Tesla and Panasonic have launched the most exciting home construction product in decades: Attractive high-end roofing tiles that look like expensive slate, and capture the sun’s energy for home electricity use.
Think of it: We periodically need a new roof anyway, plus solar is basically free electricity – free cash, really – once the system is paid off (which is ever-easier as solar costs continue their steep decline).
So, Elon Musk asks: “Why not just combine high-end tiles and solar in a single, classy product?”
I predict the Tesla/Solar City solar roofing tiles will be popular in coming decades – a wholly new and disruptive industry, in fact. And therefore, it would be a good idea for job seekers to get hired at the start. “To save the planet, invest our working lives.”
Good altruistic thinking, plus there is very good money to be made here. Take a look at this summary piece, by Bloomberg’s Tom Randall: “Tesla Finishes First Solar Roofs – Including Elon’s House.”
Initial production is at the main Tesla factory in Fremont, California. But production is quickly shifting to Buffalo, New York, and staffing is ramping up right now.
Here is a set of links to Buffalo job opportunities making solar tiles for Tesla, their subsidiary Solar City, and their partner Panasonic.
A side note: Both partner Panasonic and Tesla continue to have numerous open job postings at or near Tesla’s new Gigafactory, in Reno, Nevada.
(I have to laugh at the audacity of Tesla: The solar tiles warranty is, “Glass solar tiles are so durable they are warrantied for the lifetime of your house, or infinity, whichever comes first.”)
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Not sure how to start saving the planet (civilization, really)? Start by always remembering that “Hope is a renewable resource.”
Then, our practical answer becomes “Deeply know the personal Superpowers” we all bring to the game of life:
1) To save the planet, CHANGE OURSELVES FIRST;
2) To save the planet, INVEST OUR WORKING LIVES;
3) To save the planet, USE OUR VOICES and take advocacy seriously! Never miss a vote and never, ever stop influencing your government and all businesses locally, at the state level, and at the national level. As well, set a solid example for all around you to see. Jawbone to others about what we need to do, and influence them as peers. Finally, have an annual cash donations program. All of these are ways we can use our voices.
Stay focussed: Lead the way with substantive global warming solutions. (Far from being a bummer, this is actually a fun trend for each of us to be part of… get energized!) Our kids and their kids will be proud of us.
And in all cases and at all times, cast aside the learned-helplessness that infects so much of modern life… the time is now for climate change solutions. Never give up.
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Global Warming, You and I 