I remember a ‘solar’ company near my office outside of Sacramento, Kalifornia. I would drive by their office/workshop at least twice a day, sometimes much more on days I was out in the field. They strongly advertised State and Federal $$$. About a week after the $$$ ended, there was no trace of the company; no signs, no cars, trucks, vans. It was as if they never existed. Without State and Federal $$$, it would never had existed in the first place. There was/is no ‘market’ for this without taking $$$ from the private sector. All of us paid for the few that bought into this insanity. Just look down the street where you live. Everyone paid for a few to have it. When the solar panels fail, or just need service, will the few visit their neighbors and demand more $$$. The company that, for a while, existed, is not there. Whoever benefited from the State and Federal $$$ is probably in the Bahamas, and the Oval Office
We have only drilled a few miles into the Earth. We already know of many hundred years of oil, coal, and natural gas. Every year, in country after country, we discover more and more huuuuge deposits of hydrocarbons. Germany is dismantling a wind farm because underneath the windmills is a large amount of coal. In the dead of winter, whether or not the wind is blowing, coal can provide direct heat, and electricity.
The Sun provides direct heat in the summer. It can provide some electricity during daylight, as long as clouds stay away. Several times in the past volcanoes have blocked the Sun for 1-2-? years. Even in the dark we can drill for oil and natural gas. Not very long ago Chicago and New York were under a mile of ice. The Great Cold will return. The Earth has been in a pattern of long periods of cold, with shorter periods of warmth. The best questimates are 100,000 years of cold, with 10-15,000 years of warmth. There is nothing we can do to stop the cold, but we can adapt. The more we drill, the more hydrocarbons we find. The deeper we drill, the more we find.
**I used the term ‘questimate’ above on purpose. We humans live such short lives, we do not have exact data on this long-cold/short-warm pattern. Ice core samples let us know that this pattern is a fact. The exact length of the cold and warmth is not known today. It may be that each warm period is not exact.
As we spread out into the cosmos we will use the hydrocarbons on planets, moons and asteroids. The moon Titan orbiting Saturn has oceans of hydrocarbons. In the first Alien movie, the space vehicle Nostromo was depicted towing an enormous refinery. They had mined hydrocarbons on planets and asteroids. Science fiction will become science fact, as long as the Fauci’s and AlGore’s are kept away.
“About a week after the $$$ ended, there was no trace of the company; no signs, no cars, trucks, vans.”
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I suspect we will see more of that. “Take the money and run”! Much like Solyndra.
What happened to Solyndra? “In September 2011 the company ceased all business activity, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, Title 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, and laid off all employees. The company was also sued by employees who were abruptly laid off. Solyndra was raided by the FBI investigating the company.”