President Joe Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants to provide residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities.
This is undeniably good and I would like to see more. I would really like to see the federal government seriously look at the issues with power transmission and storage as those are the main hold ups in green energy right now and a lot of that is regulatory hurdles.
We could pretty easily hit all of our renewable goals in 5 years if power transmission projects didn't constantly get bogged down in NIMBY lawsuits.
I am not saying that the apparatus of government should be used to run roughshod over people with concerns about this, but we cannot let individuals stop vital infrastructure projects.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities.
Solar is gaining traction as a key renewable energy source that could reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, which emit planet-warming greenhouse gases.
But solar energy can have high costs for initial installation, making it inaccessible for many Americans — and potentially meaning a mingling of environmental policy with election-year politics.
It was established in 1936 as a summer camp for underprivileged youth from Washington, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps to help create jobs during the Great Depression.
Biden officials counter that GOP policies benefit highly profitable oil companies and could ultimately undermine U.S. efforts to compete with the Chinese in the renewable energy sector.
He said the programs can “unlock economic opportunity to create pathways to middle-class-supporting careers, to save people money and improve their quality of life.”
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Dammit I made it too late to the post to mention the absurd solar panel tariff that preceded this because "muh China bad"
It won't be as bad as the domestic chip production, but this stuff is gonna get wasted just like the totally 100% legit for real this time national rail program 2 electric boogaloo.
That's less than a quarter of what we waste annually on fossil fuel subsidies. And this is a president whose administration considers record oil production to be an accomplishment instead of a disgrace.
7 billion would go a lot further with Chinese panels
Unfortunately:
The Biden administration is expected to grant a request by South Korea’s Hanwha Qcells to reverse a two-year-old trade exemption that has allowed imports of a dominant solar panel technology from China and other countries to avoid tariffs, two sources familiar with the White House plans said on Wednesday.
This isn't a quick one and done small project. This is a massive industry that needs to go for decades and likey centuries. You want to develop your own industry because that will be cheaper long term. And so that, you know, multiple countries can crank out shitloads of panels.
This isn’t a quick one and done small project. This is a massive industry that needs to go for decades and likey centuries.
Sounds like it would have been a great plan 30 years ago...
But we don't really have time to wait...
We can build up our own (actually our own, not a foreign company's) while still installing the already available panels.
Like, money is great and all, but the planet is kind of fucking dying and America is experiencing record breaking fossil fuel production right now to prop up the economy.
Which is likely factoring into Biden again stalling on climate action.
But again, it works really well on people who only read headlines. Those people think Biden is getting a lot done.