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When the Sun Shines
North Miami Beach, FL April 25, 2001
Aaron H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then, Opinions pro or con are welcome.
WHEN THE SUN SHINES
I stand corrected. Only one of my readers wondered where I was when my
essays stopped arriving. Many responded to my petulance by reminding me
that I told everyone that I was shutting down on the occasion of my
brother-in-law's death. Carol chided me that I never told my readers that I
was resuming writing. I wonder why my readers read my mind?
When the sun shines we get a tremendous amount of cost free power dumped
down on us. In a time when states as big as California find they are going
broke trying to supply energy for homes and industry by burning fossil fuels
and building dangerous nuclear energy plants they ignore solar power. This
may be because our new president is beholden to the oil industry and wants
to help them out. The oil producers are not making enough money and it is
up to us to empty our pockets at the pump.
There is a small article in the Times today by a canny professor in
California who points to his solar panels that supply his electric needs.
He advocates spending billions to build new panels to harness the sun's
power and thus avert costly losses by individuals and industries in his home
state.
It is interesting that the SUNBELT - that southern tier of states across
our continent - gets the most sun most of the year. Despite a period when
the sun hides behind rain clouds, the sun rains down during long daylight
hours enabling us to use it, store it and do so at little or no cost -
relatively speaking.
Most will agree that the benefits of solar power would be nice to have but
most also are subject to inertia. A great many of us are used to bellying
up to the gas pump and being amazed at how those "A rabs" are adept at
picking our pockets. We have now gotten used to building behemoths on the
roadways that have mostly chased away the tiny European and Asian
sub-compacts that used to define our future. The "Green" cars that combine
electric and gas motors to give us 80+ miles per gallon can't compete. We
think we deserve to own an energy consuming economy that shames us when most
of the world lives in darkness and without transportation.
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
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