As I pointed out, the stimulus is needed now, not a few years from now. I'm all for green energy, but it is a decade long process.
I suppose it is possible, that a really radical conversion to solar could be accomplished in 3-4 years, and lots of J6P's could be deployed preping roof tops for panels starting next month. It would cost something on the order of the current $ being thrown at the crisis ($3T or so) and we could replace 100% of the energy equivalent of all our imported oil. But to do this, we would build many polysilicon plants, many PV fabs (I guess the guys with shovels could start those within a month or two as well) lots of additional semiconductor gear/fabs for power conversion electronics, etc. But the point remains that to be of much use, significant employment must start very shortly, and it will take extraordinary smarts and care to accomplish that, while not wasting our $. Clearly it could be done, much of the work could be done in parallel.
I don't expect any such frantic efforts. We don't view this economic crisis as a plane flying into a building, despite it doing significantly more damage to the country. So I don't expect radical & effective response. I expect mediocre responses that will not be very effective. We need ER triage, and instead will get nursing home care. |
