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laweijfmvo • yesterday at 3:58 PM • 13 replies • view on HN

I think we’ll see a pivot from the right on solar soon, once they realize how cheap it is and how much money they can make. They’ll spin it as home-grown local jobs stuff but regardless it’s a win-win.


Replies

newyankee • today at 2:18 AM

The ironical thing is nothing screams independent, rugged like having your own large single family home with your own power source which is even powering your EV. The US suburbia will become net positive if more people figure out wasting roof space does not make sense

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vatsachak • yesterday at 4:03 PM

Why are we waiting on political movements to latch on to a revolutionary technology? If they are against you saving money vote them out, regardless of party, lol

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khalic • yesterday at 4:01 PM

You underestimate how much money oil groups are pouring in lobbying. Energy could fall from the sky, it wouldn't change their mind... oh wait

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api • yesterday at 4:14 PM

The right's opposition to it is mostly rooted in the fact that historically the fossil fuel industry has been a major funding cornerstone of the right.

It goes all the way back to this kind of thing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fundamentals

The pamphlet from which we get the term "fundamentalism" was published by an oil industry tycoon.

So the right is incentivized to protect this industry even if it becomes obsolescent and is no longer the most economical or practical way to generate at least much of our energy needs (electricity).

While the right has often sounded pro-nuclear, in practice they tend not to be that enthusiastic about it when they actually get into office. Obama supported the first new nuclear plant in decades.

https://politifact.com/factchecks/2012/mar/02/barack-obama/o...

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jmyeet • today at 12:58 AM

I don't see this happening for a very long time. Mines and oil and gas wells are huge wealth concentrators.

Oil wells decrease in production over time. It's called the decline rate. For wells in the Permian basin, the average decline rate is about 15%. So a 1000 barrel per day ("bpd") well produces ~850bpd in year 2, ~700bpd in year 3 and ~550bpd in year 4. That means you need to be constantly drilling wells. That's more wealth concentration opportunity.

1MW of solar produces 1MW in years 1 through 20.

Additionally, the fight for control over resources induces demand for weapons. Solar doesn't do that. This is summed up as No one goes to war over a solar panel [1].

Efficiency isn't the goal. Wealth extraction is.

[1]: https://www.theenergymix.com/no-one-goes-to-war-over-a-solar...

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bardak • yesterday at 4:07 PM

The right wing prepers and homesteading communities are already fully on board with it, I think it won't be too long until the rest of the right jumps on board.

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cucumber3732842 • yesterday at 4:32 PM

We're barreling toward a point where above a certain wealth level and below a certain population density individuals can get all their energy from the sun, store it with batteries you get in the mail from Temu/Amazon/Alibaba and connect it all together with stuff you can buy from a Home Improvement store. All done unilaterally. Very hard to sink the claws of regulation into that except after the fact (unpopular). That is a future that too many people would be happy to sacrifice a lot of pollution to prevent.

So I think the pivot you're talking about, which I agree with eventually happen, will be offset in at least significant part.

cogman10 • today at 1:15 AM

Nope. Big oil has spent big money on propaganda for a VERY long time. Something that almost all right wing pundits and podcasters are funded by.

For the right to actually embrace solar, you need either big money in solar to start it's own propaganda campaigns or you need big oil to collapse to the point where they can't afford paying propagandists. Right now, they are making record profits so don't count on that anytime soon.

throwaway030 • yesterday at 3:58 PM

freedom energy

alexk307 • yesterday at 8:06 PM

Of the top 10 states in solar generation in July 2026, 7/10 of them voted for Trump in 2024 [1].

The U.S. solar industry installed 43 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in 2025, remaining the dominant source of new capacity added to the grid for the fifth consecutive year. Solar and energy storage represent 79% of new capacity installed in the first year of the Trump Administration [2].

[1] https://www.chooseenergy.com/solar-energy/solar-energy-produ...

[2] https://tedmag.com/report-u-s-added-43-gw-of-new-solar-capac...

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linuxftw • yesterday at 4:26 PM

Only Fox News boomers are against solar power. The rest of the right wing just doesn't want government slush fund handouts to vaporware companies like the Obama administration. If it's cheaper, great. Don't drag CO2 into the argument, just win on price and the right wing will happily adopt it.

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carlosjobim • today at 1:34 AM

I don't think many people on the right have ever been against solar power. It's rather being pro all power and not wanting to remove a source to replace it. The demands to remove power sources come from the left. Build as much solar as you want, but don't shut down the nuclear plants.

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