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January 28, 2008
What He Didn't Mention
I just finished listening to this President's last State of the Union Speech. There is a lot I might say about what he said, but for now, I am more interested in what he didn't say.
He listed a number of energy choices that he hoped our country would pursue. Solar power was not among them. While there isn't any one solution to the growing energy crisis and the very closely related global warming crisis, solar energy must to be a part of it.
Last month, Scientific American published a very intriguing plan that has the potential of generating 69% of our electrical needs and 35% of our total energy needs by 2050. Even if you want to discount those projections by half, you'd think something like that should at least be mentioned. His only example of "emissions-free" energy was nuclear power. I even think nuclear power is part of the solution; but does anyone really think (or hope) it is will meet nearly 70% of our electrical energy needs by 2050? I sure don't.
By the way, solar energy is mentioned in the energy initiative document that accompanied the speech but it is clearly not very important to this President and his perceived constituency.
Posted by Duane Smith at January 28, 2008 7:49 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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Comments
I have been shopping for solar systems. A small, inadequate one costs $30k, so $420 billion (per the article) would provide partial coverage to about 14 million homes. The pricing hasn't changed much over the last few years according to Solarbuzz.com. A large system in the desert would be more efficient, but transmission losses would negate much of the benefit. For the global warming calculation, we still need to factor in the amount of Australian coal burned to smelt the silicon in China to make the solar panels, along with the oil burned to get those panels into their final installed positions. EROEI>1?
Oh yes, a large scale government funded system would require union labor to build and maintain, whereas I can use illegal immigrants to install my home system. What is the current union labor rate for cleaning solar cells after a dust storm?
It is a bit ambiguous, but the authors probably intended to spend $420 billion per year from 2011 to 2050 to achieve the goals outlined. Ouch.
Posted by: Looney at January 29, 2008 9:46 PM
Seriously, now. No sensible person in the world at this point really cares what that hateful, arrogant windbag thinks. He could recite his worthless speech in Spanish for all any of us really care. I think it's important that people practice true democracy which involves being self-sufficient and not waiting for someone else to come up with solutions for us. Power off the TV and power on individuality. Besides, there's nothing good on anymore anyway unless one delights in badly scripted nonsense like American Idol... bleh.
Posted by: Glen Gordon at January 30, 2008 5:47 AM
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.
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