The
first Sun Day was celebrated on May 3, 1978, when Jimmy
Carter was President. It was proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) and Rep.
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), then President. Carter threw his support behind it.
Before that first Sun Day, Carter created the Department of Energy and pushed tax
breaks for clean energy in 1977. Two years later, he famously put solar panels
on the White House roof, calling them a symbol of America’s future.
Sadly,
Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan, and during his two
terms, Reagan gutted the renewable energy programs, killed the tax incentives,
and in 1986 had Carter’s solar panels removed from the White House.
The
promoters of Sun Day 2025 hope to revitalize what Carter started nearly fifty
years ago.
Sun
Day 2025 will be celebrated on September 21, the day before
the autumnal equinox. Bill McKibben has been the primary proponent of Sun Day
2025, and his new book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the
Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, was released less than a month
ago.
McKibben
(b. 1960) is widely known as one of the leaders in the founding of 350.org in
2008. It quickly became the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change
movement.**
Nearly
ten years earlier, McKibben wrote The End of Nature, one of the earliest
warnings about climate change. That book of “dark realism” helped establish
McKibben as a leading voice in environmental activism long before he founded
350.org.
Now,
though, McKibben says on the first page of his new book, “for the first time I
can see a path forward. A path lit by the sun.” He concludes his Introduction
with these words: “Our species, at what feels like a very dark moment, can take
a giant leap into the light. Of the sun.”
So,
Sun Day 2025 especially stresses the importance of solar energy, although wind
energy is also acknowledged.
Solar
energy is widely considered the best form of clean energy
when factoring in both cost and limitless availability.
Regarding
cost, solar photovoltaic (the term that describes the process of converting
light directly into electrical voltage) is now less than half that of producing
electricity by fossil fuels. For homeowners, solar panels drop electricity
bills to near, or even below, zero during the hot summer months.**
Not
only is there an outstanding cost advantage, there is also an unlimited supply
of solar energy. The sun delivers more energy to Earth in one hour than
humanity uses in a year, and scientists indicate that that will continue to be
true for the next five billion years.
Moreover,
solar energy produces no negative impact on the environment. There are no
emissions of harmful substances, and neither is there any noise pollution. In
addition, there is minimal land disruption compared to wind farms (windmills/turbines
used for wind power).
Finally,
solar systems are quick to install, scalable (=easily able to be changed in
size or scale) from rooftops to utility-scale farms, and increasingly paired
with battery storage to provide power even when the sun isn’t shining. What
could be better than energy that is cheap, clean, abundant, and scalable?
Have
you taken the “giant leap into the light” that McKibben wrote about? If not,
isn’t now the time to do so? Indeed, we all need to latch on to this “last
chance for the climate” and this “fresh chance for civilization.”
_____
**
The name
350.org comes from McKibben’s view that
the world will not be safe from global warming unless the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere falls to 350 parts per million or below.
**
My wife and I had
solar panels installed on our house in 2019. This year, our electricity bills
for the summer months of June, July, and August combined showed that we were
given more than $26.50 of “overgeneration credit.” Thus, rather than paying
high electricity bills for air conditioning in addition to normal year-round
charges, we were paid for producing more electricity than we used. (Here
is a link to “Let’s Go Solar!”, the blog article I posted in February 2019.)
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The first, and so far the only, comments received regarding this morning's blog post are from Thinking Friend Virgina Belk in New Mexico:
ReplyDelete"Fred and I had solar panels installed late in 2024 and are reaping over production credits each month .We paid cash up front so there is no compound interest to drain our coffers. I also bought a portable solar system and solar powered generator, which is set up on the southern exposure area of the deck, so that when power goes out, we can keep the furnace, refrigerator and perhaps TV operational. I'm now saving regularly with the goal of eventually adding storage to our system. We received a generous tax credit on federal taxes last year."
Thanks for sharing this, Virginia. From what I just now learned, there will be tax credits also for storage systems installed this year--but not after 1/1/26.
Delete"Here is what Copilot says about that:
The 30% credit will disappear completely for residential systems starting in 2026, due to a legislative change signed into law on July 4, 2025.
"After that, homeowners who directly own their systems (via cash or loan) won’t be eligible for the credit anymore."
That's what happens when the U.S. has a President who thinks talk about global warming is a hoax
Here comes the sun in California.
ReplyDeleteThe following article appeared in my email inbox a few minutes ago:
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/california-first-canal-array-project-nexus
About 20 minutes ago I received the following email from Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago:
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for bringing up this topic.
"I am all for solar power as it is abundant and inexpensive, as you point out. Two new, large solar farms have just been erected north of Pontiac, IL, and I believe there is a third one north of Williamsville, IL, ironically next to a coal mine. The coal mine has evidently shut down as the slurry conveyor from the mine was recently dismantled.
"My concern is that China will greatly outpace the US in solar technology and in the production of efficient solar panels. The Trump regime instead wants to reopen coal-fired power plants, which produce costlier electricity and certainly pollute the air and water. Burning coal not only produces carbon dioxide, but other pernicious compounds such as sulphur dioxide and those containing certain heavy metals. With electricity demand expected to soar because of AI, data centers, and electric vehicles, it seems foolish to disinvest in green technology, yet this is precisely what the Trump regime is doing.
"We live in a condo building and it would be impractical to install panels on the roof of the building, but our 'adopted son,' George, has installed solar panels on the roof of his house, with good results. (George was Judy's student in middle school and she took him under her wing. He is now 40 years old and a Church of God in Christ pastor, among other things. He lives near the KC airport.)"
Here are comments from local Thinking Friend Bill Ryan"
ReplyDelete"Thanks for enlightening me about Sun Day, of which I was hitherto unaware. When I proposed solar panels to the administrator of our current living quarters the answer was, 'We can't afford that,' to which I replied, 'You cannot afford to not afford it.' Which brought silence."
We live with our daughter and son-in-law in the metro DFW area. And the sun do shine here! Solar panels on the roof go a long way toward paying the electricity bill. Solar panels on the house next door, and across the street, and . . . . There's a huge solar farm in Swisher County, Texas, my home county, which takes farm land out of production. But solar farms in the SW desert do not take agricultural land out of production. Solar energy is a win win situation. Maybe we can survive our current elective dysfunction and get with the program nationally, but unfortunately not yet.
ReplyDelete