And alternative energy is a viable approach for the United States why?

This article in the LA Times outlines the problems that the LA Community College District had in deploying “green energy” on it’s campuses.  Number one is the fact that it isn’t as efficient or as cheap as what is currently produced.  A fact mentioned a number of times:

The problems with Eisenberg's energy vision were fundamental. For starters, there simply wasn't room on the campuses for all the generating equipment required to become self-sufficient. Some of the colleges wouldn't come close to that goal even if solar panels, wind turbines and other devices were wedged into every available space.

Going off the grid did not make economic sense either. Given the cost of alternative energy technology, it would be more expensive for the district to generate all its own electricity than to continue paying utilities for power.

…

But Eisenberg's enthusiasm obscured an inconvenient reality: With the technology now available, the cost of renewable power exceeds that of energy derived from burning coal and natural gas.

Green energy advocates often argue that the added cost is justified by the reduction in pollution, particularly carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.

…

One thing was for sure: No matter how it was financed, the bill for all those solar panels and wind turbines would be huge. Eisenberg's cost estimates for taking the nine campuses off the grid ranged as high as $975 million — this for a college system that in 2010 spent less than $8 million on power bills.

This raises the question, If a relatively small deployment of “green energy technology” such as this is so problematic, why is it such a good idea for the country as a whole?  The LA Times doesn’t ask that question, almost certainly because they would get an answer they don’t like, but they do point out this fact:

"When dealing with issues on the human scale, the laws of Newtonian physics are non-negotiable," [Hoffman wrote.]

Someone needs to embroider that on a wall hanging and send it to President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of the idiots pushing this green energy fiasco.