You may have noticed that we at Solar Roadways don’t comment on political posts. We decided early on that it was important for us to remain apolitical. The last thing we would want would be for SR to be “taken” by one party or another. Given the current political climate in which each party seems to feel compelled to attack whatever the other party likes… that would be terrible.
We have to be ready to work with government officials of all political persuasions. We are working to make our entire planet a safer and greener place for all of hte inhabitants of earth… in every country. We are grateful to have supporters who share our vision and work to help in every corner of the planet.
When the Obama Administration invited us to the White House for the first White House Maker’s Faire in 2014, we were proud to go. And we were even more proud when President Obama’s team chose to include Solar Roadways in his State of the Union Address the following year.
We would have happily worked with Bernie or Hillary. (And maybe we’ll still get a chance to work with Bernie in his senate capacity).
And we will be just as happy to work with President Elect Trump if he so requests. Many people like SR for divergent reasons. We hope there will be many things about Solar Roadways that he will love: perhaps our ability to modernize our infrastructure with easy to maintain modular panels which have the intelligence create the nation’s Smart Grid. If implemented on a grand scale, the clean energy produced would be more than enough to power all of America. If our new president is interested in helping companies which make electric vehicles, we hope he will love our ability to work with mutual induction companies to create dynamic charging of EVs on our nation’s highways. Maybe he will embrace the idea floated this year in so many news articles that perhaps the Mother Road, Route 66, should become America’s first solar highway. Perhaps he will realize that funding and implementing SR on a grand scale would create countless new jobs. It could be the New Deal of this century: we can move into a new age of clean energy and economic prosperity in one swoop. Perhaps President Trump will want to choose one inner city as a model and focus on putting the people to work there making and installing SR panels to improve the city, make it safe and clean and beautiful (and lit up like Tron).
Since I handle of all of our social media, I am privileged to be able to read and respond to comments on our various fan pages. I’ve taken part in discussions where people discussed their affiliation with four different political parties and they agreed that what they all had in common was their belief in the Solar Roadways vision for the future. They may have come to their decision from different vantage points, but that’s just fine. We are reading about the deep pain so many are feeling right now in the aftermath of this election. If we can have even a tiny part in the healing and pulling our nation together, we’d be honored.
I appreciate you taking a position of being apolitical. Candidly, as a conservative who is mourning the real potential loss of Donald Trumps leadership for our country, I can relate to the ‘pain’ you mention in your blog from the election of 2016. I realize that the vast majority of your supporters and you folks yourselves are probably at least left of center if not far left. That doesn’t negate my support for your concept and overall general goals. I’m an ‘all of the above’ conservative. I grew up in a small town in NW Colorado which has been coal country for many years with a coal burning power plant that will likely close in 2025 or sooner, not just laying off workers at the power plant ( maybe 200 or so ) but more concerning is laying off many coal miners ( hundreds ) who have built their lives and communities around the jobs those coal mines have provided for many years. Again, I say I support your overall goals and I’m excited to see where this idea can go. Politically, my only concern about the goal mines and power plants shutting down is they are happening pre-maturely. In the natural, organic process, technology finds better, faster, cheaper ways of building a widget. In other words, I’m not a protectionist ( as I candidly think many on the left actually are ). We are enjoying energy independence for the first time in decades, I sure hope we don’t reverse that in the name of ‘climate change’. As your technology improves and expands and proves cost effective ( which I am excited to see the progress toward that ) it will naturally, organically replace more costly energy sources, like coal and oil. The concern I have had for electric cars is, most people don’t even consider where electricity comes from to charge these cars, currently those power plants they are trying to shut down. Batteries are getting better, but we’re not quite there yet. Your concept of charging as you drive is fantastic, that solves that issue for me. I believe that Donald Trump would absolutely celebrate your innovation and entrepreneurship. It’s not coming from some government funded ( I have no issue with the grants you’ve received, so that’s not what I mean ) propt up program ( can we say Solyndra ) but in fact, an idea dreamed up by individuals and pursued at your own expense to start with. I’m glad you have the support of your local Republican Congressman. As you progress, my encouragement would be to stay politically neutral as many of your supporters will try to push you left. Your goals are honorable and worthy of admiration and encouragement. You are the epitome of the free enterprise ideals, you see a need and working to address that need. That is what capitalism is about. Best wishes to you in 2021 and I’m looking forward to being able to order my driveway in the future. Dan Jones