Originally Posted by Richard J

I was doing a bit of research into alternate energy technologies due to today's flap about domestic drilling. I found a story that dropped my jaw. Arizona has contracted a construction company in Spain to build and operate a solar energy plant in Gila Bend. The company will build the plant and Arizona Public Services will pay them $4 billion over the next 20 years for the power it produces.

Huge solar power plant planned in Gila Bend by Spanish company | www.azstarnet.com ®

The reason this story shocked me is, it is an example of America buying foreign technology to solve its energy problems. Can't we solve our own problems anymore? High tech solutions were something we used to develop and sell to everyone else.

In a way, it is not surprising. We have been falling behind the rest of the world in science and math performance for years. A large portion of our youth doesn't even graduate high school. Our economy has been gradually shifting away from manufacturing to information management and personal services. And, let's face it, we enjoy the good life.

So, to me it is not surprising we can't solve our energy dependence problem. Even if we could get past the politics, we don't seem to have the engineering and technical depth to build cutting edge energy infrastructure anymore.

RJ