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Cassandra's story is very old: she was cursed that she would always tell the truth and never be believed. But it is also a very modern story and, perhaps, the quintessential Cassandras of our age are the group of scientists who prepared and published in 1972 the book titled "The Limits to Growth". With its scenarios of civilization collapse, the book shocked the world perhaps more than Cassandra had shocked her fellow Trojan citizens when she had predicted the fall of their city to the Achaeans. Just as Cassandra was not believed, so it was for the "Limits to Growth" which, today, is still widely seen as a thoroughly flawed study, wrong all along. This opinion is based only on lies and distortions but, apparently, Cassandra's curse is still alive and well in our times.

Hydro energy’s potential may be overlooked because; it is “old” renewable energy, or because like nuclear energy, some hydro electric schemes have been criticized by environmental groups, but most importantly a perception by many, that most hydro electric potential in North America has already been exploited. Hydro electricity deserves more scrutiny because; 1) North America has significant undeveloped potential, 2) the technology is well understood, although technical improvements continue to be made, especially for low head and small hydro, 3) hydro has a very high energy return on energy investment (ERoEI), 4) additional hydro can enable more wind and solar energy capacity to be absorbed by the grid, 5) hydro potential is more geographically dispersed than wind and solar, and finally, 6) the cost of developing additional hydro capacity is moderately low and has very low technical and financial risk.

Distributed generation (DG) and renewable energy sources (RES) are attracting special attention. Both are seen as important in achieving two key goals:Increasing the security of energy supplies by reducing the dependency on imported fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coalReducing the emission of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide, from the burning of fossil fuels.

Ballooning gasoline prices aren’t just changing how people drive—they may soon change where people live. With gas stuck above $3.00 a gallon, those cheaper houses in the suburbs can be a money-losing proposition in the end.