Green Technology: A 50-Year Evolution

My involvement in green technology started 50 years ago. While waiting hours to fill my gas tank, I realized we had to toil against oil dependence. In 1979, I installed green solar hot-water heaters on my roof. In 1988, NASA climate scientist Dr James Hansen testified to Congress that increasing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels are warming our planet via the greenhouse effect. This increased my resolve to toil so I wouldn't boil! Solar photoelectric panels, which were prohibitively expensive in 1979, have become the most economical way to generate green electricity, together with wind. Emerging 24/7 technologies include green Hydrogen, deep geothermal, small modular fission reactors, and nuclear fusion. Our Earth is at risk, and energy economics impact ecology. Burning natural gas is more economical and produces less carbon dioxide than coal.