Ultimately this is how renewables win. Not because people are pushing for them, but because they’re cheaper and easier. In order to reach that point we do need a certain number of early adopters that are using renewables because it’s the right thing, but we’ll eventually hit a tipping point where it costs you more to use non-renewables and the migration becomes self-sustaining at that point.
The day one of my ultraconservative brothers-in-law installed solar panels was the day I knew renewables had already won.
Conservatives aren’t against solar, their politicians are paid to be so.
I’ve never lived anywhere more conservative, and I’m from Oklahoma. Solar is exploding everywhere. I’d bet there are 1,000+ acres of solar farm between my house and camp, all brand new. And more coming.
Doesn’t solar make your household independent from a big energy company? You would think conservatives in the sticks would especially appreciate renewable energy.
It depends. There’s a lot of areas in coal country that are deeply conservative in part because conservative politicians promise to protect coal jobs and to disrupt renewables. That of course varies by location, but E.G. Texas which has a large oil company presence is going to have a lot of conservative voters who are anti-renewable because they’ve made their career working in the petroleum industry. So while not every conservative is going to be against solar, quite a lot of them are.
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That can delay things, but ultimately it will be the US against the rest of the world and no amount of subsidies will be able to offset that. We’re already seeing the early stages of that with China having invested heavily in solar. Cheap Chinese made solar panels are starting to drive the cost of solar installs down and China is still ramping up. Between the public backlash against fossil fuels on one side, and increasing economic pressure on the other eventually they’ll cave and phase the subsidies out.
That can delay things, but ultimately it will be the US against the rest of the world and no amount of subsidies will be able to offset that.
Coal and nuke power company provider First Energy straight up bribed the Ohio Speaker of the house with $61 million to get legislation passed to force residential electricity customers to pay extra fees to subsidize unprofitable coal and nuclear power in the state. The former Speaker is in prison now. The extra fees are still being paid by customers even today. source
Ugh. I hate to say this, but the US is dumb enough to crash into the future hoping that other countries go renewable so oil is cheaper here. It’s too late anyway.
There will always be holdouts though, I live in Missouri and I’m just waiting for the day my state legislature makes solar illegal. They’ll probably do it as soon as they finish up the last few human rights
They should target the windmills first. When I finish crying I like to have a good laugh about the quixotic irony of Republicans chasing after windmills. Once we’ve exhausted that meme we can move on to blacken the sky memes.
The only reason I haven’t seriously considered solar in the past is because I couldn’t justify paying more for electricity even though it’s the undeniably right thing to do. I am very climate conscious but I just couldn’t afford it.
But like you said, we’ve reached that point and getting solar quotes will be one of the first things I do when I move even if it just means breaking even.
Not because people are pushing for them, but because they’re cheaper and easier.
They’ve been cheaper and easier for some time. Wind power, in particular, was a profitable source of off-shore energy for decades. Electric cars and trams were actually superior to ICE engines from the late 19th century into the 1930s, and only lost market share thanks to a sudden drop in fuel prices.
A big part of our adherence to fossil fuels stemmed from political decision making. For residential energy demands, renewables have always been superior. But for military technology, ICE engines remained essential. That made the Middle East a nexus of post-WW2 conflicts and the Petro-Dollar a pivotal tool for western politicking in the region.
What we had in the 1950s and 60s was an artificial petroleum glut, relative to demand, created by our military presence on the Saudi peninsula. And what we’ve continued to enjoy into the modern day is an artificially cheap fossil fuel market.
we’ll eventually hit a tipping point where it costs you more to use non-renewables and the migration becomes self-sustaining at that point.
That hinges on the theory that American domestic economic interests start guiding our energy policy. I don’t see any evidence to support this in practice. I suspect the US will continue to cling to fossil fuels well after the rest of the world has pivoted away, entirely because our military industrial complex demands it.
It’s a museum. It doesn’t say “coal mining is a great technology of the future”. It says “here’s this thing of the past we used to do”. Or do you also expect a paleontological museum to only employ dinosaurs?
I bet WW2 museum employees aren’t even real Nazis!
I the US I bet it’s like 50/50 if nazi museum workers would be actual Nazis.
A man can dream.
I heard of a really cool project awhile ago where they were proudly sparing no expense. Hopefully nothing went wrong.
I’m volunteering at an animal hospital.
Animal Hospital?!?
The animals are the patients.
Oh. That makes sense.
Animal Hospital:
do you alsl expect a paleontological museum to only employe dinosaurs?
I don’t, but I wish they did.
It doesn’t say “coal mining is a great technology of the future”.
I mean, it very well might. Wouldn’t be the first museum bankrolled by the wealthiest industry in town. But saving money on electricity costs is a thing a lot of businesses do for their own bottom line while advocating other people stick to the expensive way.
Went to check. Turns out this time it’s not the case.
I don’t see anything in this link explaining who is funding the museum.
Follow-up: http://kycoalmuseum.southeast.kctcs.edu/about_us/index.aspx
The Museum’s founders were very much aware that a large majority of mining communities around Appalachia and, indeed, around the state and nation no longer exist. Many individuals who grew up in these coal camp communities now have sons, daughters, and grandchildren who have grown up hearing the stories about what life was like in the coal camps. However, for many of those people who want to share that coal camp experience with their own children and grandchildren they cannot go home again, because so many of the state’s mining communities have been abandoned and torn down. It was with this thought in mind that the Museum’s collection was assembled and is housed in the wonderfully-restored Benham company store.
The goal in the development of the Museum, was to tell the story. It is the story of coal in Kentucky, and the story of the thousands of workers, most of who came from the Deep South and Eastern Europe to escape poverty, and build a better life for their families. Their stories are told at the Kentucky Coal Museum, perhaps as well as they are told anywhere in the world.
To be fair, the Confederate Museum is indeed how cool being racist is.
Yeah if anything I’d expect a coal mining museum to be way more aware of the impact of their energy source and be more likely to switch to solar.
Yes, were are the dinosaur employees?
Ignorance of the past isn’t really an excuse to keep being ignorant of the future.
“It’s a museum” is a reason why people ignored the British outright stealing India’s cultural heritage.
Sure it COULD be a monument to the ignorant usage of petroleum. But why are you so desperate to make it such?
Considering this is Kentucky I would have expected a scale model steam engine that burns coal to boil water to spin a turbine to generate the electricity for the museum. This way they could “roll coal” daily and piss off the surrounding tri-state area.
I fr don’t understand Kentucky’s obsession with coal. Like they make “friends of coal” license plates ffs
jobs primarily
“My grandpa worked at the gives-orphans-cancer factory until he died of cancer, my daddy worked at the gives-orphans-cancer factory until he died of cancer, I’ve been working at the gives-orphans-cancer factory for the last twenty five years and by God I’m proud of my recent cancer diagnosis, and I will fight with every fiber of my being to make sure that my son grows up to work at the gives-orphans-cancer factory!”
Hopefully Ford’s massive investment into EV and battery factories in Kentucky will help Kentuckians appreciate electrical power for providing jobs just as easily as coal did.
I see no reason every coal miner can’t become a solar/renewable installer and technician. There are fields of panels across the Midwest already, someone has to build and maintain those and it’s certainly safer than being underground
Mitch McConnell’s retirement should help too, time will tell.
It belongs in a museum!
Wait this is not the same Sarah Andreson, the comic artist, is it?
