To SolarPV-ize means to:
Replace other forms of energy production with solar PV (photovoltaic).
Big-Energy corporations have known for years that Solar PV can easily supply all the energy the world needs. And they know that
if Solar PV is implemented, they'll be out of business, they'll become obsolete. Consequently, they've done everything in their power to keep Solar PV off the table. They've been like the jealous stepsisters of Cinderella, doing everything in their power to keep her from attending the ball.
if Solar PV is implemented, they'll be out of business, they'll become obsolete. Consequently, they've done everything in their power to keep Solar PV off the table. They've been like the jealous stepsisters of Cinderella, doing everything in their power to keep her from attending the ball.
With increasing pressure on them to end fossil fuel production, the Big-Energy corporations are searching for ways
that will enable them to stay in the energy game and yet allow them to maintain their stranglehold on us.
To do this they promote Big-and-Centralized power projects that only they can afford and control. Who among us can afford
a big wind turbine farm or a big hydroelectric dam or a nuclear power plant or a concentrated solar farm?
that will enable them to stay in the energy game and yet allow them to maintain their stranglehold on us.
To do this they promote Big-and-Centralized power projects that only they can afford and control. Who among us can afford
a big wind turbine farm or a big hydroelectric dam or a nuclear power plant or a concentrated solar farm?
Buckminster Fuller said,
"Human beings always do the most intelligent thing...
after they've tried every stupid alternative and none of them have worked."
"Human beings always do the most intelligent thing...
after they've tried every stupid alternative and none of them have worked."
This is precisely the situation we find ourselves in today. Solar PV is "the most intelligent thing" to do, but the giant energy corporations are pushing for these stupid alternatives. Why these Big-and-Centralized energy projects are "stupid alternatives" is explained on the ENERGY page of the [HOME game.info] website.
Team HUMANKIND ... let's stop falling for this tactic! Whenever the Big-Energy Corporations want us to invest in another one of their Big-and-Centralized (so called renewable/clean energy projects), let's insist on Solar PV-izing instead. Let's stop installing more of these 'stupid alternatives', these problematic Big-and-Centralized energy projects, and the grid needed to deliver the energy they make in far flung corners of the universe to where it's needed.
What if phone companies had kept pushing landlines rather than cell phones?
Do you think we could have gotten from this:
Do you think we could have gotten from this:
Landline circa 1984
to this --- in under 30 years?
The cell phone of today - the most personal of personal computers
The first commercial cell phone (shown below) came out in late 1983.
It cost $4000 ($10,000 in today's money).
It took 10 hours to charge.
And that 10 hour charge yielded only 30 minutes of talk time!
If you had told someone back then that most people in the world
(including people in isolated places like Mongolia)
would be using one of these in 30 years,
no one would have believed you.
First commercial cell phone - circa 1984
Cell phones are an amazingly sophisticated technology. It's been estimated that over 250,000 (1/4 million) patents are associated with smartphone technology! And they are, quite literally, 'rocket science' --- they require the use of rockets to put the satellites into space that transmit the cell phone signals.
SolarPV-izing simply requires the installation of two relatively simple, earthbound technologies ---
Solar PV panels and Batteries.
SolarPV-izing simply requires the installation of two relatively simple, earthbound technologies ---
Solar PV panels and Batteries.
Hermann Scheer, author of 'The Solar Economy', called Solar PV 'The Energy of the People'.
He said this because individuals or small communities can own these small Solar PV panels, produce their own energy with them, and use it locally, right in the communities in which they live --- Solar PV is Small-and-Locally-Distributed energy.
He said this because individuals or small communities can own these small Solar PV panels, produce their own energy with them, and use it locally, right in the communities in which they live --- Solar PV is Small-and-Locally-Distributed energy.
Some of us individuals will be able to afford to put Solar PV panels on our roofs and Batteries in our homes.
But most of us will probably eventually get our electricity from small, locally distributed, community electric cooperatives.
But most of us will probably eventually get our electricity from small, locally distributed, community electric cooperatives.
COOPERATIVE ENERGY FUTURES
Cooperative Energy Futures (CEF) is a good example of
how this works in an urbanized setting.
It's an organization (as the name suggests, it's a cooperative)
that assists smaller communities within the larger, urbanized
Minneapolis / St. Paul area of Minnesota, USA get their energy
from local, community-owned Solar PV arrays.
These community-owned Solar PV arrays are called
'Community Solar' or 'Community Solar Gardens'.
Here's what the Cooperative Energy Futures (CEF) website says about their service:
"In a time where our country is facing both environmental and economic crises, Cooperative Energy Futures (CEF) envisions
a future where people own, manage, and use clean energy systems for all of our collective benefit.
