The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon, part of the Biden administration’s plan to promote clean energy and “reestablish the federal government as a sustainability leader.”
The Pentagon is one of 31 government sites that are receiving $104 million in Energy Department grants that are expected to double the amount of carbon-free electricity at federal facilities and create 27 megawatts of clean-energy capacity while leveraging more than $361 million in private investment, the Energy Department said.
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The solar panels are among several improvements set for the Pentagon, which also will install a heat pump system and solar thermal panels to reduce reliance on natural gas and fuel oil combustion systems
We have a hole in the boat and we’re taking some of the hull nearby to build a little trough so a fraction of the incoming water gets channeled out.
Fixing the hole isn’t accomplished by more manufacturing to offset a tiny fraction of environmental damage. It’s accomplished by reducing ongoing damage and repairing what’s already been done.
Troughs aren’t used on boats to reduce the water level. That’s what you have pumps for.
Manufacturing the material for the hole is gonna have to happen, and when you are alongside at the repair facility you can check for other weak points.
To use the pentagon as an example, the solar panels are a patch for a hole. Water is still getting in, but the pumps aren’t being strained as much. Once you have dealt with that you can focus on the refit.
My point was that solar panels incur additional environmental damage due to their manufacturing, just to offset a sliver of the damage that continues to be done every day.
It’s a lot more effective to stop damaging the environment in the first place than to put a tiny little bandaid on a growing wound.
So they shouldn’t do anything?
They should do something that actually has a significant impact. Instead we get all these little tiny baby steps while the climate crisis is barreling full steam ahead.
That’s assuming that new solar installations are even a net positive.