Posted on 09/18/2011 3:25:32 PM PDT by jazusamo
The gubmint Truth Department has been working overtime, but the crap they're producing just won't fly. A "multi-trillion dollar industry" that can't make a dollar on its own. Right.
Correct. If it had the potential of being a multi-trillion dollar industry billionaires couldn’t invest money in it fast enough. As it is they want the taxpayers to finance the R&D then invest if it looks promising.
The argument that the USA needs to compete with China in producing solar panels is suspect.
If China can produce solar panels for 1/2 our cost, then solar electricity might become competitive in the USA relative to fossil/nuclear/hydro.
No the reason Obama wants solar manufacturing is to reward his supporters like he did in Solyndra.
I have big doubts that solar will ever be competitive, but if China produces the panels for 1/10 our cost and that makes solar power competitive, who cares?
“”Shiao said the demand for solar is growing in the United States, noting that the number of solar installations doubled from 2009 to 2010 and is expected to further increase in 2011.
The demand side is very bright, Shiao said.”””
The only reason the demand is bright is from the huge government expenditures to buy or subsidize solar energy.
Without Obama socialism solar energy would be nothing.
I agree. The chance of solar energy becoming competitive is slim and the initial cost of the panels is only a part of it.
As taxpayers wise up to these money wasting shenanigans and come clamoring to the government to stop it, the GOP will hear before Democrats even acknowledge that anybody is speaking.
Ping.
It would take a lot of area to deploy practical solar collection. A building typically needs a lot more energy than it gets as sunlight on its exterior. The deserts might be a handy place to do this, as the skies are seldom cloudy and few people care about the view, but environmentalists would have kittens about what all this new shade would do to rare twisty cactuses and armadillos and the like. We’d be talking many square miles of the stuff, I’d think.
The company name escapes me now but they wanted to put in a large solar field east of Barstow. That is desolate and in the middle of nowhere, perfectly suited for a solar field.
The enviros raised so much hell about desert animals (I believe the tortoise was one) and plants the company gave up rather than fight them.
What most people see in a desolate desert is sacred to enviro-nazis.
There is some justification for governments to sponsor basic R&D — including research that might lead to valuable patents.
Otherwise, government should stick to its knitting:
* using diplomatic muscle to ensure that competing nations respect patents;
* regulatory reform, to remove barriers;
* providing basic infrastructure;
* providing training and education for the future solar workforce (even that shouldn't be exclusively a government undertaking).
If true, could be some of the best $500 million the government has ever thrown away.
I could see investing some money in R & D. But investing money in the current technology????? It’s just like throwing money down the sewer!
“Make your meter spin backwards!” LOL!
You’re exactly right. What the hell are these people doing standing around while zero STEALS our money and gives it to his friends????
Wait - it isn’t our money ..... it’s our kids and grandkids money that they borrowed from China before they were born.
What is worse than Obama doing this is the GOP not SCREAMING from the rooftops about this.
This solar garbage is purely experimental anyway. There is no good battery to save the energy produced. Until there is, this is just alchemy
The GOP is in on the game, hello. Look, when it’s rotten from the top down, it’s all rotten.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.