Once again, DC is talking “solar” – alternative energy: consuming less fossil fuel, reducing emissions. It’s in President Bush’s new “Clear Skies” plan, but it’s hardly a new idea.
Solar panels were invented in the ’50s, and for decades, politicians have urged, with words, if not policy, moving towards so-called “clean” power. Yet few who got up this morning, showered, made toast and drove to work were any closer than folks 50 years ago to “harnessing the sun.”
Some say entrenched oil interests clog the halls of Congress, that a corporate conspiracy crushes promising new technologies. But photovoltaic panels are getting cheaper, and anyone who watched California struggle through blackouts last year knows there are benefits to getting off the grid.
Guests:
Dan Reicher, former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy with the Department of Energy
Steven Strong, founder and president of Solar Design Associates
Marianne Walpert, Director of Projects for Schott Applied Power.