What do they call people who don’t believe in profit?

On the day after the paean to all things green at UNLV, featuring Harry Reid, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, T. Boone Pickens and a cast of thousands, perhaps we should contemplate the ramifications.

They want the country to build solar panel farms, but think they are eyesores in the pristine desert. They want windmills but they kill birds. They want geothermal, but that causes earthquakes. Forget nuclear power. Also forget power lines to move all that power from one place to another. Not in their backyards.

Since the topic of solar power came up Monday, Review-Journal reporter Keith Rogers completed a story he'd been working on about efforts to install solar panels in new homes and to retrofit existing homes. The story included the realities of expense and the fact that, even with the local rebate and federal tax give-aways cutting the cost in half, the return on investment takes about two decades.

But the tell-tale quotes came at the end of the story, when two self-identified greenies revealed the fantasy land in which they live.

Peggy Maze Johnson, a board member of Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental justice organization, said of the local power monopoly NV Energy, "They're in it to make a profit. I believe essential services should be not for profit."

And I believe all men should live as brothers in peace and harmony, singing around the campfire at night, huddled close to avoid freezing to death.

Jane Feldman, spokeswoman for the local Sierra Club, said, "There's no incentive to produce more energy than it takes to operate the building because they'd have to give it away to NV Energy."

If, by give it away, you mean sell it to the utility at the same price you would pay for it, because the utility is selling you all that cheap gas- and coal-fired energy.

Profit, once we stamp out that ugly concept, this county will be on the road to a green utopia. Right?