There is a lot of angst going around when it comes to green power generation and President Trump. It’s very clear that he is openly antagonistic towards the environment, and a huge supporter of archaic, toxic energy.
We are very lucky that solar and wind power in the United States are popular at a state level, and somewhat immune from a President who is hell-bent on profit today with no thought of what that money might be worth tomorrow.
The largest offshore wind generation project in the history of the USA was approved recently, and this is a first step for New York in its quest to have 50% green power by 2030.
Green energy is a sector that has been growing steadily since the 90’s and it will continue to, regardless of the atrocities that are happening at the federal level.
According to the National Solar Jobs Census the solar sector grew at 17 times the rate of the overall economy in 2016.T he 2009 solar stimulus spending is thought to be responsible for this marvel of industry, and there is no sign of solar slowing down anytime soon.
Labor Network for Sustainability was founded by Joe Uehlein and he thinks that green tech has too much power for Trump to do much about it, “That train [green power] left the station 10-15 years ago and it’s growing at pretty high speed right now,” says Mr. Uehlein. “That’s going to continue.”
A recent study from the Brookings Institute would lend credibility to Mr. Uehlein’s optimism. The study reports that in the absence of federal funding, state and local support would make the critical difference in continued green job development.
Luckily, there are many people that still see the value of green power.
Just ask Former President Jimmy Carter, or anyone in his home town.
[via truth-out]
Solar cells and panels are largely made by robots that are tended and maintained by people with jobs. No reason we can’t manufacturer solar at a profit in the U.S. If Trump and the Republicans would get off their tunnel vision against clean energy and insist the U.S. oil companies join in, there would be plenty for American workers to do. Oh, and what about the huge infrastructure projects that Obama requested that have been waiting for the Republican Congress to fund? There are plenty of jobs just waiting for Trump and The Republicans to act and the first thing on the agenda should be to retrain the coal workers and oil workers to do the new work. People, we need to elect some representatives with vision next time around.
What green jobs? The beauty of solar, wind, etc is that once constructed you just sit back and let it make money. It might take 600 people to construct a solar plant but once done it might take 10 people to run it. We can’t manufacture the solar components in this country due to the EPA and organized labor. We just can’t do it and compete. There is a better way of dealing with the problem and that is use the cheap foriegn made panels on a large scale, no they are not made in America but that doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from the tech. Small decentralized power generation is still the key. The problem right now is regulation the hoops you have to jump through to get a solar system on line is a pill to say the least. Oh and you have to use their approved installers which increases the price where it’s not a reasonable return on investment. The solar industry is as corrupt as any I have seen its full of good ol boy politics and stupid regulations that keep the common folks from participating. Now you might think I’m just blowing smoke but I have a 5600 watt grid tie system on my roof and I also have an off grid system that powers my house when the grid fails. I designed and built my system myself just to see what all the fuss was about I have about 5000.00 invested in the grid tie system and a little more in the off grid system because of batteries. The same grid tie system installed by one of their approved installers would have cost over 6.00 a watt. If you didn’t do the math in your head that’s a difference of about $25000 for the same system. So there is the definition of a green job. Suckers!