Renewable energy technologies (and solar especially) are about as important as oil was in the 20th century. America literally went to war multiple times internationally to get access to that sweet juice. It makes absolutely no sense that America would not want to have access to excessive amounts of cheap energy today, and that’s why it is straightforward that America will do a 180° turn-around and start calling the Chinese their “best friend” for providing them with ample amounts of solar energy panels.
The “problem” with solar is that you can’t meter it. Nobody has yet found a way to sell you electricity from sunlight today and then sell it to you again tomorrow, which is what they’re accustomed to doing and believe is their right to do somehow. That’s why it’s so incredibly disruptive.
Genuinely thank you for this explanation. I never thought about how this is basically a fish (oil) vs fishing pole (solar) situation. Oil companies don’t want to give you the fishing pole to do it yourself, they want to charge you fish by fish, gallon by gallon of oil to maximize profits.
That is until solar-electric companies start banking electricity in huge batteries, then meting it out for a fee. Pretty sure that hellscape is in the works.
The thing is, unless governments really bring the hammer down on the installation of PV panels and batteries (and I live in FL – the sunshine state – where it can be very difficult to get permits and insurance for PV panels) or force you to buy a certain percentage of power from your utility (I could DEFINITELY see my state government try some BS like that), eventually many people will simply not need coal, gas or oil. As batteries become cheap enough, more people will install them, source more power directly from the sun, charge their cars with it, etc. It really is the endgame, the fossil execs are just trying to string us along for one more generation to squeeze every last dollar out of the market.