To understand the energy problem, it is probably best to first understand what energy we use and where it comes from. The Department of Energy does a good job tracking energy usage, and has published their data in a series of websites. Most interesting is the "Energy Flow" charts published at Lawrence Livermore National Labs.
What I find most interesting from these charts is how much of what we produce is ends up as "Loss". Nearly 2/3 of the energy produced ends up being lost in the transportation of that energy to an endpoint (heat dissipated in power lines, fuel moved by rail cars and trucks, etc).
Another key point is how little energy comes from alternative sources (i.e. Solar and wind). Listed as "Biomass and Other", sources like solar and wind have a very small impact on total energy production.
So, what does this say? To me, it says that it will take a long time before Solar and Wind make up a sizable component of our fuel mix in the United States. It will be years....... Alternatively, reducing demand has a huge impact. Energy not used is energy that does not need to be produced, distributed, or lost.
Hence the need for Green gadgets - the devices, software, and tools needed to help us improve our behavior and use less energy.
