Feb 20th, 2012
The smart moves to prepare for a sustained industrial future are being being made everywhere but here.
The latest news reflecting our failure to keep up with the rest of the Western world comes via Care2:
"As the sovereign debt crisis unfolds in Europe, onlookers have questioned whether the region will stay committed to renewable energy. The answer so far is “yes.”
Even with a few countries pulling back on government support of the industry because of fiscal troubles, 2011 was still a huge year for deployment — with wind and solar alone representing almost 70% of new capacity.
That’s almost a 10-fold increase over deployment in 2000, when only 3.5 GW of renewable energy projects were installed. Last year, 32 GW of renewables — mostly wind and solar — were deployed across European countries.
The figures come from the European Wind Energy Association, which just released a report on industry growth."
While "conservatives" continue to push for both the subsidy of destructive early 20th Century technologies as well as the demonization of public sector investment in alternatives, they are also guaranteeing that we are being left behind. Alas, the opponents of successfully adapting to the future have reduced the concept of American Exceptionalism to "America, fuck yeah!"
Monday, February 20, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes. The overconfidence is astounding. You don't even have to object to the exceptionalism to see the holes. The whole foundation of American Exceptionalism is that we are leaders in the area of technology as well as military might. And the two are ultimately related, btw. The empty wagon is indeed the loudest. Jefferson, I think we're lost.
ReplyDelete