Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy-and Our Planet-from Dirty Energy - Softcover

Kennedy, Danny

9781459645202: Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy-and Our Planet-from Dirty Energy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1459645200 ISBN 13: 9781459645202

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant, 2013

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Solar power's detractors have been proclaiming that the collapse of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra proves solar is just a hippie pipe dream. But as Danny Kennedy points out, Solyndra's downfall actually proves the opposite: the company failed because it wasn't able to compete in a red-hot industry, not because solar isn't ready for prime time. In this succinct, hard-hitting book, Kennedy proves that solar can save money, create jobs, and protect the environment - and only politics and perception stand in its way.
Signs of solar's ascendency are everywhere. The industry employs 100,000 people in the United States, twice as many as in 2009 and twice the number of coal miners. In 2011, Warren Buffet invested 2 billion dollar in a solar farm, and around the time Solyndra went bust, General Electric bought a start-up solar manufacturer, announcing, ''By 2020 this is going to be at least a 1 billion dollar product line.'' Production of solar-generated electricity rose by 45 percent in the first three quarters of 2010, while electricity from natural gas rose only 1.6 percent and coal declined by 4.2 percent.
But powerful forces are still arrayed against solar power, and that's why Kennedy wrote this book. We need a rooftop revolution to break the entrenched power of the coal, oil, nuclear, and natural gas industries (which Kennedy calls King CONG) and their bought-and-paid-for allies. Kennedy systematically refutes the lies spread by CONG - that solar is expensive, inefficient, and unreliable; that it is kept alive only by subsidies; that it can't be scaled up; and many other untruths - and shows that the solar industry can become a far greater source of jobs than it already is. Praising the pioneers who are pushing solar forward, Kennedy also decries the rampant political pandering that keeps us dependent on dirty and dangerous forms of energy. Now is the time to move away from the declining sources of the past and unleash the unlimited potential of the sun.

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Product Description

In the wake of the Solyndra collapse, solar power's detractors--particularly the fans of fossil fuel--have been proclaiming that solar is just a hippie pipe dream. But as Danny Kennedy points out, Solyndra failed precisely because it was unable to compete in a red hot industry. The signs are everywhere: the United States and China have for the first time invested more money in clean, renewable energy than in dirty fossil fuels. Germany already gets 25% of its power from the sun--and created 250,000 clean energy jobs in the process. Warren Buffet just bought a $2 billion solar project in the Southwestern desert. But these are facts the mainstream media has largely failed to reportIn this succinct, hard-hitting book Kennedy shows that solar can save money, create jobs, and restore the environment--it's only politics and perception that are preventing it. For consumers, he describes the technological advances that have now made solar so cost-efficient and practical it's now competitive with gas and coal electricity. He breaks down the 100,000 jobs solar has already created in America and explains how it could create far more. Decrying the lack of leadership in this area on the part of both political parties, he outlines how we can take advantage of this historic opportunity to free ourselves from dependence on destructive and declining forms of energy and unleash the unlimited power of the sun.

Review

"Twice as many Americans already work in solar energy as in coal mines--if you want to understand the future, and especially if you want to help shape it, read this book."
-Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Eaarth and founder, 350.org

"Paradigm shifts aren't always obvious when you're in the middle of one. Danny Kennedy makes a compelling case for why solar power is the crucial energy technology of the 21st century."
-- Michael Brune, executive director, Sierra Club

"Anyone who cares about boosting our economy, preserving our environment and ensuring the welfare of generations to come, should read this book!"
- Mark Ruffalo, actor

"IRooftop Revolution lays out, in clear and engaging language, how we got into the energy mess we're in and how we can get out - benefiting the planet, creating jobs and saving homeowners money.."
--Annie Leonard, creator of the film and book The Story of Stuff

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