I wonder why China is the largest solar energy and wind power producer but yet China is not transitioning to renewable energy (nor are many other nations including Russia) and China is building many more coal energy plants and they have no plans on reducing oil and gas consumption. China and Russia are laughing at the USA as we destroy our own economy in our naïve quest to transition to renewable energy when its not a viable solution for our nation.
The air is unbreathable in China due to coal fired electricity. I’m glad that our air is much cleaner in the US. Our air used to be like China’s in the 1970s. We have progressed, China has not.
It's a misnomer that we have gotten used to. just like;
True but China could do what we did, they just choose to not have clean air. But in the USA it was not renewable energy that fixed our air quality problems.
It could be a vaible solution for our nation. There is no solution where it comes about by "flipping a switch". That seems to be a major complaint, not enough places to charge a car etc. Yes, there are some major road blocks to alternative energy, but luckily, we have time to work them out before we HAVE to switch. Read up on how long it took gas powered cars to become accepted and why. But people back then were used to "hardships". Today, many people want instant gratification, or no inconvenience to them at all, NIMBY etc. I would hate to think people back then were as spoiled as we are today. And I bet there was a lot less misinformation running rampant. The internet is a double edged sword, and it will not get better I fear.
So what are you advocating: building coal plants? There’s no need. My state closed all the coal plants and between natural gas and renewables, there are no power shortages. Why stick with 1950s technology?
Yep. That’s all that China knows. Pollution be damned.
I'm saying lets don't destroy our economy trying to transition to something that will not work.
It’s working well where I live.
It won't work for our nation.
What information do you have to support your statement? Many states have transitioned their power grid away from coal and yet things are still working.
Interesting. It worked out for us. Our cost was $29,200 and we received about $10,000 back as a tax credit. This was in 2018. Based on the electrical rates at the time of installation my memory is that the calculations were that we would recover all we had invested in about five years. I would have to go back and check to be sure. But electrical rates went up quite a bit, and so a while back I recalculated with the current rates (i.e. figuring out what our bill would be today without solar) and we actually had recouped all we had paid for it in under four years. So, now our electricity is free. This is in central California foothills. And now I think the tax credit is less, and maybe gone.
I believe that if we want solar panels then we should build them here. Beginning with mining the materials in an environmentally safe fashion... that is the only way that solar will truly be green.
There are several panel manufacters in USA. Built in USA is more costly. So, what about only giving incentives to made in American products if we are to continue giving incentives?
Solar is definitely working for me. I put in a 7500w system 3 years ago to support my 2500sf now all electric house. Excluding the mandatory connection fees of $12 to $20 per month my total annual cost for power was less than $200 PER YEAR. Prior years for electric and propane were in the $3,000 to 4,000 per year.
