Hippies and libertarians have become unlikely allies in a war against solar power

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by MikeG22

Interesting article. I was wondering how the energy companies would survive without any customers if we all switched to solar.

I notice the abundance of advertising now for solar leasing programs. Sounds great, clean renewable energy, I'd love to do it, but what happens to the thousands of ConEd workers and such?

Clean air is of more importance than jobs for thousands of ConEd workers.

[MikeG22]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

Clean air is of more importance than jobs for thousands of ConEd workers.

But you cannot have your cake and eat it too. You need the power grid to remain running. Unless your completely off the grid which is a very small percentage of solar setups you need to pull energy from the grid at night and overcast days. You then push energy back in on sunny days.

No workers, no grid. Better get some candles.

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by MikeG22

But you cannot have your cake and eat it too. You need the power grid to remain running. Unless your completely off the grid which is a very small percentage of solar setups you need to pull energy from the grid at night and overcast days. You then push energy back in on sunny days.

No workers, no grid. Better get some candles.

Agreed but your argument of projecting workers in front of a healthy
environment is in the long run not sustainable. As science and
technology advance certain jobs vanish.

Workers in whatever industry will be smart to observe what's coming
and make adjustment.

No job is guaranteed.

[Rajoo]

Utilities will down size as technology and demand changes. Jobs will be created in the solar energy industry to replace jobs lost in the utilities sector. Solar power availability is free so it becomes very difficult to stop this movement.

Utilities are already looking into energy storage technology. If this becomes viable small scale producers will not be dependent on energy companies and now the battery manufacturers will create new jobs.

But of course as always, there will be political drama and lobbyists fighting hard for the energy and utility companies. We already have the technology to make every new home energy self sufficient. Not solar panels but solar roofs that are already being installed in upscale new homes in our area. Very difficult to stop this movement in the US. Cost of panels was a major detriment but now thanks to our good friend China, panels are now Walmart priced.

[Wasillaguy]

I read a story recently that insurance companies are raising rates or refusing to cover fire for structures with rooftop solar. The firemen can't open up the roof as is often needed, not to mention they can't easily move around on the roof, and have to worry about live power they can't easily shut off (many modern installs have micro-inverters on each panel, so you're dealing with A/C, not dc)

[MikeG22]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

Agreed but your argument of projecting workers in front of a healthy
environment is in the long run not sustainable. As science and
technology advance certain jobs vanish.

Workers in whatever industry will be smart to observe what's coming
and make adjustment.

No job is guaranteed.

Correction : ConEd is a bad example because they both produce and deliver. Many suburban utility companies however are solely based on delivery not production.

Its not a matter of a job being guaranteed or not. You still need grid power at night. When a storm happens and poles go down who is going to fix them. You still need the workers despite your fancy green system.

The panels are not being advertised as "green" as much as F the money hungry power company. There needs to be a symbiotic sort of relationship between the energy deliverers and the solar producing consumer. Companies like ConEd do not make energy, they are not a supplier, they are an energy delivery company. Whether the power comes from your house or a coal burning plant they do not care as long as they can bill you for delivering the energy. But someone needs to pay for the grid, and your meter spinning backwards all day isn't going to do it.

The problem is solar energy is currently like stealing cable because your utilizing the services of an energy delivery company without paying for it.

[MikeG22]

http://grist.org/climate-energy/sola...u-s-utilities/

Trust me I'd like to give the middle finger to my local utility company as well and keep my air cleaner by not burning coal or catalyzing plutonium. But I also don't want to be in the dark at night because I bite off my nose to spite my face.

[merrylander]

What burns my arse is that the PUC lets BG&E charge by the kilowatt for delivery, why"?

[piece-itpete]

They have to maintain the special tankers that deliver it.

Pete

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by MikeG22

The problem is solar energy is currently like stealing cable because your utilizing the services of an energy delivery company without paying for it.

The necessity of grid power at night is expected to go away, remember, as storage technology marches on. Must everyone nonetheless contribute to maintaining the grid forever and ever?

If you call persons who take offered subsidies and rates 'freeloaders,' what bad name do you call companies that want to force you to pay for their operations whether you use them or not?