Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and also a groSolar customer, was on David Letterman on Tuesday night talking about climate change, putting solar on the White House and the future of our little planet.
Bill has been involved in climate change since the 80’s and even wrote the first book on the subject back in 1989. The past two decades have seen the largest increases in carbon output during human history. For the first 10,000 years of human civilization our atmospheric carbon was about 275 parts per million (ppm). Right now we are at 392 ppm. Most climate scientists agree that we need to be at 350 ppm (hence the name of Bill’s organization).
So why aren’t we doing anything to change? Have we become complacent? Or are there enough powerful special interests in the world who don’t want to solve this problem?
Check out Bill’s interview below (and have a tissue handy to wipe away the tears of despair).
groSolar CEO, Jeff Wolfe, will be presenting The Climate Project slideshow on public night of Solar Power International in October. The presentation will be held on Wednesday, October 13th from 6:00-7:30PM during Solar Power International in Los Angeles.
groSolar’s CEO, Jeff Wolfe, attended Intersolar in Germany this past spring and was interviewed by SolarPV.TV. Part One covers Jeff’s role in SEIA and development of the solar market in the US. Part Two covers growth of the US market and manufacturing.
There is no denying it – what happened last December in Copenhagen was disappointing. But although only a weak, non-binding agreement emerged from COP 15, the struggle for climate legislation is by no means over. In fact, as we watch more than 200,000 gallons of oil spill each day into the Gulf of Mexico, we have more proof than ever that we must continue the struggle.
Preparations and negotiations are well underway for COP16, where the Gulf spill must be used as a worldwide example to show how action on climate protection through legislation and treaty can create a pathway to the benefits of reduced fossil fuel use. We must use the spill as momentum to agree to an outline this year of what will become a binding international treaty to be concluded and signed at COP17 in 2011, in South Africa.
Since more than 40,000 people from 194 countries and 832 NGOs attended COP15 in Copenhagen, and similar numbers are expected for COP16 in Cancún, it is clear that climate legislation is a worldwide priority.
Free Market Solutions Aren’t Enough
Why is there such a push for government legislation instead of privately funded action in the free market? We have seen the incredibly strong efforts of some businesses that are working to combat climate change through renewable energy, recycling technologies, energy efficient appliances and more. Why is this not enough?
One problem with the “free market” system in the U.S. is that it only provides incentives for individual companies to maximize profits. Relying on these often legally-defined short-term profits restricts companies from taking action against many areas of climate change unless government regulation requires it. There are many important initiatives that cannot be driven through profit motive, since the profit (either to businesses or consumers) is too far in the future.
The nature of the “free market” is such that innovation in business will only provide solutions for which there are direct financial incentives. These incentives are binding governmental legislation. With legislation, individual businesses could provide better safety for drilling and transport, and stronger prevention measures for pipeline spills. With the right incentives, they could provide the necessary push to drastically reduce our use of oil, which is the only real way to greatly reduce the likelihood of future spills.
Though the Gulf spill is attracting lots of media attention at the moment, it is not the only oil-related disaster, or even the largest. Since 1969, spills in Nigeria have dumped as much oil every single year as what was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, causing extreme environmental and social upheaval. Using climate legislation as a vehicle to assist moving the world off oil is crucial for Nigeria and other underdeveloped countries whose individuals will suffer the most from climate change and environmental issues, and yet do the least to cause them and have the fewest resources to pay for them.
We need a legally binding treaty that will force oil companies to have working spill clean-up and prevention technologies and other companies to look for ways to drastically reduce our dependence on oil. And we must start here in America, where public support is high as we watch the damages caused by the Gulf spill.
The Gulf spill provides a clear example of privatized profit and socialized risk: there is much more private money to be made in drilling for oil than in preventing or even cleaning up spills, meaning that no truly effective technology has been developed to stop and clean up the spill. (While BP may blame the failure of every single planned solution and failsafe on accidents, we know that the energy and money that went into spill prevention and clean up technologies was significantly less than what went into new drilling technologies.)
The spill is disastrous to the local ecology and economy, including the enormous fishing and tourism industries along the coast, which have completely shut down, putting thousands of people out of work. But while we work to help the suffering environment and industry, we must also use the force of public opinion as a push towards legislation. Climate legislation would put a price on carbon, helping America and the world lessen its reliance on oil and reducing the number of future oil-related disasters. It might also provide incentive for the private sector to create better clean-up and prevention technologies in case those disasters do occur.
