Green Solar Jobs In Germany Fail To Materialize – German Greens On Perry

(Photo: US government)

Two short reports today…

1) Solar jobs in Germany overstated

The idea was to shift from dirty fossil and dangerous nuclear fuel power generation over to clean, climate-friendly renewable energy, and thus create thousands of new green jobs that would usher in the German Green Revolution and so make Germany a model for the rest of the world on how to responsibly use energy.

Unfortunately, it may be becoming a model of what not to do.

A recent report throws more ice water on the green dream – at least in the solar industry. The report says that the number of solar jobs in Germany is much less than what is claimed by the industry. Instead of 133,000 solar jobs, the number is only 80,000.

According to CO2 Handel.de:

According to the Berlin Polytechnic University for Technology and Economy(HTW) there are currently about 80,000 jobs in the German photovoltaic industry, this reported by Welt am Sonntag.”

The 133,000 jobs claimed by the solar industry trade associations have not been reached by a long shot. According to the Berlin Polytechnic University, approximately 75% of the jobs are not even in the so-called hightech areas of manufacturing, but rather in distribution and installation.

A few days ago NoTricksZone here reported how solar companies in Germany are bleeding to death, and shifting production to Asia. Solar panels are increasingly being manufactured in China and Malaysia where costs are much cheaper.

Not only are the lost jobs in the fossil fuel and nuclear industries not being replaced, but electricity rates have begun to soar as well, adding another hit to the economy.

2) Green statists on Rick Perry

It’s now dawning on Europe’s greenies that Obama’s challenger in 2012 is going to be a solid skeptic (It obviously has not dawned on them that even Obama thinks little of the issue, probably because he knows the green revolution is a scam and would slam especially the poor). Statist green German website Klima der Gerechtigkeit (Climate of Justice) looks at emerging front-runner Rick Perry’s and his positions on climate change.

Perry is currently the favorite to be the Rupublican nominee. In the primaries his anti-climate positions likely will not be a disadvantage. That could change if the Republicans nominate him to go up against Obama. Climate change has had a noticeable impact on Texas over the last 20 years; it has become hotter and dryer. So far Perry has moved forward with his platitudes. But his home state is moaning under one of the worst droughts in its history – farmers face harvest losses of US$ 10 billion. Its governor allows his campaign to be financed by the oil and gas lobby and demands an end to all state regulations.

It’s going to be a fun campaign. Seriously.”

It very well may be. Texas is one of the fastest growing states, creating 40% of all new jobs in the entire country. It’s population is booming too. Concerning climate change, 69% of all Americans believe scientists have lied about climate change. Let’s see if Obama is stupid enough to side up with the 31%.

14 responses to “Green Solar Jobs In Germany Fail To Materialize – German Greens On Perry”

  1. Beano

    Rick Perry. He very clearly said her that he believes that some scientists have manipulated data in the climate debate. He also stared that millions if not billions if not trillions of dollars maybe aimed at programs aimed at climate change mitigation.

    If this fellow gets the Presidency and I was a climate scientist who has “allegedly” “knowingly” manipulated data for advocacy procedure I would be a very worried person. You can see serious Jail time being threatened here.

    As November 2012 gets close and this fellow looks like being elected President, I would be coming clean very quickly.

  2. Harry Dale Huffman

    The proper word is not “stupid”, but insane, because of his ideology, which is extreme enough to be called Marxist. False dogmas are deluging the world right now (inside of science as well as outside), and anyone who follows one or another is part of the problem, not the solution.

  3. Ed Caryl

    Texas regularly gets droughts. It has nothing to do with “climate change”.
    http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ybd01

    Here is a report from the Texas State Climatologist. Both rainfall and temperature are slightly increasing. He does not mention urban warming effects.
    http://www.rivers.txstate.edu/CCTW/PDF/Historic%20Climate%20Record%20in%20Texas%20-%20Neilsen%20Gammon.pdf

  4. DirkH

    Interesting note from Harrabin at the BBC. He asks why solar power has not taken off in sun-drenched countries like Namibia (and does come up with correct explanations, one must say);

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14558430

    Note especially how they provide hot water for showers – with a “donkey”, a stove in which they burn “invader bush” – bush that grows on their fields as a weed and must be cleared anyway… Hey i thought that’s renewable energy!

  5. mwhite

    “In his regular column, BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin asks why solar power is failing to light up the developing world.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14558430

    “Meanwhile the really ambitious solar plans for Namibia are on the back burner. Three years ago plans were revealed for the Greentower – a breath-taking £100m, and nearly a mile high (1.5km) chimney surrounded by greenhouses that, heated by the sun, would create an updraught to turn power turbines.”

    A realy usefull way to spend one hundred million pounds.

    1. DirkH

      The solar updraft tower is probably that Australian EnviroMission thing; they shopped it around, first tried their own government but no takers, at the moment it looks like they’ve found a victim in Arizona.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower

      1. DirkH

        I wonder what a storm does to such a structure.

        1. Ed Caryl

          I wonder what the storm INSIDE the structure does. A mile of updraft will surely result in condensation, even in the desert.

      2. Bernd Felsche.org

        A monorail would be a better investment.

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQz_lqOBhZA

      3. GregO

        The wheels are coming off this one too…

        http://www.stirlingenergy.com/

        I’m at the point where I do not believe in anything solar energy outside of some very niche applications. Big juice is just not compatible with solar no matter the technology.

        Some day a smart person is going to come up with a fundamental explanation kind of like 2nd law of thermo finally getting rid of perpetual motion charlatans.

        Hasn’t happened yet though so we have all manner of screw-ball schemes that eventually prove themselves unworkable. Sad, but given human nature, somehow inevitable.

        1. DirkH

          But you can run them in reverse and get really cool stuff! Like 73 K cool!
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_the_Stirling_engine#Stirling_cryocoolers

        2. Bernd Felsche

          Back in 1982, there was a solar-thermal test plant here in Western Australia at the Solar Energy Research Institute of WA (SERIWA). When our class of final-year Mech.Eng. students visited, it was slightly overcast and the Stirling Engine was doing little more than rusting. They “hadn’t got it going, yet”.

          I got “caught” playing with the PV solar tracking panel, holding my clip-board over the (differential) light sensor to see if I could flatten the positioner’s battery >:-). And then had to explain it as checking to see that it behaved “correctly” under heavy cloud; i.e. position horizontally to maximise “white sky radiation”. Which had everybody fooled as the on-site Engineer and my Professor both welcomed my actions.

  6. R. de Haan
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