Act Now To Save Solar!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM!? Just whose side are they on?

ASES Action Alert

Dear ASES member,

We need to make sure that renewable energy receives the support of Congress. Unfortunately, it appears that this may not occur unless WE ACT NOW.

Speaker Pelosi has stated that before Congress adjourns on November 16th, it must pass an energy bill. Great so far.

On Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi decided to drop the renewable energy standard AND THE TAX TITLE out of the energy bill. Without the tax title there can be no extension of the investment tax credit for solar and no extension of the production tax credit for wind energy.

In short, this means that our Congressional Leadership is going to vote on an energy bill with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for renewable energy. Eliminating the pro-solar provision from the Energy Act of 2005 JUST AS THE SOLAR INDUSTRY IS STARTING TO RAMP UP. Likewise the elimination of the Production Tax Credit will halt new wind development.

THIS ON-AGAIN-OFF-AGAIN SUPPORT MUST STOP. TIME IS SHORT.

ASES, along with many others, wants to encourage you to pick up the phone and contact your congressional representatives. You can find their phone numbers here. Please call their Washington offices and tell your Representatives and Senators to demand that Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi include the 8-year extension for the solar investment tax credit and the production tax credit in the energy bill. Tell them that the challenges we face need to be addressed and these tax titles MUST be included.

Thank you for your support.

The American Solar Energy Society

P.S. The bill numbers are: Senate HR6 and House HR3221. Thanks again.

I don't see that changing, regardless of what Congress does or doesn't do.

Solar and wind are both nice but we need nuclear power if we want to be energy independent. Also we can reuse the nuclear waste for power.

welcome to DU.

US nuclear reactors use 62 million pounds of yellowcake each year.

US mines produce only ~2 million pounds per year.

When US stockpiles (currently maintained by imported uranium) are used up - the US will import >95% of its uranium.

It's either one of those two, or mine out our coal reserves. We've got plenty of that--using it just entails killing the planet.

Please don't talk to me about solar power. Anybody who has run the math can tell you it can't supply even a significant fraction of our energy demands without trillions in investment.

There are only two or three really practical sources of massive, reliable clean power: hydro, nuclear, and to a lesser extent wind. Only hydro and nuclear can produce gigawatt-level outputs continuously, which is a non-negotiable requirement for base-load power. Wind isn't as reliable, but still produces more energy, and more practically, than any other form of green energy in mass deployment. That might change when wave power gets going, but not yet.

and that is diesel, pet-coke and residual fuel oil used by peaking and intermediate load plants (that nukes cannot replace).

and we won't be dependent on Saudi Arabia - we'll just be shut out of the global uranium market by Japan, India and China...

Also the fact that ample clean energy would enable a whole new generation of electric vehicles, which would eliminate the need for oil-based fuels.

But you're right. For electrical generaton, it's between coal, hydro, and nuclear. And we can only build so much hydro.

US mines produce almost 5 million pounds of yellow cake a year, and the only reason that number is so low is because demand dropped significantly as a result of anti-nuke paranoia. If all the US mines that used to be open opened back up again, we'd have a much higher percentage of domestically mined fuel.