Wind on the Daily Show

If you're a Daily Show fan, then you may have already seen this clip on TV. I'm generally not a television watcher (even when I own a TV, and I currently don't), so I hadn't seen it. A classmate, Alan, who is a big Daily Show fan, sent this link to me:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=91140&title=jason-jones-180-%E2%80%93-nantucket

One of the philosophical things I decided, during my 3-year stint of working in residential wind energy is that most Americans -- especially those not living on a coast -- are completely oblivious to wind energy (actually to all renewable energy). It's just not a part of their "real" lives. They don't see wind turbines during their drive to work... they don't have neighbors using solar panels, solar water-heating collectors, micro-hydro, or wind generators in their back yards... Renewable energy doesn't enter most people's consciousness, because their exposure level is nearly zero. And when something (like renewable energy equipment) seems extremely rare, it's easy to make an assumption that this is because these technologies don't yet work or are not affordable.

While renewable energy technologies can certainly improve, in terms of reliability and cost-competitiveness, they are currently available (in both large-scale installations and small residential set-ups), are reliable, and are affordable (frequently even money-making).

Hopefully this Daily Show clip is a signal that mainstream media (or at least left-wing mainstream comedy media) is starting to pay attention to renewable energy. And in my opinion, even when no one's preaching about the benefits of clean energy: if America's mainstream media expose everyday folk to renewable energy, it will quickly become a common, everyday part of real life (not just on TV). Media imitates life... and life imitates media.