Solar Power World November 2020 Digital Edition is sponsored by CPS North America | Chint Power Global
Solar power’s important role in the 2020 presidential election
I’ve followed political news closely ever since my time in journalism school at Kent State University, but I don’t remember renewables ever playing such a big role on the national stage as they did in the 2020 general election. Greentech Media’s Emma Foehringer Merchant reported that energy and the environment got more air time in the first 2020 presidential debate than in all of the 2016 presidential debates combined.
Renewable energy and the importance of green jobs came up time and again in candidates’ platforms, television ads and debate answers from the beginning of primary season to the final days before the general election. It’s clear that many politicians think solar and other renewable energies will play a crucial role in these next years in the fight against climate change.
I know solar power will keep growing regardless of whether there’s positive policy in place to encourage it. But good solar policy helps speed up that growth, and speeding it up means making clean energy more accessible to more Americans.
COVID-19 stopped the world in its tracks this year, and that included state legislatures that had to push aside any non-essential business to instead focus on COVID relief and testing and tracing efforts. Now that we’re learning to live with the pandemic, state governments are beginning to resume non-COVID-related policy discussions, including those concerning solar and renewable policy. Here’s hoping 2021 will bring with it new policy innovations that can help make solar and storage accessible to everyone.
As we head into the holiday season, stay healthy and stay engaged in the policy decisions that affect the solar industry!
Kelsey Misbrener
Senior Editor
kmisbrener@wtwhmedia.com
@SolarKelseyM
@SolarPowerWorld
There is a fine line between the political Greta Thornberg view (frankly world view) on renewables gives the industrial world, and specifically the United States as a world industrial and style-of-life viewpoint. Electrical Power consumption is everything and therefore electrical generation is a necessary appendage to the conversation. Renewable Energy, in which I made a nest in 1982, is a very important component in the extension of our USA day-to-day life activity, as is clean air and water, as are the impacts of micro-and-macro climate issues, and as are socio-political issues internally and on a world platform. But so are the issues with job creation and manufacturing creation and the taxes needed to field renewables generation when the domestic laws meet with unfavorable international edicts and demands. Petrochem/fossil fuel requirements are here to stay our current electrical grid and transportation demands it) in the USA in many non-energy needs, but they also play an important role in developing Renewable Energy for the time being. And if RE is not manufactured here in the US, all the political pandering to political forces about Clean Energy demanding the end to fossil will continue to feed the wellbeing of countries who are inherently “dirty”, and leave the USA with a diminishing position in real jobs, real manufacturing and real control of our internal destiny—as in automotive, electronics, steel, locomotive, and shipping to mention a few. The Trump legacy of domestic job creation and domestic industry re-focusing will have its foothold in the future of the stability of USA.
I’m THRILLED to finally see a renewed interest in solar energy technology.
I’m currently in the process of patenting a D.A.S.T. that is compatible in ALL settings, extremely wind resistant, will capture over 99% of the available P-V rays with an average A.O.I. of less than 3 degrees.
I KNOW it can significantly reduce the current use of fossil fuel based energy.