News Roundtable: Presidential Election 2016 and What Will Trump Do? (Podcast)

The marathon Presidential election is over and Donald Trump is the next President. Join the podcast as Yann Brandt and Frank Andorka try to make some sense of what the election means to solar and how the industry did on the State level votes. Coverage includes what Trump’s moves could be on energy and votes in Arizona, Nevada and Florida. This is part 2 of 2.

News Roundtable: Presidential Election 2016 and State Solar Votes (Podcast)

The marathon Presidential election is over and Donald Trump is the next President. Join the podcast as Yann Brandt and Frank Andorka try to make some sense of what the election means to solar and how the industry did on the State level votes. Coverage includes what Trump’s moves could be on energy and votes in Arizona, Nevada and Florida. This is part 1 of 2.

Solar Is The Olive Branch President Trump Needs To Unify The Country

 By Yann Brandt; I am a pragmatic person. On Tuesday night before it was called I went to bed knowing I would make up to the news that Donald Trump would become the Country’s next President. I hold the office in high regard and though I differ on many policies, I will respect the office.

To my friends that voted for Trump and my friends that did not, let’s discuss the political reality. The GOP holds all three houses and with a nuclear option in the Senate can pass any legislation they want. I don’t know if the option will be triggered but it is there.

The other reality is that though we are all Americans. We are deeply divided. Millions more voted for someone other than Trump. It looks like Clinton will end up with more votes than Trump as well. All of that doesn’t matter. The electoral college is the rule of the game and that’s not going to change.

In the past when things were this divided there was an olive branch to the other party. Clinton had Cohen and Obama had Gates and Hagel for Defense as an example. I sincerely doubt that this will happen here but just throwing it out there that if we want a nation united then those in power should reach out.

Everyone knows that my passion is energy. Particularly the transition to a post fossil fuel energy system. A transition. I’ve been public about a need for diversified energy portfolio that operates in competitive markets. Nothing crazy or divisive about this. President Elect Trump does not have a personal passion about energy and the vacuum will be filled with oil and gas billionaires and Palin perhaps. If Trump wants to reach out to liberals, doing so on energy would go a long long way.

It wouldn’t even be controversial. Oil and gas doesn’t need any new regulations except for new leases that under Obama expanded an incredible amount. Coal is dying because it can’t compete because the price of gas is crushing coal. Coal is dying because utilities replaced their coal power plants with gas power plants. The oil embargo was lifted last year under Obama. Free markets will determine the cost and price of energy commodities that our power markets want. Corporations will go into the markets and choose the price and type of power they want. We can go further and deregulate the energy monopolies that are costing consumers billions. Because we know that free markets are either free or they are not free markets.

Why energy? Because it doesn’t matter who you voted for, you are likely to agree with me that we want more solar. That climate change exists and we should pollute less. National parks are treasures for everyone to enjoy and we shouldn’t drill for oil there. I know you agree because 84% of Trump voters want more solar. I know you agree because only 50% of Trump voters want more fracking.

So here is my commitment to playing my part. I will continue to advocate the way I do everyday through my newsletter, SolarWakeup. But I will go a step further. If the Trump administration wants to continue to push free markets to do what everyone wants, more solar, then I will join the effort if asked. I made the same offer to the Jeb! Team that I would join the administration to do more solar. I won’t be asked and it won’t be part of the administration’s mission but I would do my part.

The Solar Jobs Census Needs Your Help

 I need your help! Please get this information to your executives and HR departments. we need everyone around the Country to fill out the jobs survey. The importance cannot be understated especially now. Solar is a unifying issue in politics but we need more information to ensure the politicians are aware of the magnitude that this is reality.

Follow this link to the Survey:
http://bwresearch.com/pl/useer2


The Solar Foundation is working with the U.S. Department of Energy and BW Research Partnership on the United States Energy and Employment Report and our annual National Solar Jobs Census reports.

This year, the U.S.  Department of Energy is surveying the energy, energy efficiency, and motor vehicle business community to provide policy makers, business leaders and energy stakeholders with key information about these critical sectors of our economy. 

As in years past with our Solar Jobs Census, this confidential, voluntary survey will take between fifteen to thirty minutes of your time and will provide us the valuable feedback we need to ensure the needs of companies like yours are well understood by the Energy Department, other federal agencies, and energy stakeholders. 

Follow this link to the Survey:
http://bwresearch.com/pl/useer2

With detailed solar industry information in hand, these stakeholders will have the data to support this growing industry and address challenges that may exist.

Please be assured that your individual responses will remain strictly confidential.