Tell it to the US Council for Energy Awareness. The existence of Bell Labs was a bit of an aberration as AT&T was effectively a government-supported monopoly. They had a consent decree with the government to release innovations into the public domain so AT&T would not be broken up as a monopoly. In fact, since 1913 it had official recognition by the government as the natural telephone monopoly, until of course its breakup in the '70s.
Solar R&D was hardly private. You’re completely excluding things like the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Advanced Solar Energy Research and Development Division. I only haven’t mentioned things like the Atomic Energy Commission because that seems obvious, not that there is no solar analogue for these things.
When the US began rolling out large scale solar power plants in earnest, Walmart became the nation’s largest installer and purchaser.
Amazon is still the largest purchaser of solar. If the implication here is meant to be that solar’s biggest supporters are private, no state or federal department ever came close to being the largest installer and purchaser of nuclear power plants because there are absolutely no public-sector nuclear power plants. All builders are private. Westinghouse of Nikola Tesla fame has been the top builder for a very long time and was bought out by private equity (thanks to a bankruptcy, sure, but that bankruptcy can be blamed on Bush’s rugpull shortly after announcing long-term nuclear funding, the Great Recession, and Fukushima).
This is also to say nothing of
The US efforts at subsidizing solar are regularly stymied and gutted by conservative governments.
And yet, my point is, even they’re still subsidizing solar orders of magnitude more than nuclear! I am simply saying we should give it the fair chance before you can say that there really is no potential.
AT&T was effectively a government-supported monopoly
It was certainly a monopoly. But hardly government supported. The government has issued major sanction against the company no less than three times.
The Kingsbury Commitment, which forced AT&T to divest its stake in Western Union, stop acquiring competing independent local phone companies, and allow other companies to connect to its long-distance network
The 1956 Consent Decree, requiring AT&T to stay out of the emerging computer/data processing market and license its transistor patents royalty-free
The 1984 Bell System Breakup, which formally split the comment company eight ways.
Solar R&D was hardly private. You’re completely excluding things like the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Advanced Solar Energy Research and Development Division.
The NSF has always languished in funding and has historically failed to deliver major breakthroughs, much less any kind of physical rollout, of a public solar/wind energy grid.
If anything, it has operated as an echo chamber of the fossil fuel industry, downplaying the efficiency and ultimate profitability of a renewable grid.
Hardly a subsidy.
And yet, my point is, even they’re still subsidizing solar orders of magnitude more than nuclear!
Show me the solar powered submarine.
Show me the solar powered aircraft carrier.
Show me any meaningful federally contracted project to implement solar power for domestic or international consumption.
At the very least, I can point you towards Georgia’s Vogtle 3 and 4. Nothing like that exists in the renewable space.
Tell it to the US Council for Energy Awareness. The existence of Bell Labs was a bit of an aberration as AT&T was effectively a government-supported monopoly. They had a consent decree with the government to release innovations into the public domain so AT&T would not be broken up as a monopoly. In fact, since 1913 it had official recognition by the government as the natural telephone monopoly, until of course its breakup in the '70s.
Solar R&D was hardly private. You’re completely excluding things like the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Advanced Solar Energy Research and Development Division. I only haven’t mentioned things like the Atomic Energy Commission because that seems obvious, not that there is no solar analogue for these things.
Amazon is still the largest purchaser of solar. If the implication here is meant to be that solar’s biggest supporters are private, no state or federal department ever came close to being the largest installer and purchaser of nuclear power plants because there are absolutely no public-sector nuclear power plants. All builders are private. Westinghouse of Nikola Tesla fame has been the top builder for a very long time and was bought out by private equity (thanks to a bankruptcy, sure, but that bankruptcy can be blamed on Bush’s rugpull shortly after announcing long-term nuclear funding, the Great Recession, and Fukushima).
This is also to say nothing of
And yet, my point is, even they’re still subsidizing solar orders of magnitude more than nuclear! I am simply saying we should give it the fair chance before you can say that there really is no potential.
It was certainly a monopoly. But hardly government supported. The government has issued major sanction against the company no less than three times.
The NSF has always languished in funding and has historically failed to deliver major breakthroughs, much less any kind of physical rollout, of a public solar/wind energy grid.
If anything, it has operated as an echo chamber of the fossil fuel industry, downplaying the efficiency and ultimate profitability of a renewable grid.
Hardly a subsidy.
Show me the solar powered submarine.
Show me the solar powered aircraft carrier.
Show me any meaningful federally contracted project to implement solar power for domestic or international consumption.
At the very least, I can point you towards Georgia’s Vogtle 3 and 4. Nothing like that exists in the renewable space.