Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Keep laughing, doubting, and criticizing. The rest of the world is getting on with it:
http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/03/new-models-for-clean-energy-funding-offer-hope/

Not least, this single class-room of future challengers:
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/03/20/elementary-school-students-crowdfund-their-own-solar-powered-classroom/

[Kikomom]

I'd like to crowd-source solar panels on my house here in Pennsylvania. How does that work?> Liberal here, I can dream. I would think that Gingrich is proud of those fourth graders. Better than being janitors anyday, designing and building their own solar array!

A nation full of electrical engineers, a nation in love with Capitalism. I see some conflict there.

[Steelrails]

Whatever your thoughts are, I would NOT do this in any public school or university beyond a very general "Go Green" message. That would certainly step on toes and could be construed as something "outside authorized behavior".

I think vague messages about environmentalism and reducing energy are fine, my school does the same thing. But advocating for a specific policy and to encourage government spending on that policy is a whole nother kettle of fish.

[No_hite_pls]

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

[Konglishman]

I find it most unfortunate that otherwise intelligent people will demonize nuclear power despite not really knowing anything about it. Nuclear power is one of the original alternative sources of energy. Certainly, there are risks, but in both cases (Chernobyl and Fukushima) in which serious disasters took place, it was due to willful disregard for safety and even the advice of the engineers themselves.

Incidentally, I believe that once the technology for the liquid fluoride thorium reactor is fully developed, much of the risk will be eliminated. More research for more nuclear power is needed as opposed to fear mongering.

[Steelrails]

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

[rollo]

Mr. Hawley. I am as green as it gets. I applaud you.

Now what Steelrails is trying to explain is that you are a temporary transient laborer. Tha means you are here to teach English. Anything outside of english and you are often seen as overstepping your bounds.

South korea is very open to alternative energy. They have long realized the importance of getting away from fossil fuels. That is why the relaince on nuclear. There has also been plans for tidal generation of electrical power.

That being said, you should concentrate on teaching English. Pulling these students away for from that can be damaging to them as they have to pass English examinations to enter Universities.

What we are trying to warn you about is one you are a very low man on the totem pole, you should be seen not heard.

two: The students probably will resent you for this interruption in their English education.

You are not the first , nor will you be the last to have good intentions and go riding out to fight the dragon and only to return carried back on your shield.

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

rollo wrote:

Moh moh moh ~

What we are trying to warn you about is ~ moh moh moh.


Oh, hello again there, "rollo."

Thank you for your note of concern for my personal well-being. That's very kind of you.

You bring up a number of interesting issues in this, your latest missive. Before we discuss those issues, may I ask you, exactly who is this "we" to whom you just referred?

[aq8knyus]

@Ethan Allen Hawley

Have you thought about trying to spread this message through churches? Usually Korean christian groups are quite open to foreign memebers and as a result might be more open to ideas from said members. Also you could bypass all the problems that are involved in trying to convince an emplyer.

Plus there seems to be a great deal of similarity between evangelical christianity and the green movement. Both trying to save the world from a great evil and all that.

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Hey aq8knyus, that's a great idea. Thanks!

By the way, here's another great example of another class, this time of slightly older students. The difference is that there's still time to contribute, and, they seem to present a higher standard of English language:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/phs-eco-club-solar-project

This also offers another example of another online crowdfunding platform, IndieGogo.com, as distinct from the previous example above, KickStarter.com.

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Hello TUM,

Thanks for your post. It was quite interesting, and I learned a lot as a result.

Your main point is that my reference to �the world� getting on with adopting solar power was inaccurate. My main response is that I agree that governments and fossil-fuel (including nuclear) industry reps are doing everything in their power to slow the rate of uptake, and that�s why it�s inspiring to see manufacturers and people in small communities carrying on regardless, all around �the world,� and even at the micro-community level of the common classroom.

1.) Your piece about India refers to state-level power regulations. I already posted a while back that the initiative highlighted in the OP is grassroots level, due to the great failings of our politicians and industry �leaders� to get it sorted out. Given all those acronyms I don�t blame even those most fluent in English in India on giving up trying to wade through the policies and regulations. Regardless, most of that piece focuses on the obligation of utilities to provide power from solar.

Having said that, the writer or editor responsible for that piece is remiss in not picking up the most interestingly positive factoid mentioned in the opening paragraph; as the article mentions later on, �there is huge demand for solar.� The state of Gujarat is leading with 67% of its power coming from solar. Some other states are similarly sunny, and for many it�s also just a matter of a very brief time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_India

�On 18 November 2009, it was reported that India was ready to launch its National Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, with plans to generate 1,000 MW of power by 2013.[4] From August 2011 to July 2012, India went from 2.5 MW of grid connected photovoltaics to over 1,000 MW.�

There�s so much amazingly great development happening in terms of solar in India � mostly industrial and some residential - I�ll just leave you with the link above, there.

2.) Germany, the great green revolution of the new millennium. Following the long-winded preamble the piece you offered finally presents its barely glossed-over truth, �the Federal Network Agency has calculated that the country's biggest electricity guzzlers account for 18 percent of overall consumption, but bear only 0.3 percent of the costs associated with the EEG.� Why?

Subsidies, the great bone of contention of western nation-states who have traditionally given so much to so few industries, fossil-fuel and farming being two of the most predominant. The German government � again the �leaders� � need to bite the bullet and follow through with the rampant popularity they�ve partially allowed to flourish there for the solar industry. They need to do so by rapidly reducing previously entrenched fossil fuel (incl. nuclear) industry subsidies and redirecting those funds to completing the cable projects connecting up the new installations of wind turbines and community roof-top solar panels.

