Veterans Step Out Of Camouflage And Into The Renewable Energy Industry

newsweek.com:

You might think that Dan Leary, now 32, had other things to worry about when he decided he'd start a solar company. In 2005, while on active duty in the Kuwaiti desert, Cpt. Leary drafted a business plan to make solar panels. With the cost of oil increasing, he figured public and government interest in solar and renewable energy was set to amp up. "When you're actually sitting downrange, and you're looking at where oil comes from up close, you can see that this stuff is not sustainable," says Leary, who figured the MBA he earned before the military combined with his experience overseeing construction projects for the Army would help him transition back into civilian life.

Read the whole story: newsweek.com

Comments

[leevntheus]

Libertarian energy transformation. Screw Saudis. Save our country.

www.pevnet.com

[2morrowKnight]

This is great news! Great to hear that our veterans are getting gainful employment. As Green Jobs become plentiful under The Obama Administration, more Americans in community after community will get in on these largely recession industries.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Cap N Trade law will accelerate the rate of consumption of the world's natural gas supply. Natural gas produces less CO2 per generation of a watt than coal and therefore will be used up fast Cap N Trade will accelerate the depletion of the world's Natural gas. This is not good. Cap N Trade does not conserve the world's natural gas resources, it wastes them.

[Kalarchis]

So, your logic is: because natural gas produces less CO2 than coal, companies will scramble to gobble it up to meet the cap? But many renewables produce no CO2. Wouldn't companies rather be scrambling to make wind farms, then?

Let's say they choose not to because of the current prices of green tech, and use up all our natural gas. That's only MORE incentive to use renewables, since we're out of gas, but we'll never be out of sunlight (and with sun comes wind.)

I find your logic to be highly suspect.

[RomeoMD25]

If global warming is not man-made, not an impending disaster, and actually good for the earth, why are so many prominent people claiming the exact opposite?

The answer in two words is: money and power.

Those who promote the popular global warming disaster myth are rewarded with promotions, large grants, big book and video sales (like Al Gore's bestselling "An Inconvenient Truth" video), and more political power. The ideology of "impending global warming disaster" is indeed a very convenient lie for would-be power-seekers.

Literally billions of dollars (particularly from government) are pouring into the coffers of environmental groups which repeat the "global warming disaster" party line.

All of this money has resulted in the public being constantly bombarded by ever-more shrill forecasts of global warming doom and gloom. And it's getting worse. Schools are now indoctrinating children as young as five about the impending "global warming disaster." Posters in schools warn, "Your mommy and daddy are destroying the planet."

"Global warming" has become the new, politically-correct truth, and those who question it are increasingly denied access to the media, refused jobs, or are stigmatized as evil "destroyers of the earth."

[StoicRep]

This is backwards. Global warming was created to "share" energy with the developing nations, because production of oil would seriously lag behind demand. Today, demand far exceeds production, and it is a reason for the oil bubble. Demand exceeds production in many arenas because of the tripling of activity. We have triple the demand and triple the production of pollutants.

It is the aggressive companies that want to go ahead hells bells, and do this. Gore is right in there with the utility companies that want to place 45 trillion dollars of nuke power plants around the world. This, despite the serious shortage of Uranium 235 for these plants. He would have to create another crisis to get people to accept sharing the 235. If all the plants considered were built, there would only be a 15 year supply before everyone would run out.

[research]

Projection.

The pro human global warming are virtually all sincere,

The Deniers have an agenda paid for by big polluting coal and oil.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

That is simply not true. But falsehoods is what I learned to expect from the pro cap N trade supporters.

[StoicRep]

The increased industrialization, for which we are responsible, will more quickly drain away all the oil reserves, 3 times faster than before. So the competition for oil will increase.

The problem with solar panels is that it creates E-Waste. The panels are not recyclable. Everyone will have to pay to throw them away when they lose their output, and ... imagine all the waste produced globally.

[research]

Nonsense. Where did you get that idea?

Solar cells are recyclable. The reason it's not done much, is solar panels last 30 years. They are still working.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/solar-panels-recycling-recycled-europe.php

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/ecogeek/222/nanosolar-no-longer-vaporware.html

Thin film Film can easily stripped clean and the material reused.

[valkyrie607]

We can't do it all, so let's do nothing. Is that your solution?

