… and another thing

Greenhouse emissions

April

I’m watching Nova on PBS—about how Germany might produce 1/3 of its energy through solar panels.

We on the other hand get 1 percent of our energy from solar and wind, according to the program.

And there are no plans for a national incentive program like Germany’s.

That’s depressing. If Germany can do, so can we. Whether through private business or any other way.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 8:42 pm by Noreen O'Donnell.
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One Response to “Greenhouse emissions”

Bob McAfee April 25th, 2007 at 11:20 am
According to the Nova program (transcription available at pbs.org), “With the government’s cash incentives, any open space has become fair game for solar panels, regardless of who or what gets in the way.” That will go over real well with America’s environmentalists and NIMBYs. On Long Island, they can’t even get offshore wind turbines installed because it will impair the view of the ocean. (Teddy Kennedy doesn’t want them by him either, for the same reason.) So, how much forest should we clear cut to make room for the hundreds of square miles of solar panels we’d need to make solar power practical?

NARRATOR: But what about apartment dwellers and other citizens who don’t own solar panels? How satisfied are they with the government’s generous support of solar power?

JOACHIM PFEIFFER (German Parliament): We have one of the highest energy prices in the world, and that’s really a great problem for the normal consumers. They have to spend a lot of their household’s income for electricity.

NARRATOR: Germany has always had high electricity rates, about double the rates in America. And the government’s renewable program has added an additional 15 to 20 dollars per month to the average bill.

So, if you have land, you benefit. If you’re an urban dweller, you pay more for your electricity. I can just hear the libs like Noreen wailing about how unfair this is to the urban poor.

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