JT going over the fine details on why Capitalism isn't going to make climate change better, even green capitalism (like anyone here really needed to know)
JT going over the fine details on why Capitalism isn't going to make climate change better, even green capitalism (like anyone here really needed to know)
Have't watched this video yet, but here are my thoughts on the subject.
My job is commercial solar sales. I drive around to small-medium businesses, mostly light industry (steel fabricating, wire extrusion, stone cutting, paper products, etc). Single sites with relatively high energy draw. I usually meet directly with the owner of these businesses, because they are pretty small. I make a very straightforward case: for a not insignificant upfront cost, I will put extremely low maintenance hardware on your roof. Between tax and energy savings, the system will pay for itself in 4-6 years. For three decades past that, it will power your building for free. It's an absolute no-brainer idea.
Almost nobody goes for it. These small business dipshits are psychologically incapable of thinking to even that medium term, and the immediate necessity of quarterly growth means smart, long term investments are simply inconceivable. The solar is cheap. The work is easy. The hardware lasts basically forever. The deal is very good. These businesses are in a constant state of precarity, and that drives their owners into a financial paranoia where they have to extract maximum value now, before the whole thing goes bust. They cut costs, they drive away experienced and effective workers, and they make their situation more precarious, driving the vicious cycle.
It's nice when I occasionally sell a substantial array. It has a bigger climate impact than all the lifestyle changes I and 100 other people could make, and I take genuine pride in that. Yet it's a constant uphill battle - despite the braindead economics of it - because capitalists are fucking awful at capitalism.
We are slowly cutting emissions in the US, going through a snails-pace transition to green energy. With a modicum of central planning, the transition could be fast, aggressive, and drive massive economic growth. We are crippled by short termism.
As a homeowner who gets solar panel salesmen every other week, the reason i haven't sprung for it is because it feels like a scam. I don't wanna read 50 pages of legal paperwork to figure out the conditions under which i may or may not be liable for damages and other shit that can go wrong.
It's way easier to just say "no" or hide behind the curtain when you see salespeople because 90% of them are selling snake oil. Either that or trying to get you to sign something that states you owe them $750 six years from now for some reason because you don't keep a lawyer on retainer to read a contract for a newspaper subscription.
A ton of home solar companies, the kind that do door-to-door, are scammy for sure. The solar system you end up with is generally fine, but the sales process has two main problems. First, they want to get you in on some kind of hyper-aggressive financing or indirect ownership scheme, which means your savings are basically negated and you ownership is tenuous or nonexistent - not something you want for hardware permanently affixed to your roof and electrical system. Second, they are usually sales-only companies that contract out to a third party builder. That means that once you buy from them (at an inflated rate so both companies can profit) they cut and run and you're left with a totally different company to actually complete the work.
My company does residential as well as commercial, but we don't really have any outside sales pipeline for that. People call in, we negotiate a price, and then we build the system for them. We don't do any financing on that front - you figure out how to pay for it, you own it, we do maintenance. That's relatively unusual.
Dude if you came to South Africa with our energy and electricity crisis, you'd make bank. Everyone here wants a solar system with inverters and batteries now.
:an-eco-heart: Public works and central planning are a must. :an-eco-heart:
This has always been my intense point of skepticism. Nothing in this country is built to last 30 years anymore. You show up with a piece of hardware that's supposed to last 30 years and I'm going to assume its scrap in 15.
That's just been my life as an American consumer. My phone can't last three years. My headphones can't last three months. I just can't convince myself that this tech exists.
Reasons why I haven't pitched my emoyer on solar. When I pitch costs i usually do it by quarter.
Can you convince them to take out a loan for it?
I certainly try, but with current interest rates and available length of loans, most are understandably iffy about it. Small businesses tend to have shoddy credit, and if they don't it's because they don't take out loans. Big businesses are ready to take out loans, but they're a small part of my customer base and move extremely slowly. Most successful sales are somebody who has cash in the bank or qualifies for the USDA's big green energy grant, REAP.
what about condos and such? do apartment buildings in cities make up for better clientele?
Not really. Condo associations are non-profits, and so they don't have the money. Apartments usually don't pay their tenants electricity bills, so they don't have incentive for it. Plus, tall buildings have very low available roof space relative to energy usage.
strange. here the condos also pool money for general improvements and i'd think that splitting it 20+ times wouldn't hurt the monthly contributions. we've considered buying panels here but we only have 6 families to work with and our building is old enough where there's other priorities.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65602519