While one person can only influence their own energy bills and use, many people acting together can change
the entire landscape of the energy system.
CEF exists to transform both what type of energy we use and who controls and owns it.
Community Solar is for everyone and everyone receives the benefits! This means anyone with an electric bill, including renters,
can participate with no upfront costs."
a future where people own, manage, and use clean energy systems for all of our collective benefit.
While one person can only influence their own energy bills and use, many people acting together can change
the entire landscape of the energy system.
CEF exists to transform both what type of energy we use and who controls and owns it.
Community Solar is for everyone and everyone receives the benefits! This means anyone with an electric bill, including renters,
can participate with no upfront costs."
PEC / People's Energy Cooperative in Oronoco, Minnesota
Now let's discuss how a rural setting may be Solar PV-ized by using the Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) system in the USA
as an example. Rural Electric Cooperatives (RECs) have been happily operating and supplying electricity to rural communities
for over 80 years now. Years ago, when the for-profit electric corporations were bringing electricity to the US,
they ignored the rural areas because it wouldn't be profitable for them to sell electricity to such thinly populated communities.
So rural communities joined together and formed their own community owned electric cooperatives --- the RECs.
As a result:
Just imagine 42 million people advocating for Solar PV at the utility they own!
as an example. Rural Electric Cooperatives (RECs) have been happily operating and supplying electricity to rural communities
for over 80 years now. Years ago, when the for-profit electric corporations were bringing electricity to the US,
they ignored the rural areas because it wouldn't be profitable for them to sell electricity to such thinly populated communities.
So rural communities joined together and formed their own community owned electric cooperatives --- the RECs.
As a result:
- More than 900 Rural Electric Cooperatives (RECs) deliver electricity
- to more than 42 million people
- in 47 states.
- This makes up 42% of the nation's electric distribution lines and
- covers 75% of the country's land mass.
Just imagine 42 million people advocating for Solar PV at the utility they own!
One REC is already leading the charge on this. It's Farmers Electric Cooperative (FEC) of Kalona, Iowa.
It's putting the making of electricity into the hands of its members and thereby removing it from the grasp of Team GRUNCH.
It's putting the making of electricity into the hands of its members and thereby removing it from the grasp of Team GRUNCH.
Here's what FEC offers its members:
"You purchase the solar modules; FEC does the rest. As soon as your module begins generating electricity, FEC will collect the power, put it on the grid, and credit your monthly bill at the retail value of power. This rate will rise as retail rates rise. Your brand name module will generate power for at least 30 - 40 years."
"You purchase the solar modules; FEC does the rest. As soon as your module begins generating electricity, FEC will collect the power, put it on the grid, and credit your monthly bill at the retail value of power. This rate will rise as retail rates rise. Your brand name module will generate power for at least 30 - 40 years."
Sheep and Solar PV convivially harvest sunshine
Note in the above picture how sheep are grazing underneath the solar PV panels. This helps to keep the vegetation from
getting too high and obstructing the panels. It a win-win situation because the land is still being kept in production, in addition to there being plants on the land at all times providing their Revitalizing SOIL and carbon sequestering functions.
getting too high and obstructing the panels. It a win-win situation because the land is still being kept in production, in addition to there being plants on the land at all times providing their Revitalizing SOIL and carbon sequestering functions.
Another huge advantage of Solar PV-izing is that it would save lots and lots and lots of our most precious and increasingly scarce resource --- WATER.
The Union of Concerned Scientists reports:
"Power plants are thirsty.
Take the average amount of water flowing over Niagara Falls in a minute. Now triple it. That’s almost how much water power plants in the United States take in for cooling each minute, on average."
"Power plants are thirsty.
Take the average amount of water flowing over Niagara Falls in a minute. Now triple it. That’s almost how much water power plants in the United States take in for cooling each minute, on average."
( And you think you're wasteful if you let the water flow while you brush your teeth )
The Union of Concerned Scientists' report continues:
"In 2005, the nation’s thermoelectric power plants—which boil water to create steam, which in turn drives turbines to produce electricity—withdrew as much water as farms did, and more than four times as much as all U.S. residences.
It requires more water, on average, to generate the electricity that lights our rooms, powers our computers and TVs, and runs our household appliances, than the total amount of water we use in our homes for everyday tasks—washing dishes and clothes, showering, flushing toilets, and watering lawns and gardens."
It would be interesting forTeam HUMANKIND's accountants to do a spreadsheet on this, comparing the costs of Solar PV-izing with the cost (including environmental and social costs) of maintaining the current way Team GRUNCH provides energy for humanity.
The IMF / International Monetary Fund (of all places!)
did a little accounting of its own along these lines.
