Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: frustrated

Quashing Solar Development

Tags: economics, energy, environment, news, politics
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  • 7 comments
jordan179

jordan179

October 19 2011, 20:24:32 UTC 9 years ago

Be of good cheer. Solar power technology is reaching the point where it will soon be pure-and-simple profitable, no government subsidies required. Which will be a very good thing both for our economy and for the human race in general.
ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

October 19 2011, 20:49:45 UTC 9 years ago

Solar is profitable. The problem is that the financial industry has taken the bottom rungs off the ladder, making it almost impossible to start a new business of any kind. This program wasn't a subsidy, but a cash grant for startups; different concept altogether.
jordan179

Re: Well...

jordan179

October 20 2011, 06:46:25 UTC 9 years ago

Solar is becoming profitable, owing to very recent (last decade) advances in materials technology. Before then, the problem was that the investment cost to install and the cost to replace solar panels was a deal-breaker. Now that solar panels can be more cheaply manufactured, you're going to see businesses springing up using the new techniquest to make them, and developers and homeowners using the solar panels to reduce their electrical bills.

Unfortunately ...

... we're in the middle of a major depression right now, which is why said "bottom rungs" are off the ladder. The financial industry is not trying to be mean -- they don't want to go bankrupt making speculative loans.

However ...

... depressions are temporary things, and when the economy starts to recover, you are going to see a commercial explosion as the technologies we have been developing will be applied on a large scale, both in solar energy and other fields.

Sound familiar? This is what happened to American from 1945 until around 1973. A period of sustained and unprecedented growth. And it's going to happen again, probably starting in the late 2010's or early 2020's.

Economics is very cyclical.
gwendally

gwendally

October 19 2011, 20:50:42 UTC 9 years ago

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-15/evergreen-solar-seeks-bankruptcy-protection-with-debt-of-486-5-million.html
siliconshaman

siliconshaman

October 19 2011, 23:41:10 UTC 9 years ago

What the bloody hell is wrong with these people?!

Seriously, you'd think it'd be a no-brainer...yet they're doing this shit?!?

I mean.. at what are people going to look at what your politicians, and the Right-wingers in particular, are doing.. and realise that these people are basically trying to destroy your country, for profit! [and not even their profit, but of their corporate sponsors.]

Huh, well, you can tell that there's no 'Big Solar' lobby like there is for oil and coal.
ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

October 19 2011, 23:54:15 UTC 9 years ago

>>What the bloody hell is wrong with these people?!<<

They believe that money is more important than human beings, and that greed and selfishness are virtues. This is one result. Also, it's not likely they will get punished for it, so there's little dissuasion. Corporate money has more influence on who wins than voter beliefs or needs do.
rowyn

rowyn

October 20 2011, 12:52:07 UTC 9 years ago

Ummm ...

I'd think of "Quashing" an industry as, say, throwing up hurdles to make it impossible to do the work needed for it. Like, for example, preventing a new pipeline from being constructed. To say that politicians are destroying solar power by not subsidizing it is like saying they're stopping you from writing poetry by not participating in your fishbowl.