One of the things about the push to build solar, along with other “alternatives” (when the actual projects aren’t actually being blocked by hardcore enviros), is that they are expensive, and the increased cost in energy will harm the poor and middle class. Interestingly, the hardcore Warmist, George Soros funded, Joe Romm website Climate Progress agrees, and says we should Do Something
Low-Income Communities Might Need Solar More Than Anyone Else
Solar power has been criticized for helping the wealthy and punishing the poor. Some groups — largely, it should be noted, utilities and advocacy groups funded by fossil fuel interests — say only affluent people can afford solar, leaving less-affluent people to pay more than their share for the grid.
Who receives most of the benefits when it comes to expensive solar power? The rich. Who benefited from all the money thrown towards building solar from all the stimulus programs passed by Democrats? The rich. Who can afford to pay the increased cost for solar energy, both at the base energy level and with the following cost of living increase? The rich. Who suffers? Those who are barely making ends meet in the first place. Those who are on fixed incomes. Those who are middle and lower class.
Who benefits most from affordable energy? The poor and middle class. Seems like this push for solar is for The Rich. It’s easy for them.
But there are some basic impediments to getting every low-income community to go solar. The challenge is in the financing. For starters, many of the financing programs for rooftop solar are only available to people who own a home.
And, typically, those who are poor and middle class cannot afford that high cost to install solar, nor will the building owners generally pony up tens of thousands of dollars for installation, which would mean a rent increase. The Warmists can spin this all they want, but, it is bad for the lower and middle classes at this time. Instead of pissing money away and raising the cost of living for citizens, why don’t these Warmist groups dump their own money into research and development? Without massive government subsidies…not tax breaks, but actual subsidies…solar cannot sustain itself. Why is everything from Progressives about harming the middle and lower classes in practice?
I live in a fairly affluent neighborhood and there are a lot of houses with solar. It makes sense for some people with $1000/month electricity bills to spend $25K on solar to reduce their bills by $500/month or more. This is sunny California so we get a lot of photons. Of course there is “free solar”, but however you finance it, it costs a lot of money. Mininum outlay for me was $13K if I installed it myself, and it would take 9-10 years to recoup the costs in energy savings.
So now let’s ask someone living paycheck to paycheck to sign up for a $20K debt obligation. Someone who is underwater on their home loan because the government determined that it was “good” for poor people to own homes and made it possible for them to borrow money that they couldn’t afford to pay back after the initial low interest rate expires. They’ll soon be voting for a socialist who promises to get them out of their onerous debt burden. Leftist policies lead to leftist solutions which leads to economic collapse. The Venezuela Solution.
My brother does home inspections in an urban area. The houses are a joke. Foundations are propped up on cinder blocks, roofs are falling apart, walls patched with stolen boards, wild animals nesting in attics, electricity is routed through whatever scrounged wires twisted together, sometimes stolen from neighbors, incredibly dangerous heating kludges, beams held up with wire. Why would someone who keeps their home like that spend $20K on solar? Who would install it on a dilapidated roof? What electrician would wire it in to a dangerous mess of wires? What business would finance it for a 15-year obligation? Not to mention that the citizens are often hostile to outsiders and the neighborhoods are dangerous to work in. They have to sell or refi their house, but in their ignorance they view the necessary home inspector with hostility and contempt, like he’s a racist member of an occupying enemy force, so they chase him away.
So yeah, lets start a program to give them all solar. We all know how this is going to turn out.