Noel Cass, Research Fellow at University of Leeds, views himself as the purveyor of truth and goodness and his critics (me, in particular) as conflicted, wrong, and “evil.” His bio reads in part:
I am a researcher focussing on the social and political aspects of energy systems and everyday life. I have researched areas including environmental audits of organisations, tourism and travel, everyday life and travel practices, public engagement with renewable energy technologies, the ethical implications of nuclear power and options for radioactive waste management, the social exclusion implications of transport policies on congestion and climate change, climate change policy in local authorities in the UK, the energy demands of the built environment, later focussing on office building designs, and the implications of changing office work practices.
A recent exchange between Cass and me is worth memorializing as a data point in the intellectual battle between critics and supporters of the climate narrative of doom-and-gloom and the magical thinking of an “energy transformation” from fossil fuels to wind, solar, and batteries.…
Continue Reading“Environmental progress should produce benefits people can recognize in their businesses, households, and communities. It should make economic sense. And it should respect the energy systems that make modern life possible, even as we work to improve them.”
In 2002 when I was a vice president of Orion Energy Systems, I was questioned by a Wisconsin senator at an energy event. That encounter became the starting point for what I then called practical environmentalism to describe Orion’s Energy Efficiency efforts: an approach that sought to put good energy policy, economic development, and environmental improvement on the same side of the ledger.
The phrase expressed a conviction that has stayed with me. Environmental progress should produce benefits people can recognize in their businesses, households, and communities. It should make economic sense. And it should respect the energy systems that make modern life possible, even as we work to improve them.…
Continue ReadingA solar bankruptcy list has been compiled by Data Register, “Data from Solar Company Bankruptcy Register: US Home Solar Bankruptcies and Closures Since 2022.” Their summary of the current state of the industry speaks for itself (reproduced verbatim below). I then offer a final comment, followed by Appendice A on (long-term) contract transfers from busted companies and Appendix B on previous posts on the rooftop solar bust.
DATA REGISTER
Since 2022, more than 90 solar companies that sold, financed, serviced, or supplied U.S. homes have gone bankrupt, entered a court-supervised wind-down, or liquidated. The yearly count is 29 in 2022; 29 in 2024; 24 in 2025, and 11 in 2026 (to date). Seventy-seven (85 percent) went through a bankruptcy court or similar proceeding, 51 (56 percent) are Chapter 7 liquidations once conversions are counted, 79 (87 percent) are installers.…
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