• BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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    12 hours ago

    OR, we could build those solar panels right here in America, and not only relieve the pressure on oil reserves, but kick off a new big American industry, backed by a national energy initiative, backed by tax incentives. There would be lots of new small businesses around the country selling and installing solar, creating thousands of new jobs.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      We tried that. At least twice. One political party decided that investment was “fraud, waste, and abuse”, and shut it all down, driving manufacturing out of the country.

    • absentbird@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Good luck with that. Making solar panels is hard, and China is really good at it. Why not pay them?

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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        10 hours ago

        Yeah, we can do hard stuff, too, and maybe we should start doing the hard stuff here.

        We spent decades having to deal with other countries and our oil policies, and it’s been a nightmare of wars, embargoes, etc. Now that we can go down a completely different energy path, why shouldn’t we keep it inhouse? We need to work with other nations, but we don’t have to voluntarily line up to be totally economically enslaved to another country for the NEXT wave of energy.

          • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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            8 hours ago

            I’ve been a solar advocate for decades. You got the sun giving off free energy all the time, and all those roofs and parking lots that could be covered with panels to capture that free energy, what’s the problem?

            Oh, yeah, the Free part. American Capitalism doesn’t like the sound of FREE.

        • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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          9 hours ago

          What a bunch of crazy talk. Next I bet you’re going to say something REALLY batshit, like we should stop offshoring all our manufacturing to China and build stuff here in USA, right?

          Jokes aside- you’re quite right, but with one issue- making solar panels has a chemical environmental impact. If China wants to trash their environment to build our solar panels cheap, let them. Other than that I 100% agree we should be buying the tech and setting up our own manufacturing lines.

        • Auli@lemmy.ca
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          9 hours ago

          And this is what every other country should be saying about America. Espically tech we are enslaved to Americans cause let’s be honest there is no multinational companies. They are American companies spread over the world and have to do what America asks even If in another country.