And again, the real story within this piece is hidden in clear sight, �The solar-energy industry, for example, is experiencing such a boom that the number of arrays envisaged to be connected to the grid by 2020 may be achieved as soon as by the end of 2014.�

Personally, I think that piece is a little out of date; it�s nearly a year old! This one is from about two weeks ago, and presents a range of the very real and practical issues with the great sudden leap into renewable that Germany took:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-renewable-energy-policy-takes-toll-on-nature-conservation-a-888094.html

It�s really interesting. But again, many of the problems associated with the hasty transition seem to have arisen as a result of lack of genuine direction or application to the job by the government. Cutting down vast swathes of native forest for the sake of industrial solar panel arrays? Putting a solar park in the middle of a bird sanctuary? That smells of worse than bureaucratic bungling; it stinks of deliberate idiocy, and is clearly not something any sensible citizen would condone.

Also unhelpful within this piece also is the equating of biogas and wind turbines with solar. Biogas promotes the planting of otherwise untouched land (such as the Amazon) with corn and such for fuel; windmills are great apart from the bird and bat kill, and low-frequency effect on some citizens. So again, it would seem that the government is failing the people by not focusing on promoting the connection of localized (decentralized/ community level rather than industrial utility) solar paneling.

The thing is though, they are serving the people, and have been in the world-leading way, through the creation of the FIT, the feed in tariff, which works like a tax credit for early adopters of the technology. It's explained and outlined well here, as are many other details and descriptions of what's going on in Germany with solar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany

3.) Spain: LOL. You can NOT be serious; you�re not only offering a piece that�s absurdly brief, and it�s not just two years old, but also it�s from CBN?! Completely predictably it bounces from one roughly sketched hatchet-job attempt at maligning Spain�s efforts to another without going into any depth or explanation at all and then it�s over within a solid page?! I mean, you may as well just get a Tea Party manifesto - or - or a statement directly from the Koch brothers themselves! Come on. As much as I�m enjoying the hilarity, I�m also sure you can do better than this.
What about just going to Wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Spain

� wherein we can see that things were going amazingly well for industrial solar power utility development until the big crash of 2008 and the EU implementation of the policy of austerity forced the hand of the government to impose budget cuts on such world-leading technological investments.

This much more recent piece suggests that the private sector still offers hope for a return to form for the Spanish solar industry, and while it continues to harp on about utility-scale efforts, it suggests that �grid parity� is virtually achieved:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterdetwiler/2012/12/26/solar-grid-parity-comes-to-spain/

But those amazing-sounding latest generation solar utilities are still in the planning stage for some mysterious point later on in the future. So again, it comes back to restarting this growth from the ground upwards, with the people, by the people, and for the people in the here and now. Or, with communities, by communities, and for communities who are sick of waiting for governments to get on with getting it done right. Enough solar panels exist out there right now for those of us willing to go out and spend the cash and make the longer term profit. Or, to help others with the dream of financing a stake in a green future.

Or maybe the nation-state is just past its use-by date as a viable commercial community. I don�t know about that. I just know if that class of elementary school kids can raise seven times the amount of cash needed for an array or two, there�s no reason why the experiment shouldn�t be repeated, or at least be attempted, elsewhere, and here.

4.) Oh wait, there�s still Canada to address. [*sigh*] Well look, apart from the fact that again, you�ve sourced an article from the obviously openly hostile/ biased Financial Times, and the language fairly reeks of a hit-job, the sad fact of the matter is that Canada doesn�t actually exist anymore.

Well, it exists in the hearts and minds of true-believing Canadians, and in Ontario and BC. The rest of the once-proud nation-state is actually a new form of territory known as a Harperite Area. When all those conspiracy theorists whine and cry about the great mysterious US secret weather weapon known as HAARP, even though they don�t know it, they actually mean His Amazingly-dishonourable majesty�s Area of Repugnant Providence, which is exactly how Harper got his name.

Oh yeah, BC. Look, I don�t have a hardon for solar panels per se. It�s not just that I�m so enamoured of big shiny new things that I think every kid in every class should have claim to one.

This whole thing is really about getting on with dealing with global warming in the best way possible, and to me that means creative, accessible, positive, and, achievable in the short term (cos long term means greater destruction), and, BC is doing that in the way that leaves most of the rest of the world eons behind, although Australia is catching up fast.

How is BC doing so well? I hear you ask. They�ve instituted a carbon fee. This actually returns money to the average citizen, much as it works in Australia, where companies are paid great tax returns for taking carbon-saving initiatives, such as installing solar panels. It�s working really well in both places, and thereby encouraging people AND companies, in a very natural way (ie. that is still effectively providing a �level playing field� for all companies involved and doesn�t create a governmental funding blowout such as in Spain). But hey, let�s save that whole conversation on carbon pricing for another thread, okay?

Oh, oh, Ontario! The place is hyper-rocking!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Canada

What's that you say? Why did I just ignore your final hack-job article? Because it takes selective information and extrapolates in the directions that it wants to, without explanation or evidence. I'm talking about lines like, "...Ontarians can expect power prices that are 46% higher over the next five years, according to a 2010 Ontario government estimate, and more than 100% higher according to independent estimates." According to which "independent estimates"? The writer's favorite Auntie Betsy, or the Koch brothers?!

Well, according to my independent estimates, those with solar panels will be recouping those costs in feed in tariffs and tax rebates, as they get paid for sending power back into the national power grid, and then again quite simply get paid per kilowatt hour. If big companies which use a lot of electricity don't get with the renewable program, charge them to the hilt, I say. More than 100% sounds completely reasonable, given the enormity of the messed-up problem that is climate change.

So, in conclusion, I'll just add:

Yay, solar panels for kids!
Yay, Kickstarter and Indiegogo solar panel projects for classes!
Yay, positive action in the face of climate change!