There's a big push in this country to move toward green energy technology. It's a natural progression, especially considering how energy depended we've become and how we've cut ourselves off from most of the other options available to us.

So what's the big deal? Why don't we make the transition and move on?

Because the various forms of green energy each have their strengths and weaknesses, their pros and cons.

Let's take a look at the three most popular technologies...

1. Wind

Wind has been harnessed for years. Just take a look at the Dutch windmills. The power source is free and it's bountiful. There are drawbacks, however. While a windmill may effectively service a single household, to provide power to a small city, you'll need to build a wind farm, which requires a significant investment of money and space. In addition, wind can be fickle. You'll likely have periods of sustained winds accompanied by periods of little or no wind.

2. Solar Panels

This is a technology that faces many of the same challenges as wind farms. While its primary energy source is free and generally abundant, there are limitations. Overcast winter days will likely produce no energy. It requires a major investment and lots of space. And at this time, we have no way to save the created power for night use or those days when there is no sun.

3. Ethanol

There's no question we need to find an alternative to oil if we aren't going to use our own resources. Ethanol development has been going on for decades. In fact, the first ethanol plant was built in the '40s by the U.S. Army. It's organically based. For instance, Brazil uses sugar cane for its ethanol base, while here in the U.S. we use corn. And it does burn cleaner than gasoline.

On the other side of the coin, ethanol is more expensive than gasoline, it requires great quantities of land that may eventually impact food production, and gas pumps will have to be converted across the country.

We'll keep pushing forward with these and other green technologies because we need to become energy independent, even if we aren't sure how to accomplish that at this time. In the meantime, new green technologies will come along and our ability to capture and save energy will eventually come to pass.

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