“Passed legislation to promote “on-bill financing” that allows customers to purchase wind or solar systems and pay the cost over time on their electric bill. Burlington, Vermont will be the site of the nation’s first pilot program”

Here are some of my thoughts about how the low and middle income families can get on the solar power bandwagon:

I sent a copy of this ambitious, but doable, proposal to switch to 100% renewable energy

Liberty Ship example of doable switch to 100% Renewable Energy

http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php?topic=478.msg27687#msg27687

Snippet:

Today, several countries have, as do we, a much greater industrial capacity (than in WWII when Liberty ships were massed produced at the rate of one every 42 days!) .
It is inaccurate to claim that we cannot produce sufficient renewable energy devices in a decade or so to replace the internal combustion engine everywhere in our civilization.
The industrial capacity is there and is easily provable by asking some simple questions about the fossil fuel powered ICE status quo:

How long do ICE (internal combustion machine) powered machines last?

How much energy does it require to mine the raw materials and manufacture the millions of engines wearing out and being replaced day in and day out?

What happens if all that industrial capacity is, instead, dedicated to manufacturing Renewable Energy machines?

IOW, if there is a ten to twenty year turnover now in our present civilization involving manufacture and replacement of the ICEs we use, why can’t we retool and convert the entire ICE fossil fuel dependent civilization to a Renewable Energy Machine dependent civilization?

1) The industrial capacity is certainly there to do it easily in two decades and maybe just ten years with a concerted push.

2) Since Renewable Energy machines use less metal and do not require high temperature alloys, a cash for clunkers worldwide program could obtain more than enough metal raw material without any additional mining (except for rare earth minerals – a drop in the bucket – compared to all the mining presently done for metals to build the ICE) by just recycling the ICE parts into Renewable Energy machines.

3) Just as in WWII, but on a worldwide scale, the recession/depression would end as millions of people were put to work on the colossal transition to Renewable Energy.

However, despite our ability to transition to 100% renewable energy, we “can’t do it” because the fossil fuel industry has tremendous influence on the worldwide political power structure from the USA to Middle East to Russia to China.

In other words, it was never

1. An energy problem,

2. A “laws of thermodynamics” problem,

3. A mining waste and pollution problem,

4. A lack of wind or sun problem,

5. An environmental problem,

6. An industrial capacity problem or

7. A technology problem.[/color]

Every single one of the above excuses for claiming Renewable Energy cannot replace Fossil Fuels are strawmen presented to the public for the express purpose of convincing us of the half truth that without fossil fuels, civilization will collapse.

It was always a political problem of the fossil fuel industry not wanting to relinquish their stranglehold on the world’s geopolitical make up.

It drives them insane to think that Arizona and New Mexico can provide more power than all the oil in the Middle East. Their leverage over lawmakers and laws to avoid environmental liability is directly proportional to their market share of global energy supplies.

They are threatened by Renewable Energy and have mobilized to hamper its growth as much as possible through various propaganda techniques using all the above strawmen.

End of snippet

Full Liberty ships article here:
http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php?topic=478.msg27687#msg27687

to Senator Sanders, which prompted this e-mail to me:

Email from Senator Sanders‏

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Senator@sanders.senate.gov)

8/07/13

Dear Mr. G. Gelbert:

Thank you for contacting me about renewable energy. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to you on this topic.

I am one of the strongest supporters in the Congress for moving to renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass. We must transform our energy system away from polluting fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy. Doing this will cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to dangerous global warming, and will help create good-paying jobs.

My work in the Congress has focused on eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, strengthening incentives for renewable energy, and enacting comprehensive climate change legislation that would put a price on carbon pollution and invest in clean technologies.

To lay out a real plan for transforming our energy system, I have introduced with Senator Barbara Boxer the Climate Protection Act. This bill, and a companion bill called the Sustainable Energy Act, would put a price on carbon pollution, and use a portion of the revenue to help invest in weatherization and renewable energy technologies. This legislation builds on progress we have already made.

As a member of both the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I have also focused on the following renewable energy issues:

· Helped create the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program that has funded billions of dollars in energy efficiency retrofits around the country.

· Passed legislation to promote “on-bill financing” that allows customers to purchase wind or solar systems and pay the cost over time on their electric bill. Burlington, Vermont will be the site of the nation’s first pilot program.

· Worked with members of both parties to introduce the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act, which would help reduce the cost of solar arrays for the roofs of homes and businesses.

· Secured financing for a 1.45 megawatt solar energy project at the Vermont Air National Guard base at Burlington International Airport. This system saves the National Guard hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs every year.

· Introduced the End Polluter Welfare Act, which will eliminate billions of dollars in government subsidies for fossil fuel production.

· Support the Clean Air Act, increased vehicle fuel economy, and the crucial tax credits that help new sustainable energy businesses grow.

Again, thank you for contacting me about this important issue. Feel free to contact me again in the future about this or any other subject of interest to you, or for up-to-date information on what my office is working on please visit http://www.sanders.senate.gov. While there, I invite you to sign up for my e-newsletter, the Bernie Buzz, at http://sanders.senate.gov/buzz/. Please be aware that due to security screening procedures, postal mail to my office experiences delays that will lengthen the time it takes me to get back to you. The fastest way to contact my office is by calling 1-800-339-9834.

Sincerely,

BERNARD SANDERS
United States Senator

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