rest of the world to have any hope to catch up with us they need to increase their energy production two to three fold. The scope of the overall problem is truly staggering. I see nothing being done to address a problem of this magnitude.
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  Christian D said on Oct. 28, 2011 at 10:40 a.m.
  Consider giving more information on where the poll was taken. Perhaps restricting the polling to different geographic areas and revealing those in your article will give insight into how perspectives vary from region to region.