Comment on Billionaire bets big on largest solar project ever proposed to deliver power across oceans: 'At the forefront of the clean energy transition'

schmorpel@slrpnk.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• Porcupirate@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I agree, but this billionaire can do what few communities can: invest in scale. Overall I still think this is good news.

  source

  • MercurySunrise@slrpnk.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’m also for community solutions and I don’t oppose this. The rich are unfortunately also part of the world, they should be utilized as much as anybody in this crisis. More so, arguably.

    source
  • schmorpel@slrpnk.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’d describe my feelings around the current solar boom as cautiously positive with a good sprinkle of skepticism.

    I’d like to see billionaires investing in education towards self-regulating communities. I’d like to see them heavily investing in funding coops, not buying up startups. Billionaires investing in renewables means more money in billionaire’s pockets, because they will just sell the clean energy back to you for a profit while remaining the owners of everything and then some.

    I’d carefully agree that more solar panels are good, but I’ve now lived through enough eco hypes to not have at least a few concerns. In the worst case we will now quickly and thoughtlessly plaster solar panels over hectares and hectares of useful farmland, important ecological reserves, and poor people’s homes, just because line go up. And probably trash them all in ten years when maintaining them proves too costly, or the next hype comes along. In the best case we actually start polluting less and use the time we buy to seek for more energy-saving ways of living in general.

    source