Recent polls show American public opinion strongly in favor of decreasing our reliance on oil and fighting climate change. Yet, without a financial signal that something must be done, changing the practices of most American businesses is very difficult. While the American public does not necessarily follow their pocketbook, price signals help do shift business actions. Climate legislation, with a price on carbon, will provide the signal, the financial incentive, and the culture-driving motivation.
We cannot see the end of our reliance on oil as an impossible feat. We must see it as possible and necessary, but understand that we need government regulation to assist the free markets by providing proper market signals. It is not too late to end our dependence on oil and reverse climate change, but we must act now.
America must be a leader of the movement with national climate legislation that will pave the way for governments of the world to follow. We must spread the word about the importance of this legislation and the long-term benefits for our country and planet. We demand that our Senators and Congressmen work to place America in a position of positive leadership for the COP 16 conference, prepared to lead the rest of the world towards a binding international climate treaty.
A friend of our CEO, Jeff Wolfe, sent this cartoon to him and boy does it speak volumes. Click on the picture below to see the full image size or Follow The Link.
“Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted;
only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realize that you cannot eat money.” -Cree Indian Proverb
We just ran across this picture of Jeff Wolfe with US Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, at Solar Power International ‘09. The pic is featured in a slideshow on the US Department of Labor website.
Greentech Media has written a nice feature about the upcoming autumn milestone of 10 gigawatts of solar installed in 2010. They asked me and a handful of my fellow solar industry comrades to reflect on the event. Here are my comments from Part 1, and you can see the full article here.
When we started in 1998, 10 gigawatts was not even a dream. We spoke in kilowatts. After we hired our first full-time sales person in 2005 (Bob Lewis, a real professional), we used to joke that someday we’d talk in megawatts (and then laughed, because we just had).
Before solar, I was a consulting engineer, and I designed hospitals and laboratory facilities. A rough calculation indicated that the buildings I was involved with would take about 100 megawatts of solar to operate year-round. So that was what my ’super stretch goal’ became. I thought that if I could install that in a long career, well, I’d be way off the charts. Now, not only does it look like groSolar will hit that mark, sooner rather than later (2011? 2012?), that goal is no longer crazy or unimaginable.
It is heartening to me to be part of the broad leadership that is moving us toward a solar future. It is also frustrating that we are only now reaching the 10 gigawatt mark, and that we still are not seeing, especially in the U.S., the groundswell in cultural perception needed to truly transform the industry, and thus the energy industry, and thus the world. OK, it is a big job, but naiveté has gotten me this far!
Of course, when we get to the 10-gigawatt mark, I’ll need to remember to say “Yay!” When we were a young company, we used to celebrate every single kilowatt sale, every half-kilowatt sale. A 3-kilowatt sale would give us at least part of the afternoon off. Now, we sell a megawatt project and I try to send a brief email to let others know about it.
As we move into gigawatts, it appears that the ball is getting bigger, and the hill steeper. I am looking forward to the day when the slope levels out, but I doubt it will come very soon. This is my way of saying, celebrate the success, but don’t rest on the laurels for one second. Unlike many industries, there are those who would happily see us fail, and would gladly assist us in failing.
Let’s develop a new goal for the industry. Is it 100 gigawatts by 2020? Seems too low, as that would be less than 10 gigawatts per year. So is it 1000 gigawatts by 2020? That’s less than doubling each year, but still impressive. (But is it beyond the speed of transformative events?) Don’t set it too low; we need solar to hit stretch goals, because that’s where solar solves some problems. Below that, it’s just a nice side industry.
groSolar invites our dealers to National Zep Week! April 19th through 23rd we will travel the country introducing you to Zep Solar, the rackless mounting/grounding system. We’ll be conducting 12 training events across the United States. View the full schedule and find out more about Zep Solar at: http://groSolar.com/zepsolar
groSolar Dealers receive an early bird discount if you register by April 5th!
groSolar CEO, Jeff Wolfe, testified at the US Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee hearing on Green Jobs and the New Economy this morning. Jeff’s full testimony can be seen in an earlier post. The full webcast of the hearing can be viewed here.
