For as long as many of us can remember, there hasn't really been an energy plan, outside of how to manage oil. With the new focus on oil, how it is priced, and speculation on how it actually should be priced, it is no surprise that alternative energy is now a mainstream issue. All roads seem to lead to lowering our dependence on foreign oil, but this in itself is only part of the solution.

Additionally, most energy plans offer very little focus on diversification of all energy sources available to us and ultimately end up focusing on a new single source as the answer. However, this is not the reality of the situation at hand.

We have available to us a wide array of choices when it comes to new energy, and while no-one single source would seem to be the answer, certainly an energy plan that embraces and promotes all alternative energy sources will ultimately be the best for our country and the world as a whole. As a society we are beyond the single source mentality when it comes to energy, as proven by the outrage over high fuel costs and the lack of direction towards changing that by our own national and local administrations, though at the local level there seems to be much more progress being made. True, it is far more difficult to coordinate multiple sources of energy at the national or even world level, but it is time we did so as a nation to set the example for others that it can be done.

There are no shortage of technologies from wind to solar to biofuels and other miscellaneous renewable energy sources. A stronger and more encompassing focus on recycling the waste we already produce should also be an extremely important part of any new energy solution. The wonderful side effect of all this new energy would also be an entirely new source for jobs in these fields which is exactly what this country needs to turn the economy around and to top it all off, it helps the environment at the same time. The key is going to be using all the sources and create a complete energy solution that we can build on for the next century and beyond.

An all encompassing solution also drastically lowers the influence of money in the equation by lessening the impact of any one single source on the marketplace and prevents us all from becoming slaves to profit. We should learn from our past mistakes and approach new energy with a new mentality. We have an incredible opportunity before us and it should not be squandered.

Inspired by a Upod blog post/question