Get out of the way. We have innovations to innovate, communities to repair, energy systems to design. Your defeatism is not only boring but dangerous.

[StoicRep]

I see no plans for reusing the silicon crystals, and redoping is impossible, isn't it?
I suppose they could reuse the glass, filled with exotic materials, for something else.

[research]

Silicon wafers are non-toxic.

http://mfc.engr.arizona.edu/safety/MSDS%20FOLDER/SUMCO%20wafers.pdf

All the materials are solids, no losses gases or liquids.

Recycling and "reclaiming" solar panels is not a problem.

If you have some counter evidences links to it.

[research]

Fantastic! These vets have seen first hand the wars for oil.

Human climate change or not,

rooftop solar is now the CHEAPEST electric source you can buy. (for appropriate locations and roofs)

SOLAR COST: 3 cents per KWH over 30 years.

1.85 per peak watt! retail!
http://www.atensolar.com/14.html
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_panels.htm

Do the math.

Go Vets!
See my profile for mo links and discussion.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Do the math.

How much did your 30 year loan cost? Interest rate?
How much did your home insurance rate go up when you included $30K additional insurance?
How do you guarantee (or insure) against lightning strikes frying your system you installed on the roof?
Do you honestly believe it will not need maintenance & repairs over 30 years?
You must have faith in the government to not ultimately tax or charge for the improved valuation during the next 30 years.
You must have faith that the government will not roll over for the electric companies and change the rules whereby they up the monthly hook up charge instead of fully increasing kilowatt hour rates..

[research]

Any power system you install will have to pay for a loan. Right now, interest rates from the FED are near zero, now is the time and historical low at the retail level. My total house payment for a 200k loan, including taxes and fees, cost my about 1500per month, so proportionally I would expect a 16k loan and home value increase in taxes, etcc, will cost about 120 per month. Before any governmnet subsidy help or exemption of solar panels from property taxes, and there ARE lots of programs to help, some will completely cover the entire cost for a system. You need to research your local situation and shop around. But Even using this raw unsubsidized loan cost, you still get 172$ of electricity per month at at the national average of 12 cents per KWH.California has peak rates over 30 cents per KWH. Electricity rates are likely to go up.

16K system should be enough for most homes to generates more power than they use. 1-2KW average.

Do you clean your roof? That's the normal required maintenance, you may have to replace you inverter after `10-15 years, by then inverters will be cheaper than stereos. You roof should last much longer too, since it will be shielded from most of the elements. A new roof cost at least 16k$.

[research]

I have more faith in a democratic governmnet, than I do in big banking and corporate interests. Unfortunately. the Obama DLC administration seem to be complete tools for the banking and business royalty.

So what? Do nothing because the Government Might scr$w it up? That's why I recommend it only for good locations and roofs, so there is a large finical gain from installing the solar.

[RomeoMD25]

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not pollution and Global Warming has nothing to do with pollution. The average person has been misled and is confused about what the current Global Warming debate is about, greenhouse gases. None of which has anything to do with air pollution. People are confusing Smog, Carbon Monoxide (CO) and the pollutants in car exhaust with the life supporting, essential trace gas in our atmosphere, Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Pollution is already regulated under the Clean Air Act and regulating Carbon Dioxide (CO2) will do absolutely nothing to make the air you breath “cleaner”. Regulating Carbon Dioxide (CO2) through either ‘Carbon Taxes’ or ‘Cap and Trade’ policies will simply make energy (electricity, gasoline, diesel fuel, propane, heating oil ect…) much more expensive and severely cripple the economy.

[sbrown80]

U r an id. CO2 is ok when there r alot of trees to take it in and turn it into oxyen. Unfortunately, there r not alot of trees so we r breathing in CO2 and not Oxygen

[iseebs]

Try to breath into a plastic bag for 30 seconds, this will give you an idea how healthy it is.
CO2 is necessary for the balance of our atmosphere to allow plants and animals (and humans) to live.
Too much leads to global warming,

By the way, there are a lot of other reasons to become oil independent besides reducing CO2 emission.

[valkyrie607]

Who is claiming that greenhouse gases have anything to do with smog? Whoever it is, you're right--they're misinforming people. But no credible scientist would ever claim that. I think you're the one who's confused. Or trying to confuse people.

[SonofLiberty1]

What you are saying makes you a poster child for an educational system that doesn't work.
Sadly, you were not taught to think.