Will The Big Ugly Bill Crush Your Solarpunk Dreams?
What the facts say...
There’s so many horrible things in the big ugly bill Congress is ramming through approval, it’s hard to keep up. Among other atrocities, the bill will end a major tax credit for rooftop solar on ordinary homes.
Maybe it doesn’t sound like a big deal, especially compared to parts of the bill that torch health insurance for 17 million Americans or plan to hire thousands of new ICE agents, many of them almost certainly recruited from white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
It’s still a big deal.
If you ever thought you might get solar panels at any point in the future, for any reason, now is the time to take notes and make your decision. After this year, that decision is going to get a lot harder.
We used to have solar panels. They saved us a few times during severe storms and power outages. There’s something to be said for them. And with rising energy bills, driven by technocratic AI fantasies, many of us are now having to choose our future: taking on a big investment, living at the mercy of utility companies, or giving up and finding a nice little cave to hide in.
Combined with Trump’s unpredictable tariff tantrums, his sustained assault on renewable energy is going to hurt. It’s going to hurt everyone, even the MAGA cult who gnash their teeth at the idea of green energy, calling it a scam or some kind of globalist agenda. They weren’t paying attention, and they don’t have the slightest clue how it’s going to shred the grid.
I’m not a guru on solar panels, but we’ve owned rooftop solar in the past. I’ve read a few books and I’ve watched a ton of videos.
Here’s my take: