Sen. Whitehouse Bashes Fossil-Fuel-Funded GOP Attacks on Solar Energy and American Workers

[NNadir]

3. With due respect to the Senator, I bash the solar industry because it depends on fossil fuels.

The solar industry hasn't done shit to reduce the use of fossil fuels. It hasn't done shit to address climate change.

After 50 years of wild cheering, the 5 Exajoules of energy produced by this stuff (WEO, 2022, Table A1A, page 435) doesn't even match the year to year growth in the use of dangerous natural gas (+7 Exajoules from 139 EJ to 146 EJ from 2020 to 2021) and was even worse against the growth in the use of coal (+8 EJ from 157 EJ to 165 EJ from 2020 to 2021.)

At a cost of trillions of dollars, the solar industry has done nothing to address climate change; although it should, in no time whatsoever, generate lots of jobs for truckers hauling electronic waste off to landfills, or to ports where we can send them to countries where poverty and corruption rule, and then tell ourselves, in the sort of lies that are very popular, that they're being "recycled."

The longer we hold on to these myths as having value in political posturing, the more we are screwing future generations. This lie may get votes, but it will do nothing, absolutely nothing to address climate change. It's played out. The results are in.

Week beginning on April 23, 2023: 424.40 ppm
Weekly value from 1 year ago: 420.19 ppm
Weekly value from 10 years ago: 399.32 ppm
Last updated: May 04, 2023

Weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa

The more we lie to ourselves, the faster things get worse.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, should make the fossil fuel industry happier than the solar affectation. I suspect they're well aware of it, and enjoy happily playing the "bad guy" to keep the mythology going while the money roles in. The sun goes down every night, or at least I heard that somewhere.