It found that in 2021
taxpayers around the world
subsidized the fossil fuel corporations to the tune of
$11 million per minute!!
did a little accounting of its own along these lines.
It found that in 2021
taxpayers around the world
subsidized the fossil fuel corporations to the tune of
$11 million per minute!!
Just imagine if the governments of the world spent $11 million per minute Solar PV-izing. Like I said earlier, if all the money
spent on Big-and-Centralized renewable energy projects, plus the money spent by governments subsidizing fossil fuels and
nuclear projects had been spent Solar PV-izing instead, we would already have all the Solar PV we need to power the world.
And a lot more of the species that have gone extinct would still have been with us.
spent on Big-and-Centralized renewable energy projects, plus the money spent by governments subsidizing fossil fuels and
nuclear projects had been spent Solar PV-izing instead, we would already have all the Solar PV we need to power the world.
And a lot more of the species that have gone extinct would still have been with us.
Here are some examples of the seemingly endless ways Solar PV can be 'personalized'
and integrated into different local situations:
Solar stadium in Taiwan / architect: Toyo Ito
Canopies for autos in a parking lot
Okay now, let's dream big.
Let's consider going for a long-shot (in playing games, the long-shot is always fun to consider!) --- and maybe, just maybe,
there're some members of Team HUMANKIND who will rise to the challenge, and can pull this off:
Imagine using the U.S. military personnel to install Solar PV with Batteries to provide all the energy the USA needs.
Imagine your tax dollar going to pay for Solar PV with Batteries instead of tanks and bombs.
Don't you think it a much more effective way to achieve Homeland Security than sending our noble-hearted military personnel
off to invade some foreign country to 'secure' (steal) some resource the giant corporations want?
This video shows how the US military has been used by the corporations to do just that:
Let's consider going for a long-shot (in playing games, the long-shot is always fun to consider!) --- and maybe, just maybe,
there're some members of Team HUMANKIND who will rise to the challenge, and can pull this off:
Imagine using the U.S. military personnel to install Solar PV with Batteries to provide all the energy the USA needs.
Imagine your tax dollar going to pay for Solar PV with Batteries instead of tanks and bombs.
Don't you think it a much more effective way to achieve Homeland Security than sending our noble-hearted military personnel
off to invade some foreign country to 'secure' (steal) some resource the giant corporations want?
This video shows how the US military has been used by the corporations to do just that:
The current US military budget (2022) is about $750 billion per year. More than half of a US citizens' tax dollar goes for this.
Giant armaments corporations get most of this money. With it they manufacture bombs, missiles, warships, nuclear submarines,
fighter planes, drones, tanks, etc. A relatively small amount goes to the military personnel. In fact, communities across the USA
are regularly holding bake sales and other fundraising events to help out beleaguered military veterans. In the corporate agenda,
GI Joes and Janes are just insignificant 'things' to be used and spit out when they're done with them.
This is what president Eisenhower meant when he coined the now famous phrase, 'military-industrial complex' in his final address
to the nation in 1961. He said, "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."
I think he should have used the less ambiguous phrase 'military-corporate complex'.
Giant armaments corporations get most of this money. With it they manufacture bombs, missiles, warships, nuclear submarines,
fighter planes, drones, tanks, etc. A relatively small amount goes to the military personnel. In fact, communities across the USA
are regularly holding bake sales and other fundraising events to help out beleaguered military veterans. In the corporate agenda,
GI Joes and Janes are just insignificant 'things' to be used and spit out when they're done with them.
This is what president Eisenhower meant when he coined the now famous phrase, 'military-industrial complex' in his final address
to the nation in 1961. He said, "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."
I think he should have used the less ambiguous phrase 'military-corporate complex'.
Another long shot Team HUMANKIND could go for would be to use US military personnel to
Solar PV-ize the military bases the USA has around the world (800 of them in more than 70 countries)
for use by the people in whose country the base is based.
We'd make a lot fewer enemies that way, and the terrorist problem would go away.
Abe Lincoln said: "The only way to get rid of an enemy is to make them your friend".
This would go a long way toward doing that.
And any immigrant / refuge problem would go away too since people would no longer have a reason to leave their harmonious homes.
Solar PV-ize the military bases the USA has around the world (800 of them in more than 70 countries)
for use by the people in whose country the base is based.
We'd make a lot fewer enemies that way, and the terrorist problem would go away.
Abe Lincoln said: "The only way to get rid of an enemy is to make them your friend".
This would go a long way toward doing that.
And any immigrant / refuge problem would go away too since people would no longer have a reason to leave their harmonious homes.
It's simply the right thing to do.
And over all, it would be a lot cheaper for the US tax payer
than financing the giant armaments corporations
as they have been for well over a century now.