Off-shore windmills are “the wave” of the future. Windmills are probably the best clean tech alternative, but no one wants them around. If offshore windmills are paired with emerging wave generators, it will be a very cost effective alternative. Plus, if placed atop existing oil platforms, then we are reuse an existing installed base - so no additional environmental damage.
Plus, many of the land based clean tech solutions are not practical. For example, office based ** fuel cells ** - getting lots of press lately - doesn’t really pay off.
Check out the Fuel Cell Payback Calculator. In my town, it takes like 9 years to pay for itself.
The real solution is to start at home cutting consumption. I was blown away that if I switched out the lights in my office, we save over $260 a year. According to the Efficient Lighting Calculator, the lighting retrofit will pay for itself in 2.58 years. Of course, it says I get rebates from my utility, and that may not apply to everyone. Nevertheless, it shows that simple steps at home are better moves than buying fancy clean tech things.
In my humble opinion.