Hillary Clinton pledges half a billion solar panels for US if she wins office

[Montecresto]

Fossil fuel, at some point, will have an end date.


Wouldn't it be better to let supply and demand pick when solar and wind is cheaper?

Solar and wind is far cheaper today than it was when I began using it nearly twenty years ago, and it's projected to be far cheaper still in 2020. I'm no supporter of anybody being forced to do anything, just because. But we have enforcement in the US for clean air and water and it makes good sense. Solar incidentally is advancing quite nicely. Far more people are using it now then when I first decided to use it. We didn't have mysolar.com back then, and only a fraction of the companies that exist now to sell and service this industry. I'm satisfied that we are seeing supply and demand pushing prices down and that this trend will continue. I'd also be happy with somebody developing additional renewables to solar. The more spokes in the energy wheel, the better.

 

[Bergslagstroll]

The only reason why there's any investment in wind or solar is because its being mandated by Governments.

Energy policy is being shaped by the people who'se knowledge of power production and distribution stops at their wall receptacles

Not because its a comparable and practical technology.

There's no " skyrocketing " of new investment for Solar or wind , there's no demand for it in a market driven economy and its supporters continue to perpetuate little else but propaganda and misinformation.

And no, people are NOT investing in it.

Consumers aren't making the decision to invest 50 grand ( or more ) to put a whole home solar system up because its not practical and its not intelligent.

It doesn't make any sense especially in areas where the average Home needs 15-25kw to run everything.

Consumer advocates and local Police departments are actually WARNING home owners of Solar scams.

People are not convinced and will never be.

Goverment have always been heavily involved then it comes to energy. That even USA have and has a lot of subsidies and their most of it have gone to fossil fuel and nuclear power. Also for being able to secure the flow of oil USA and other countries have been heavily involved in the Middle East for over 50 years. There this involvement haven't led to a peacefully and stable Middle East. Instead USA and otehr countries still have to support brutal dictatorships like Saudi Arabia a country that is one of the worlds biggest supporters of terrorism and fundamentalism.

Also globally the subsidies to fossil fuel are four times the subsidies to renewable.

Fossil Fuels With $550 Billion Subsidies Hurt Renewables - Bloomberg Business

Still renewable have in a short time become competitive to fossil fuel.

The cost of providing electricity from wind and solar power plants has plummeted over the last five years, so much so that in some markets renewable generation is now cheaper than coal or natural gas.

Utility executives say the trend has accelerated this year, with several companies signing contracts, known as power purchase agreements, for solar or wind at prices below that of natural gas, especially in the Great Plains and Southwest, where wind and sunlight are abundant.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/b...-win-on-price-vs-conventional-fuels.html?_r=0

 

[dpcal]

Goverment have always been heavily involved then it comes to energy. That even USA have and has a lot of subsidies and their most of it have gone to fossil fuel and nuclear power. Also for being able to secure the flow of oil USA and other countries have been heavily involved in the Middle East for over 50 years. There this involvement haven't led to a peacefully and stable Middle East. Instead USA and otehr countries still have to support brutal dictatorships like Saudi Arabia a country that is one of the worlds biggest supporters of terrorism and fundamentalism.

Also globally the subsidies to fossil fuel are four times the subsidies to renewable.

Fossil Fuels With $550 Billion Subsidies Hurt Renewables - Bloomberg Business

Still renewable have in a short time become competitive to fossil fuel.



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/b...-win-on-price-vs-conventional-fuels.html?_r=0

Its been a while since I read the breakdown of worldwide fossil fuel subsidies, but my recall is the most of those subsidies are in oil exporting countries and countries like Egypt that subsidize oil products as their population can't afford market rates. Is the $550 billion referring to something else?