Business as usual?

I'm sorry that the posting has been lighter than usual--I'm just returning from a welcome week of vacation.

Over the weekend, I heard Dale McCormick talking about the governor's new energy plan, on WGAN. While I think it's a start and a short term solution to a much larger problem, I guess I was hoping that there would be more to it. Maybe I was being overly optimistic, or possibly, I missed something. It may have been naive for me to think that Maine might really be bold for a change. Apparently, others were underwhelmed, also.

As I've written before, our state has to be aggressive this time, on this matter, in getting out in front on energy, instead of being content to rank 46th. I'm sorry, but there's nothing to celebrate about being 46th in anything.

I was reading about hybrid cars, and an article by Justin Hyde, in the Detroit Free Press caught my eye.

Apparently, the U.S. has been good in developing the science that undergirds battery technology, we've fallen short on the implementation side--actually making them.

From Hyde's article,

The future of the U.S. auto industry resembles a box of parts for hybrids, plug-in electrics and fuel cells. But that box comes with a familiar disclaimer:
Batteries not included.

As Detroit's automakers rush to develop electric cars, they find themselves reliant on foreign sources for advanced batteries. While much of the science was developed in U.S. labs, Asian companies have a two-decade head start on actually making rechargeable batteries.

Batteries, wind blades, and even the refining of petroleum; couldn't Maine be a leader, just once?