Ed. Note: The author is a solar technologist and founder/CEO of SunDanzer, a free-market, off-grid solar company based in Tuscon, Arizona. Jigar Shah is director of the $400 billion Loan Programs Office in the U.S. Department of Energy.
Dear Jigar:
We both have a passion for solar and renewable energy to succeed in the marketplace, and we both have progeny that will inherit the environment after we are gone. Leaving them a better place—ecologically, fiscally, and otherwise—is our North Star. This can be done with wisdom, skill, and compassion.
Massive annual budget deficits and record accumulated national debt are getting worse by the day. The annual deficit is now $1.8 trillion (FY 2024), despite a 11 percent increase in tax receipts. FY 2025 is shaping up to be worse.…
“On-grid solar is a perfect storm for taxpayers: concentrated benefits for the industry, diffuse cost for ratepayers and taxpayers, and a strong positive public sentiment for solar created by energy Malthusians.”
I have been a passionate solar energy enthusiast since I was 13 years old. My 8th grade science project was a solar powered car. I read everything I could about fuels cells, solar cells, microwave beaming solar-powered satellites, battery chemistry, ocean thermal energy, wind power, and compressed gas storage.
In college, I studied engineering focusing on solar energy. I now run a solar company in Tucson, AZ which I started 16 years ago. SunDanzer Refrigeration designs, manufactures, and sells solar-powered refrigerators for off-grid use and vaccine storage. My solar refrigerator design was recently selected as NASA’s Commercial Invention of the Year for 2011.…
“On-grid solar is a perfect storm for taxpayers: concentrated benefits for the industry, diffuse cost for ratepayers and taxpayers, and a strong positive public sentiment for solar created by energy Malthusians.”
I have been a passionate solar energy enthusiast since I was 13 years old. My 8th grade science project was a solar powered car. I read everything I could about fuels cells, solar cells, microwave beaming solar-powered satellites, battery chemistry, ocean thermal energy, wind power, and compressed gas storage.
In college, I studied engineering focusing on solar energy. I now run a solar company which I started 13 years ago in Tucson, Arizona. SunDanzer Development designs, manufactures, and sells solar-powered refrigerators for off-grid use and vaccine storage. My solar refrigerator design was recently selected as NASA’s Commercial Invention of the Year for 2011.…