Thread: Solar Power : Fox News claims Germany has more sun than US

Originally Posted by Voland

Fox News caught Germans by surprise Not because Germans were generally listening to it, but because Fox had claimed that the success of solar energy in Germany was rooted not in well-managed green policies, but in the country having more sun than the average US ( that contains states like Florida or California though that are bit sunnier than Bavaria ). And also ordinary statitstics get in the way :

Fox News expert on solar energy: Germany gets "a lot more sun than we do." [VIDEO]

Media matters takes great glee in pouncing on FOX News any time they make an error. They monitor the station 24/7 and watch for any fact they might challenge. It's always news when they make such a mistake because despite the intense monitoring, it happens so infrequently.

Originally Posted by Voland

Fox News caught Germans by surprise Not because Germans were generally listening to it, but because Fox had claimed that the success of solar energy in Germany was rooted not in well-managed green policies, but in the country having more sun than the average US ( that contains states like Florida or California though that are bit sunnier than Bavaria ). And also ordinary statitstics get in the way :

Fox News expert on solar energy: Germany gets "a lot more sun than we do." [VIDEO]

This may have suprised the Germans, but for us old liberals it is just more of the same o same o coming from Fox. They hate green energy so much that they have no aversion to lying about it, or perhaps this just shows journalism no longer relies upon facts, but is grounded in conservative ideology. And yeah, this is dangerous. Millions of Fox viewers now believe germany is more sunny than the USA and that is why solar will never work out. Yes sir, Fox is very educational. Good for our school kids to watch so they can go and flunk Geography.

Germany is most famous for being a sun blessed paradise after all just like Cornwall.

Originally Posted by OldmanDan

Media matters takes great glee in pouncing on FOX News any time they make an error. They monitor the station 24/7 and watch for any fact they might challenge. It's always news when they make such a mistake because despite the intense monitoring, it happens so infrequently.

When your journalists are driven by ideology first, this tends to happen. Remember Fox and the presidential election? This misinformation is pretty common on Fox. They generally do it in much more clever ways though, and live to cloud issues as much as possible, in hopes that it will influence non Fox people, and keep the Fox people in the folds. They are generally pretty good at what they do, propagating right wing propaganda, that their viewers don't even notice it.

Seriously, you guys have become immune to spotting the outright propaganda, but if you could transport a regular guy from 1965 to your living room and let him listen to Fox for 15 minutes, he would easily spot the obvious. And probably be appalled by it. I don't believe any other MSM outlet is so damn overt with the propaganda as Fox is. Fox took it to a whole new level since 1996. The year that birthed modern propaganda machines not seen since Goebels as far as america is concerned.

And that is the main reason I have swore off of all the MSM news.

Originally Posted by Blue Doggy

When your journalists are driven by ideology first, this tends to happen. