Everyone in the solar industry, as well as everyone who supports solar power, should read the superb, recent piece by Michael Grunwald of Time Magazine -- "(Almost) Everyone Loves Solar." Here are the key points:
- Almost everyone in America, across the political spectrum, supports solar power. The backing for solar in this country is so broad, in fact, that effectively, "[i]n America, solar is motherhood and apple pie."
- In addition to being highly popular, "solar also has become the U.S.’s fastest-growing industry, expanding more than tenfold in four years and adding more than 100,000 jobs," while "Prices have plunged nearly 50% since [President] Obama took office."
- Unfortunately, "many Beltway Republicans who had embraced green energy and green jobs turned against them after they became associated with the Obama agenda."
- The Solar Energy Industries Association is "bend[ing] over backward to emphasize areas of agreement" with Republicans, even though Mitt Romney has falsely "called solar power 'imaginary' while rhapsodizing about the coming petroleum boom and raking in petroleum cash," and even though "Obama is already being nice to them."
- In response to this conciliatory strategy, "Team Dirty Energy" is certainly not going to "play nice."
- The bottom line is that "solar and other green technologies need more than a few bones thrown their way. They need public policy that levels a playing field traditionally slanted toward fossil-fuel incumbents."
So true.