3 ms·

> more Republicans have installed solar than Democrats (which is true, by the way) Can you elaborate please?

freehunter 9y ago
I have no facts to back this up (hopefully the other guy does) but intuitively it makes sense to me. If you think about political maps, which areas are almost always blue, and which areas are almost always red? Cities lean democrat, and cities also often have higher density living. If I'm in an apartment, I can't install solar panels. I have no where to install them. But if I live in a rural or suburban area and have an acre+ of land and a single-family house, I have a roof and a backyard I can fill with solar panels. I probably also have a less reliable electricity grid than in the city, so getting power somewhere else is helpful. I'm also much more likely to vote Republican.
- soundwave106 9y ago
  From a similar angle, wind power's greatest onshore potential in the United States is roughly speaking the Great Plains region. Most of the states that lead in the percentage of power supplied by wind are Republican dominated. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Wind_Generation_Percentage_Bar_Chart_U.S._2013.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_State...) Wind turbines in my opinion make great sense for farmers and ranch owners. Turbines (which often are installed via leases to the power companies) often offer a reliable, steady source of income to this group (compared to commodity prices, which are very volatile). There's also less potential for NIMBY issues in rural locations, in my opinion. At its core, I think anti-environmental politics is often largely a central distrust of government regulations, in my opinion. Renewable energy in itself should not really have a political tag (unless one is too deep into political tribalism to notice). Such is already a profitable prospect in many places today.
- dspillett 9y ago
  Also there is a higher proportion of Republican party supporters in some southern states, where being closer to the equator improves the value proposition of installing solar cells - because of lower time to paying off the investment (so there may be a financial gain in having them installed even if you don't accept the overall climate argument).
  - ythn 9y ago
    Also a huge base for democrats are poor minorities (Blacks, Hispanics, etc) who likely can't afford solar panels as easily.
diafygi 9y ago
Sure! Here's a good study. https://priceonomics.com/are-republicans-or-democrats-more-likely-to-go/ https://priceonomics.com/are-republicans-or-democrats-more-l... And that's just the residential sector. If you add in businesses and utilities, who's executives are overwhelmingly Republican, it tips the scale way over to Republican. Nowadays, people buy solar for economic reasons, not environmental ones.
- ramphastidae 9y ago
  Thanks!

I have no facts to back this up (hopefully the other guy does) but intuitively it makes sense to me. If you think about political maps, which areas are almost always blue, and which areas are almost always red? Cities lean democrat, and cities also often have higher density living. If I'm in an apartment, I can't install solar panels. I have no where to install them. But if I live in a rural or suburban area and have an acre+ of land and a single-family house, I have a roof and a backyard I can fill with solar panels. I probably also have a less reliable electricity grid than in the city, so getting power somewhere else is helpful. I'm also much more likely to vote Republican.

soundwave106 9y ago
From a similar angle, wind power's greatest onshore potential in the United States is roughly speaking the Great Plains region. Most of the states that lead in the percentage of power supplied by wind are Republican dominated. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Wind_Generation_Percentage_Bar_Chart_U.S._2013.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_State...) Wind turbines in my opinion make great sense for farmers and ranch owners. Turbines (which often are installed via leases to the power companies) often offer a reliable, steady source of income to this group (compared to commodity prices, which are very volatile). There's also less potential for NIMBY issues in rural locations, in my opinion. At its core, I think anti-environmental politics is often largely a central distrust of government regulations, in my opinion. Renewable energy in itself should not really have a political tag (unless one is too deep into political tribalism to notice). Such is already a profitable prospect in many places today.
dspillett 9y ago
Also there is a higher proportion of Republican party supporters in some southern states, where being closer to the equator improves the value proposition of installing solar cells - because of lower time to paying off the investment (so there may be a financial gain in having them installed even if you don't accept the overall climate argument).
- ythn 9y ago
  Also a huge base for democrats are poor minorities (Blacks, Hispanics, etc) who likely can't afford solar panels as easily.

diafygi 9y ago

Sure! Here's a good study. https://priceonomics.com/are-republicans-or-democrats-more-likely-to-go/ https://priceonomics.com/are-republicans-or-democrats-more-l... And that's just the residential sector. If you add in businesses and utilities, who's executives are overwhelmingly Republican, it tips the scale way over to Republican. Nowadays, people buy solar for economic reasons, not environmental ones.

ramphastidae 9y ago
Thanks!