Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I'm not for subsidizing anything.

One thing about summer weather here is that it is near constant, highs in the low 90s and afternoon storms, almost every day.

We went out for breakfast and ate outside and it was hot already, not unbearable, but hot.

Iowa gets in on the green wind energy subsidies as well

I don't have a choice here

my provider is Mid-American Energy - Warren Buffet

my neighbors that live in the country have one choice - the Rural Electric Coop - about double the price as mine

I'm still curious if I somehow elect to buy wind energy for my electricity how that changes anything but who gets paid.  The electricity is the same, the grid is the same, each electron may be motivated by coal, and probably is, largely.

Seems like a scam to me.

Basically it accelerates the investment in more renewables, and in some cases it reduces your bill.

For example, community solar programs are increasingly common in some states. These are basically commercial to utility scale systems located within the same state but often sited on brownfields and large rooftops like warehouses. People can subscribe for a portion of the capacity of the system and pay for the electricity produced at a lower rate than they would pay the utility. By the time that whole project is subscribed to, another community solar system gets developed and the cycle repeats.

The electricity I use cannot be tracked by to some specific source.  Simple as that.

I might think I'm being green by paying more for "wind" or whatever, but the source of my electricity does not change just because I sign up for something.

Unless I establish my own transmission grid that is.

Sounds like a scam to me, always has.  Now, if you run a powerline for that wind mill over there to my house, maybe I'll listen up.

Related to that, if the plant-based meat really takes off, then that could be a big deal since vegetables, fruits, and grains are much more efficient to produce than meat. I haven't converted to plant-based meat yet (I used to be more hopeful for lab-based meat but now I'm not so sure), but I'm hopeful that over time it will become more cost-effective and taste just as good. If that happens, the meat industry will be drastically reduced.

My concern is that plant-based meat is not a particularly healthy alternative to meat. In some cases, it's considered to potentially be worse health-wise due to high sodium content and high soy content [Impossible is soy-based, but not Beyond Meat which I believe is soy-free]. Then, some of them tend to be higher in carbs than meat, which may have its own health risks. Given that we've seen health problems caused by many of the supposedly "healthy" alternatives to other products (such as artificial sweeteners), I worry that plant-based meat will end up having a hidden flaw as a result of the processing and added ingredients necessary to make it taste like meat. 

Lab-grown meat could help somewhat with this, in that it would avoid the environmental impact without substituting a less healthy alternative. However, I also worry that it'll be able to be price-competitive with traditional meat, and that texture-wise it might end up being a substitute for ground beef, but it won't ever really be a substitute for a proper steak. 

To me, a better solution than creating fake meat is to try to reduce meat consumption overall. I don't want a Beyond Burger or an Impossible Burger. That doesn't appeal to me at ALL. I'll gladly grill up a portobello mushroom burger though. I don't view it as trying to replicate meat, either. I view it as a different--and entirely delicious--sandwich of its own. I don't go into it expecting a hamburger, so I'm not disappointed that it's not what it was never intended to be. If I want a hamburger, I'll make a hamburger. If I want a delicious sandwich without meat, I have other options.

There are all sorts of delicious ways to make meatless dishes that don't require a "fake meat" substitute. There are also tons of ways to make dishes which contain meat but where overall meat content as a portion of calories consumed is low--such as stir fry. Rotating things like this into weekly meal planning is a much better way to reduce meat consumption for either health or environmental reasons without subjecting yourself to the unknown of "fake" meat.