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.
Tag Archives: Trump
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 Clinton And Trump Supporters Venn Diagram of Agreement
When it comes to an overlap of issues that both Clinton and Trump supporters agree on, the issues are limited. Issues on energy are no different and show a large divergence on all fossil fuel issues but there is some agreement. In a poll conducted from August 16th to September 12th by Pew Research, 1,324 registered voters were asked about their support regarding coal, fracking, nuclear, wind and solar.
Mr. Trump has been very supportive of coal, in particular clean coal, that it comes up during debates and is a standard part of his stump speech. The effort goes to reach out to voters that support coal and his polling is supported by Pew. In this poll, supporters were the most polarized. 69% of Trump supporters are in favor of more coal while 22% of Clinton fans.
Contrary to what utilities have been doing across the US, supporters start to align on their favorability when it comes to fracking and nuclear. Natural gas and nuclear power are the primary increases in ratebase spending by utilities. The support for fracking and nuclear energy barely surpass the 50% levels.
Social experiments can be a nice way to prove that polling works. A solar company attended a Trump rally with a simple message, build a wall…of solar panels on your roof. There was little disagreement from Trump supporters on having more solar. Numbers back up the video with 91% of Clinton supporters and 84% of Trump supporters favoring expansion of solar.
As the electorate gets together on an issue, the movement ends up in the political arena. National Geographic covered the influence that the utilities yield in State Capitols and remain powerful but these kinds of polls can only go to further the political will of legislators to go where the voters already are. Much like the support for coal is so strong, the support for solar may begin to transcend party lines.
Trump Believes That Solar Has A 28 Year Payback, Modules Last 10 years
In a speech in Golden, CO, Trump said this about solar. Clearly he is mistaken about solar and it was not vetted by the campaign, because here is the script that showed on the teleprompter. You can see the speech here, renewable energy starts at 31:48. According to Trump, solar panels last 10 years and payback is 28 years.
