Quote:
Originally Posted by raymor
Then you should do some research, because in most places fossil fuels and nuclear are the only viable options. If you live near the equator and are happy with having power only on sunny days, and you're rich, you can instead use arsenic and cadmium to get expensive solar power. You'll be dumping a lot of toxins into the environment, but you can do it. About 1% of the population live in areas where you can use wind power on some days. For the vast majority, the two choices are fossil fuels and the clean, efficient, but slightly scary nuclear choice.
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Not true, renewable make up a large portion of most developed nations energy policies. I couldn't tell you exact numbers off the top of my head, but I know many European nations have, or are aiming for 20-30% renewable energies in the near term. Whilst renewable won't likely soon become a complete alternative (for reasons such as reliability, cost and energy storage), it will form a large portion of most nations energy requirements.
Fundamentally though we need to see breakthroughs on multiple levels in energy, and we fortunately are. Tesla is one aspect of a sustainable future, however it is not an entire solution of course. The cost in solar, wind, etc has also dropped substantially in recent years (in large part thanks to China) and it is likely this will in part help us move towards a more sustainable future. However, fundamentally we do need new breakthroughs and refinements to occur to replace current power production.
As an aside, the founder of Tesla also founded Solar City, and there IS an option to get solar panels on your roof that can completely power your car if you so choose.