Solar

Bernie. ☀

September 12, 2015

“Through the first half of 2015, there is now enough solar installed in the United States to power more than 4.6 million homes.”

We can do so much better if we get support, not obstacle, from our nation’s power companies.

Sun Valley Institute for Resilience (sunvalleyinstitute.org). Part of their mission statement:

Leaders around the world are embracing resilience as a critical priority to deal effectively with shocks and our rapidly changing times, the increasing risks we face from greater economic interdependence and environmental disruptions. The concept of resilience is receiving great attention from individuals, businesses, communities and nations alike.

The founder of the institute is passionate about homegrown renewable energy. According to an op-ed piece she wrote for the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise, Aimee Christensen shared that she is an “energy strategist, having worked for global corporations and governments for more than 20 years, including Duke Energy, Google, Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Energy.” She monitors Idaho Power closely in our state, a controller public utilities conglomerate, as they continue to find methods subtle, and not so subtle, to restrict solar energy development in our state. And this struggle is not exclusive to Idaho, but across the country most recently from Michigan to Nevada. Idaho’s power grid is currently 40 percent coal, all from out-of-state plants in which Idaho Power is invested. Christensen reports, again from her op-ed piece, that Georgia, in contrast, is a state where the “evil capitalist” Georgia Power is working with environmentalists, along with tea party activists to create change that provides low prices for power and creates sustainable energy providing “500 megawatts of utility-scale solar with 20- to 30-year contracts without rate increases, offering its residents rooftop solar installations, Nest Thermostats (reducing power bills), and Tesla battery storage systems (increasing power reliability).” Recently on the CBS Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Telsa Founder and CEO Elon Musk stated: “The most important issue that needs to come out of the 21st century is sustainable energy.

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