General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUn-friggin-believable. Now Fox cedes Solar Energy to Germany - This is the Apex of Stupid
Fox News Claims Solar Won't Work in America Because It's Not Sunny Like Germany
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/07/fox_news_expert_on_solar_energy_germany_gets_a_lot_more_sun_than_we_do_video.html
Just another sun-soaked afternoon in Pillnitz, eastern Germany.
Thanks to Fox News and its expert commentators, millions of Americans now understand the real, hidden reason why Germany's solar-energy industry is so much further along than ours. Turns out it has nothing to do with the fact that Germany's government has long supported the industry far more generously, with policies like feed-in tariffs that stimulate investment in green technologies. No, the real reason is much simpler, explained a trio of journalists on Fox & Friends: It's always sunny in Germany!
"The industry's future looks dim," intoned host Gretchen Carlson at the beginning of the segment, which was preserved for posterity by the liberal blog Media Matters for America. She and her co-host went on to ridicule Obama's "failed" solar subsidies, adding, "The United States simply hasn't figured out how to do solar cheaply and effectively. You look at the country of Germany, it's working out great for them." Near the end of the segment, it occurred to Carlson to ask her expert guest, Fox Business reporter Shibani Joshi, why it might be that Germany's solar-power sector is doing so much better. "What was Germany doing correct? Are they just a smaller country, and that made it more feasible?" Carlson asked.
Joshi's jaw-dropping response: "They're a smaller country, and they've got lots of sun. Right? They've got a lot more sun than we do." In case that wasn't clear enough for some viewers, Joshi went on: "The problem is it's a cloudy day and it's raining, you're not gonna have it." Sure, California might get sun now and then, Joshi conceded, "but here on the East Coast, it's just not going to work."
Gosh, why hasn't anyone thought of that before? Wouldn't you think that some scientist, somewhere, would have noticed that the East Coast is far less sunny than Central Europe and therefore incapable of producing solar power on the same scale?
There is more, and a video of it at the link above.
I'm off to shake my head some more, after all I grew up mostly freezing in "sunny" Germany.
Dalai_1
(1,301 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)To think I imagined rain for 7 years.
Mira
(22,380 posts)but it has sunk into my gut. They eat stupid pills by the ton.
I have always thought a good German day was overcast, a little rainy, and chilly. Anything else was a gift from God. As a matter of fact I finally figured out a few months ago why the German gardens are more lush and colorful than ours here on the East Coast of the US of A: rain, and not a lot of brutal sun to scorch, dry and burn.
The acres of solar panels that are in some fields, and the panels on the houses work. In spite of the scarcity of sunny days.
Many people sell the surplus they create on their roof tops to the power companies.
They have found architectural ways to allow the panels to blend into even the most quaint old villages and towns.
The fact that this "news" cast even aired is sickening because there are those who believe it, and think that now they "know" something valuable that allows them to not progress.
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)They'll still believe it because Faux News told them so. Willful ignorance.
Just unreal and so very depressing, but you're right.
"...think that now they "know" something valuable that allows them to not progress."
Blanks
(4,835 posts)To evaluate the hypotheses that Fox News viewers will believe anything they're told.
Anyone want to take bets?
IggleDoer
(1,186 posts)Don't they have all those oil fields ...
They should be self-sufficient and drain all the world's solar power.
hogwyld
(3,436 posts)utilizing those vast sunny deserts that they have over there. Hate to break it to Faux, but solar works when it's cloudy as well...
niyad
(113,329 posts)I turned it upside down. I looked for the switch. But it is NOT the Onion.
I suppose because I am an immigrant from Germany this is making me a bit rabid.
JBoy
(8,021 posts)pampango
(24,692 posts)Let's unpack this a bit, because energy policy is awfully important, and anyone who watched the Fox segment might be confused right about now.
First, Germans do not get more sun than Americans. In fact, every American state other than Alaska gets far more sun every year than Germany does. Fox's report had this backwards.
Second, the Obama administration's subsidies to the solar industry haven't failed; they've vastly improved domestic solar output and expanded the industry's reach. So, Fox's report had this backwards, too.
And third, if anyone who cares about reality wants to know the real reason Germany's solar industry is ahead of ours, it's because the German government has invested heavily in environmental technology. Indeed, Max Greenberg's report flagged this Bloomberg Businessweek report from a few months ago.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/08/16899707-germany-isnt-sunnier-than-the-us
Mira
(22,380 posts)I have slowly calmed down without it, but this brings my blood pressure back to normal.
niyad
(113,329 posts)as in the alpine desert of colorado, where we have THREE HUNDRED days of sunshine a year?
please, go crawl back in the hole with punxatawney phil.
ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)Someone correct me if I'm wrong but isn't New Jersey among the highest ranking states in the use of solar energy in the country? Wait, I'll look it up...
Here we go: SEIA
Guess none of that sun NJ enjoys makes it across the border into New York...