This is your SolarWakeup for February 7th, 2017

Jobs matter. Spare me the, Mr. President look at the jobs in the solar industry article, because money matters to the now 260,000 solar professionals. Solar Foundation’s National Solar Job Census is out this morning with staggering growth numbers. 44 out of 50 States had solar job growth and the industry grew over 25% once again. The best part is that over half of the jobs are installation jobs, these are hyperlocal and impact the economies that understand that solar cannot be outsourced and quality matters. This isn’t a race to the bottom where it counts and local officials should take notice. Take a look at the report highlights by visiting SolarJobsCensus.org.

Terminating the EPA. Imagine spending years in the Florida legislature riding your dad’s coattails. In Tallahassee, it gets decided pretty quickly if you make it to leadership and if you don’t and let’s just say Congressman Gaetz wasn’t picked first on the playground. He has a history of saying things to make headlines, once trying to accelerate death penalty implementation to hurry the meeting with god. As a freshman in DC, what better way to make waves with the Koch Brothers and be invited to lunch with Scott Pruitt than proposing a stupid bill. This is a PR effort, it’s working but it will not go anywhere.

The ‘e’ word? David Crane comes out wondering about the ‘e’ word. An oil embargo to be exact. What if? What if the response to the blunt speak from the oval office is to decrease the amount of oil being supplied to the US? What impact would it have? 40 years after the Carter embargo, we are in a different era. We produce A LOT of domestic fuel, our natural gas output is exponentially higher than the 70s and our electric grid has removed essentially all oil from the grid. Consumers would be I think, prices would ratchet up rather badly hurting the discretionary spending that fuels our economy.

Opinion

Have a great day!

Yann