Chris's Comments

Elliot,

Have you started working with software companies that are creating component specific production models to incorporate your program with theirs?

Chris Williams

Fred,

Great to see you're going to China, can't wait to hear what you find. I'm planning on touring some solar and wind manufacturing centers here in Germany too.

Chris

Bill,

Thank you for your comment. I believe the post is simply meant to say that by law you do not need to be an electrician, it's not saying that it's not dangerous. Regarding your statement "Most states make no differentiation between AC and DC wiring." Do you have a resource or link which discusses needing an electricians license to handle panels and wire systems in states other the MA or CT? I know that Brian would want to update the most to make it as accurate as possible.

Chris

Blake,

Thank you for the update. What are your thoughts on the best way(s) that this can be counter-acted? Will it take another amendment? Also, how can we (the solar community) help you to achieve this?

Similar to what's happening in Wisconsin, I feel that what's happening in Colorado is a battle we should all be fighting.


Chris

Dennis,

I couldn't agree with you more. There's no question in my mind that its fun and rewarding. What I'd really like to see is a combination of the two, after going to college and then working in the field its easy to see how the two camps could benefit from learning from one another. Also, I completely agree with you that college is not for everyone and wouldn't even say it's heresy, there is a lot of data to back it up as well.

Chris

Robert,

I don't think most people will see an RPS as a tax, much like they don't see outlawing child labor or many other labor regulations as a tax. It's just the right thing to do.

I think the RPS is more like a tax credit, like we all love - don't you? - that the government is using to spur investment in a new industry. And it's working. The Massachusetts solar industry will grow 30% per year for the next 10 years with 100ks more in other parts of the country: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/strong-u.s.-solar-industry-growth-for-first-half-of-2010/

Paul,

Thanks for your comment. The reality is that energy IS NOT priced correctly. The federal government subsidies coal plants (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-nilles/stop-government-funding-o_b_504325.html)

Nuclear power is also heavily subsidized. NO private market insurer will back a plant and thus the government must do so. This means, without the government no nuke plants would exist. If you can find data that state the opposite, please let me know.

Also, the government heavily regulates utilities and manipulates what they can charge for power. For example, in Massachusetts the government de-couple energy use from price, thus the more power utilities deliver they can charge less for it (http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eoeeapressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Eoeea&b=pressrelease&f=080716_pr_decoupling&csid=Eoeea)

Do you think that is fair pricing?

Again, thanks for the time and energy you took into placing a comment. I look forward to any supporting documentation that have the says the government doesn't currently subsidize or manipulate the cost of energy.

Very good point. Without knowing if they last for 30 years, it'll be hard to put up the money. It seems that this can be another barrier to entry or innovation, I'd rather put money into a worse technology I'm more confident will last a while then a new technology that is much better that might not.

The comprise should make a huge difference for institutional investors and I remember you mentioning in one of your podcasts in the wind industry.

Chris

Rich,

I like the post and learning about what's happening in California. I just finished reading the 2009 Solar Market Trends Report from IREC. What astonishes me is that while we think the California market is very large, competitive and saturated, Germany installed 10X of what the entire US country did last year.

What are your thoughts?

We'll see, I have no interest in advertising for certain cities only sharing with everyone the resources currently available in each city.

However, there is no question is will seem like advertising because some cities will have more resources and thus I will like them more.

Chris

Pam,

Thanks for the comment input. I agree, I think social medias largest benefit is that it can (most of the time its note) be used to break down the corporate vail so people can talk to people. Most of how people treat their customers or employees, I don't think they would if it wasn't 'business'

Stephen,

I agree. Coming at things from all angles is the best way to gain trust, it seems that the challenge is that some people find it hard to see things from every angle.

Bill,

You could call it salesmanship but I wouldn't. Really the revelation I came to is this....when i was growing up I thought you could just continue to say the same thing to someone over and over again and eventually they would just poof, see something from your perspective. What I found out is that they won't, it doesn't matter how "true" something is, if they don't trust you, they won't believe you.

Chris

Stephen,

Agreed. From my perspective, I'd also add the views can almost be left out of it for the trust part of the relationship. I think that people establish trust through a different medium then whether they agree with your views or not.

What I've been trying to figure out is how to use this when speaking and communicating to huge groups of people and not just one on one relationships.

Chris

Stephen,

Loved the podcast as usual, am looking forward to the solar thermal edition.

One question, in the podcast a SEIA survey was quoted and mentioned a couple times. Do you know where I can find it? I've searched on SEIA website and haven't been able to find anything that matches the description of the report/survey that was mentioned.

Thanks for the help in advance!

Chris

Joel,

Thanks for the feedback. It was shot with two cameras in HD by Emerson students doing a documentary, so it was very high quality. However, to get it on blip.tv we had to render it down. But I agreee, it stinks! We're working on getting a higher quality one up.

Russ,

I agree, it's so annoying! I hate those people too.

Chris

Tor,

Loved the post and think recent events will make the case even stronger.

One question I have regarding this comparison is, is it a problem that the use of solar and wind do not replace oil?

Chris

Bill,

Thanks for your comment, glad it's not spam! I agree, there are tons of the things that can be done already. I'm just curious how we can start to move the conversation to getting ride of fossil fuel subsidies. Mike Holly is absolutely, without a doubt wrong, when he says "subsidies for fossil fuels are small" and this is exactly the type of mindset we need get rid of.

Chris