Tag: renewable-energy

Does the Trump Administration Have Dumber People than Kennedy? – Why Yes, Yes They Do!

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics, corruption, Government Failure

I want you to read the following quote, so you can have the same reaction I had:

“Even if you wrapped the entire planet in a solar panel, you would only be producing 20% of global energy. One of the biggest mistakes politicians can make is equating the ELECTRICITY with ENERGY!”

I was amazed. My first response was “What??” My second response was to quickly mentally review the many articles I have read about the efficiency and practicality of solar panels. while noting that my high school physics text book “claimed” that electricity was a form of energy.

And don’t let the facts like the little tiny obscure fact that I’m typing on a machine powered by electricity confuse you.

Who is this public official?

It is Chris Wright, our Energy Secretary!

Wow, now there is a first rate intelligence!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/energy-secretary-says-wrapping-earth-233101352.html

Shomik Sen Bhattacharjee writing for the site, Benzinga, wrote an article: Energy Secretary Says Wrapping Earth With Solar Panels Would Produce 20% Of Global Energy, X Users Swiftly Community Note Official.

Energy researchers at MIT note that Earth receives on the order of 173,000 terawatts of solar energy continuously, orders of magnitude more than humanity’s total energy use, highlighting that the constraint is not raw solar resource but economics, siting, transmission and storage.

Global solar already supplies a rising share of electricity and is projected to keep growing through 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

So, Energy Secretary is “unfamiliar” with the nature of electricity. And there I was thinking that vaccine denial was bad. Foolish me.

And he also appears to believe that solar energy barely exists and is almost useless which is contrary to any simple examination of the facts.

You have to wonder what kind of decisions results from these two misconceptions. Just imagine how many other misconceptions he has.

It really makes you wonder. This is a very minor news story but before the age of Trump, it would be front page news and dominate the news cycle.

But it can’t. Because we as a nation have long ago come to the realization that competence, truth telling or even the most mediocre levels of ability are absent in those chosen for high office in this administration.

That cabinet secretaries can deny basic facts with complete certainty is not a surprise.

But it does bode ill for all of us who had come to expect capable public servants.

James Alan Pilant

Should Americans Have a Say in What They Want?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

You would think that in a democracy what a majority of the people want would matter. You’d think. But very often it seems that the distance between what Americans wish for and want to happen and what our government does is wider than the Grand Canyon.

Can I give you an example? Quite a few but let us do just one. Do Americans want subsidies for solar energy?

Let us look at the link below!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/survey-reveals-americans-overwhelming-opinions-120500351.html

(Quote from the article above.) An Instagram Reel by EnergySage — a platform that helps homeowners save up to $10,000 on rooftop solar panels — shared the stunning results of a recent study.

“Nearly 90% of Americans are in favor of government programs to help homeowners go solar,” the video says. “That includes 78% of 2020 voters for President Donald Trump.”

The clip also cites a survey from 2019, in which 92% of respondents said America should expand solar power. The lack of partisan split was equally encouraging: 86% of Republicans and 96% of Democrats backed the idea. The clip finishes with a map of the United States, highlighting the states that installed the most solar power in 2023, the year the Inflation Reduction Act went into full effect. Seven of the 10 backed the Republican candidate in 2024. (End quote.)

Those number would seem to suggest with great certainty that the American people want solar energy to be subsidized and it implies that they believe the future is going to be one of sustainable energy. So, how are their views reflected in the actions of their “democratically” elected government.

The federal government abolished a major tax credit for solar energy. See the link below.

https://www.energysage.com/news/congress-passes-bill-ending-residential-solar-tax-credit/

President Trump signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law on Independence Day, cutting the 30% residential solar tax credit by December 31, 2025—nearly a decade ahead of schedule. 

But that wasn’t the only thing cut. The current administration used its power to destroy a solar energy program of quite a large size in Ohio. Note the link below.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/the-war-on-sunshine-how-federal-cuts-just-stripped-ohio-of-156-million-for-solar-energy/ar-AA1KjTP8?ocid=BingNewsSerp

The abrupt termination of a $7 billion federal solar energy program has dealt a serious blow to Ohio’s renewable energy plans, with the Today in Ohio crew ruing the state’s loss of $156 million that would have powered thousands of homes with solar arrays.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to end the “Solar for All” grant program – created by the Biden administration – has eliminated cash that would have provided solar power to over 900,000 homes nationwide. For Ohio, the impact is severe.

But don’t the American people want solar energy? What’s happening here? What happened to the a government “of the people, for the people?”

It was purchased.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/big-oil-donations-trump

According to the report, Big Oil’s total known spending in the last election cycle amounted to “an astounding $445 million.”

“Importantly, however, the oil and gas industry also routes undisclosed funds through dark money groups that do not have to reveal their donors, making it nearly impossible to understand the full scope of their impact,” the report notes.

So, not so much a government of the people as a government purchased and operated for the benefit of giants corporations like the associated group know as “Big Oil.”

That explains a lot.

It explains why the President and his crawling minions in the House and Senate are entirely comfortable with defying the will of the people.

In terms of business ethics, it is a catastrophe. Morally wrong, it not only subverts democracy, it has the government enacting laws that results in policies that make money for contributors but in the long term are disastrous for the nation and the larger planet as well.

And it is a symbol to every student in the United States who sees that human beings educated in the finest institutions and elected by the American people sell themselves, their honor and their votes for money.


James Alan Pilant

Hank D and the Bee: Solar+Wind=____ (via Joe Mohr’s Cartoon Archive)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Whether you believe in solar or wind power, this is a positive, hopeful view of our future and I like those; I like them a lot.

About forty years ago, something went terribly wrong in the United States, it became the governmental fashion to avoid even attempting to solve real problems. Now, we just kick the can down the road and hope something good will happen. The Congress waits until enough contributions, enough lobbyists congregate, and then solves corporate money problems with no consideration of the wider effects.

Under these circumstances, it is hard to see a positive future. But this is a great country and it is still capable of great things.

James Pilant

Hank D and the Bee: Solar+Wind=____ Relevant info From Nobel Peace Laureates: “Renewable energy sources are one of the powerful keys to a peaceful future.” From NOVA: A Clean Energy Future? From Sourcewatch: Health Effects of Coal From Greenpeace: Anti Coal Activism Follow the rest of the Hank D and the Bee series at JoeMohrToons.com. For cartoon updates and other green goings-on, follow Joe on Twitter @GreenCartoons. … Read More

via Joe Mohr’s Cartoon Archive