A South Korean company called Hanwha Group is building a huge solar panel factory in Georgia using a new technology that promises lower prices and higher efficiencies:
The new technology comes from an Israeli startup that promises to simplify one of the most cumbersome steps in solar manufacturing and cut costs by reducing the amount of silver needed to capture sunlight on the panels.
Uh oh. What's more important, fighting climate change with better solar tech or shunning all things Israeli? Decisions, decisions....
Better batteries are coming Real Soon Now ... Why even ask a hypothetical if it's just that, a hypothetical?
On Edit: Just looked at the source: The WSJ. Ugh.
Just wow. Turning into quite the troll over Israel, which makes it seem like you know you can't justify what is happening and are just too crotchety to change your minds. First, even vastly improved solar isn't going to stop climate change because it won't provide enough energy while also requiring lots of energy to mine materials that often require massive human rights abuses. Second, the "what's more important, saving people like me or preventing the murder of unarmed civilians who aren't like me" is basically a justification for eco-fascism. I know you talk to your "reasonable" Republicans, but it doesn't seem like you've talked to a leftist in a few decades. Maybe actually have a good faith conversation with some leftists instead of just making bad faith assumptions about their views.
I found this: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720370595
Nothing there suggests ‘massive human-rights abuses’ ascribable to photovoltaics. The elements cited as used in production are either plentiful (silicon) or obtained as byproducts of refining copper or zinc, metals mined in quantity for their own wide use, by highly mechanized methods.
Net lifetime energy output of photovoltaics is estimated at 3 to 6 times times input: https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/energy/photovoltaic-energy-factsheet#:~:text=Net%20energy%20ratio%20compares%20the,are%20required%20to%20produce%20them.
There were a number of transformative discoveries made in Nazi Germany. Which is better: advancing technologies like the electron microscope and artificial rubber or shunning all things Nazi?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_Nazi_Germany#:~:text=1936%20%2D%20the%20invention%20of%20the,Fischer)%2C%20experiments%20with%20the%20development
From Wikipedia: "Production of synthetic rubber in the United States expanded greatly during World War II since the Axis powers controlled nearly all the world's limited supplies of natural rubber by mid-1942, following the Japanese conquest of most of Asia, particularly in the Southeast Asian colonies of British Malaya (now Malaysia) and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) from where much of the global supply of natural rubber was sourced."
Far from shunning the German invention of synthetic rubber, the U.S. coopted it. The jeeps and trucks that carried U.S. troops into combat largely ran on synthetic rubber tires.
And by analogy, South Korea co-opted Israeli solar panel technology. So that obviates Kevin's question.
I pray that you are being sarcastic and not merely peddling False Dilemmas.
Kevin sounds serious, like he’s slipping into old get off my lawn geezer status. I speak of this from personal experience. It takes an effort to maintain an open mind about all things not in my personal sphere of experience.
South Korean company. Factory in Georgia, USA (as opposed to Georgia, Russian Federation).
What's to complain about? I hear Israelis make fizzy water, too. So?
Georgia is an independent nation, though its regions of Abkhazia and North Ossetia are (illegally) occupied by the Russian Federation.
Thanks! I need to keep up better, or at least check wikipedia before making assertions.
Silver to capture sunlight??
Guess so. Still, while web searching to find how much silver per panel (average of 20 grams or about 2/3 a Troy ounce) I came across: https://electro.dtu.dk/newsarchive/2023/12/researchers-will-lower-cost-energy-usage-and-environmental-impact-of-solar-cells-by-replacing-silver
And was reminded of Solyndra, which assumed silicon wafers would remain expensive.
Good illustration that Israel's is an advanced technology-driven economy and they don't need our charity or support. Cut it off.
"They don't need our charity" sounds like an argument to cut off government aid, which is fine but that's a different point, isn't it?
The divestment argument is that people and organizations (like colleges) should cut off investment, trade, and a host of other ties with Israel. I'm curious, what is the goal in doing that? Is it to exert economic pressure on the Israeli government (which sounds like it may be minimal, being that the country has an advanced economy)? Is the goal more symbolic, so that we can make a statement and feel free of complicity in what Israel is doing?
I'm not trying to dismiss the moral argument. The moral argument is a serious one. But to be taken seriously, it should be clear about what the goal is. What is divestment going to achieve?
If the argument against sending arms to Israel is relatively straightforward (it's now US policy, with exceptions), the argument for divestment seems less clear to me.
For example, there's no comparable protest campaign to divest from China, another country accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. Our trade with China dwarfs what we do with Israel, and we buy "made in China" electronics and scroll the news on our iPhones without a second thought. If the moral argument against trade with Israel is so clear, why is it not so clear in the case of China? The suffering of Palestinians is compelling and visible. You may think the suffering of Uyghurs is less compelling, but that's arguable and more likely a sign of our own collective and selective ignorance.
To sum up, my take is that there's more complexity to these issues than often gets discussed.
[...and we have a verdict! hey!!!}
Really don't understand your questions. We did those things to Russia when they invaded Ukraine and no one seemed to question it.
And yes Isreal has an advanced economy but they don't have much in the way of natural resources. Granted if the West cut them off, they could probably look to countries like India or China. But there's also the symbolic issue. Israel wants to be connected to the West and being cut off from that connection would be a huge blow to them.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israeli response to the Hamas terrorist attack are not equivalent.
Short of a total economic boycott, the real effect on Israel is questionable. The symbolic issue seems to be more the point.
I don't know who you're asking me to speak for, but my moral argument has to do with my country, not Israel. I don't want my country financing war crimes and supporting war criminals. It's simple.
What came immediately to mind was the age old question of whether the West should gratefully receive the medical “advances” of Dr. Josef Mengele. How many more innocent civilians (particularly children) add up to the advances in solar power offered by Israel? And it’s worth noting that they’re being indiscriminately slaughtered with bombs and bullets supplied by my government.
If my memory serves, Dr. Josef Mengele made no meaningful discoveries: really he just did twisted and horrific experiments, that really were just a form of medical torture. IF, say, Mengele had made a meaningful medical discovery, I feel confident the discovery would have been adopted by the world....
"What came immediately to mind was the age old question of whether the West should gratefully receive the medical 'advances' of Dr. Josef Mengele."
That's sort of silly. Did the Israeli startup that developed part of the tech that this South Korean company is incorporating into its own technology develop said tech via unethical torture of the Gazan populace? I sincerely doubt it.
He is clearly making fun of the excess and zealotry of some of the anti-Israel Left, most of who are also for decarbonization.
I think it was clever and accurate of him. But then, like him, I am normie.
It's not clever, it's cranky and trollish.
Potato, potahto.
I don't see the problem. Israel will realize maybe a few dollars per panel and for all we know the people that work at the startup maybe appalled at what their country is doing in Gaza. Boycotting products from Israeli companies in the occupied territories on the other hand is fair game; they know they are there in violation of international law.
I don't see any reason to "shun" Israeli businesses, as first important step here would be to simply stop sending the government of Israel arms (and cover), but would you ask the same question when everyone was boycotting South Africa back in the day?
(not conflating the two, just making a point about boycots, including one that achieved its aims)
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Best of all would be if Israel rejoined the civilized world.
First they need to admit their transgressions and do what they can to undo the harm they have caused to others, as is the Jewish tradition.
They've been shite at that so far.
When is Yom Kippur this year -- ?
I'm OK with Israeli products so long as they come from inside actual Israel and not from the West Bank.