After years of foot dragging and renewables prevention strategies by the Bush Administration and all the Big Fossil, Inc. Republicans, the U.S. has finally become one of the top three global solar photovoltaic nations in the world, along with Germany and China.
The U.S. will be installing 4.3 GW of solar pv this year, more than doubling the cumulative total of around 4 GW that was in place at the end of 2011.
When Obama and the Dems took charge, the U.S. was a veritable hinterland in regards to solar power. Now, a mere 3 years later, the U.S. is finally and rapidly en route to becoming the solar power powerhouse that it should have been all along:
Americas PV Market Grew 120% in First Half of 2012; USA to Become 3rd Largest Market in 2012
Date: 22 August 2012
The Americas photovoltaics (PV) market more than doubled in the first half of 2012 to reach 1.7 Gigawatts (GW) and is set to reach almost 4.3 GW for the full year according to the Q3 PV Demand Report from IMS Research (recently acquired by IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS)). Installations grew by more than 120 percent in the first half of this year and will help drive the global PV market to grow by at least 3 GW in 2012, according to the research firm.
http://www.pvmarketresearch.com/...
The amazing thing here is that this is the third straight year in which solar pv has more than doubled in the U.S., yet the total installed this year will be more than the cumulative total installed in all prior years:
2011 Q4 U.S. Solar Market Insight Key Report Findings:
PV installations grew 109% in 2011 to reach 1,855 MW, which represents 7.0% of all PV globally, up from 887 MW and 5.0% of global installations in 2010.
Cumulative PV capacity operating in the U.S. now stands at 3,954 MW.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/...
This would be an amazing growth rate in any industry and, in addition to being a huge, positive sign in our attempts to combat global warming and achieve energy independence, it has another very important impact:
JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!
Electricity generated from solar pv creates more jobs than any other energy source. According to a Berkley study from 2009, solar pv creates up to 8 times as many job years per produced Gw/H as electricity production from coal and natural gas.
http://rael.berkeley.edu/...
Mit Romney's response to all of this is to tell a big whopper of a lie by stating that "studies of Europe's green job experiments have found that each new green job destroys several other jobs elsewhere in the economy." It's no surprise that the Big Oil, Inc. Koch Brothers pledged to organize hundreds of millions of dollars for the Romney Campaign shortly after Romney penned that big lie in an op-ed.
Make no mistake about it, the encouraging, amazing, fantastic growth rates in renewables that we are currently seeing would not be happening if the Dems and President Obama had not put policies in place to support them and finally lifted many of the roadblocks that had been kept in place by the Bush Administration.
The choice we face this November is between a Big Oil and Big Fossil funded group of Republicans that will do all they can to balloon the profits of their big, corporate funders and a President and group of Democrats who will continue to support renewable energy.
It is absolutely crucial that we do everything in our power to make sure that we can continue on this path to a clean energy future.
Our country, our health, our planet depend on it.