[GPSCC-chat] solar energy, Abundance, and 350.org?

[Spencer Graves]

	  Diamandis and Kotler (2012) Abundance (Free Press; 
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance:_The_Future_Is_Better_Than_You_Think") 
suggest that the solar energy may already be cheaper than fossil fuels. 
  The economics depend on the subsidies, direct and indirect, that each 
gets.


	  The primary obstacle to improvement, I believe, is the commercial 
media.  If Verizon and others are able to block net neutrality, it will 
likely retard the development and deployment of the technologies 
required to reduce our dependencies on fossil fuels -- and make it 
easier for the ultra-wealthy to continue to enrich themselves at the 
expense of everyone else.


	  Spencer


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	  Energy collected by homeowners' panels taxed the state's power grid 
and the local utility has stopped connecting them.  The utility claims 
they can't do that safely, because the system wasn't designed for that. 
  Solar panel costs were 60 percent lower in the second quarter of 2013 
than they were in early 2011 
(http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/1/9/hawaii-s-solar-boomistoomuchofagoodthing.html). 



       Diamandis and Kotler (2012) Abundance (Free Press, esp. pp. 158ff 
and 268) claim that (a) solar today is already cheaper than coal -- or 
will be by 2016, and (b) continues to drop by 20 percent each time the 
installed base doubles.  They've also observed that solar today provides 
1 percent of the world's energy needs.  If we double that seven times, 
then solar will produce 128 percent of the world's energy needs.


ACTION PLAN:  We can help make this happen by checking the facts, 
understanding the counterarguments, and helping make these facts better 
known so the political process reduces subsidies for fossil fuels and 
uses this to help fight human contributions to global warming.  This 
includes checking relevant Wikipedia articles and making sure they 
mention these research results appropriately, that relevant news in this 
area get appropriately covered in the media, and the progress in these 
areas is appropriately converted into political action.


       Spencer


-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  www.structuremonitoring.com