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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

China - Solar Scam

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Written by Laurence F Sanford, Senior Analyst ASCF

Categories: ASCF News ASCF Articles

Comments: 2

Solar Farm in China

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), through its totalitarian Marxist rule of China, dominates the world’s so-called “Green Energy” industries of wind, solar, and batteries. Meanwhile, the United States, the world leader in energy independence and economic wealth, is committing societal suicide by dismantling its carbon-based energy civilization because of the elite leadership’s cult belief that fossil fuels cause Climate Change. They hold this belief despite four billion years in the Earth's history of climate change that was not caused by humanity and fossil fuels.

The CCP’s mouthing of commitment to Climate Change, clean energy, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions is pure propaganda to the West. Actions speak louder than words. The CCP is currently building two coal power plants per week while it is already the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. In 2019, total world carbon dioxide emissions were 52 billion metric tons; China emitted 14.1 billion tons, while the U.S. emitted 5.7 million tons. China is the world’s largest energy producer and consumer, mining and burning more than half the world’s coal.

It may appear that intermittent solar and wind energy are the dream clean energy sources and the panacea for climate change. But, like all dreams, one must wake up, and reality sets in. It is physically impossible for solar and wind to provide all the energy necessary for modern society to function.

In certain places and in certain circumstances, solar and wind batteries can provide supplemental energy for homes and commercial buildings since the buildings are already hooked into the grid. However, solar panels cannot provide power when:
● The sun goes down.
● Clouds hide the sun during sand/snow/ice/hailstorms
● Volcanic ash/ice/snow/dirt coats the panels.
● High winds from hurricanes and tornadoes rip off the panels.

Solar energy farms cannot provide reliable baseline energy into the grid. Most solar farms are built in areas without people or access to existing transmission lines. Therefore, more land and billions more dollars are needed for an intermittent source of energy.

Energy sources need to be available and online 24/7. Intermittent solar and wind with batteries cannot provide reliable energy. The solution to more carbon-free energy is safe, economical, reliable nuclear energy.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody pays something somewhere in the supply chain. That the sun’s rays are free is true, but they are available only half of the day. Capturing the sun’s rays for energy is not free but is very expensive and environmentally damaging. To dispose of solar panels damaged by hail, wind, or dust or that have outlived their life span of 15 to 20 years is expensive and environmentally damaging. Recycling solar panels is difficult and expensive, often resulting in their being dumped in massive toxic landfills. Solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear power plants. Nuclear waste is stored in heavy drums and regularly monitored. (A seven-billion-dollar underground storage facility was built in Nevada to store atomic waste but is waiting for government approval to be utilized.) Solar waste ends up as electronic garbage.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are the basic building blocks of solar panels and are made of sandwiched layers of silicon plus another element, such as gallium, on which the CCP recently instituted export restrictions. Other materials in solar panels include silver, copper, lead, and aluminum.

Government subsidies are distorting economic efficiencies. Many of the raw materials used in the manufacture are mined in third-world countries utilizing child labor with no protection against environmental degradation. If solar is such a benefit to homeowners, why is a 30% tax credit on an average $16,000 installation necessary? Another benefit to the wealthy?

Reliance on Chinese-manufactured solar panels endangers U.S. national security and economic security. Approximately 70% of solar panel systems sold in the U.S. are of Chinese origin. Due to massive CCP subsidies, Chinese manufacturers sell their solar panels below cost to drive foreign competition out of business. Hundreds of billions of dollars are flowing to China to purchase solar panels. Meanwhile, the U.S. carbon fuel industry and infrastructure, jobs, and national security are being degraded.

To further penetrate the U.S. solar market and avoid tariffs on panels originating in China, five Chinese solar panel companies routed their operations through four other Southeast Asian countries. The U.S. Commerce Department investigated the complaint of American company Auxin Solar, whose CEO, Mamun Rashid, said, “When the prices of finished panels from Southeast Asia come in below our bill of materials cost, American manufacturers cannot compete.” The administration then moved to waive the anti-circumvention tariffs on solar panels for two years until June 2024 after an outcry from domestic solar panel installers dependent upon Chinese imports.

Summary

The United States must de-couple from CCP green energy solar, wind, and battery technologies. China has distorted market efficiencies with massive state subsidies to drive American competitors out of business. Yes to “free trade” but no to “state trade.” The role of government is to defend its citizens. China is a clear and present danger.

Invest in nuclear power!

Peace Through Strength!

Laurence F. Sanford
Senior Analyst
American Security Council Foundation
www.ascf.us

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  1. John F. Tavares John F. Tavares Thanks, Jack Monday, September 25, 2023
  2. Fawk Ewe Fawk Ewe This has to be the most oil barren worshiping McCarthyist loving pile of swill that ever rolled down the back of anyone’s leg after an evening of binge eating at a Taco Bell. Pro tip, if you want to get your point across, try doing it without such overwhelmingly obvious bias. Stick to the facts and let the readers decide. Tuesday, July 23, 2024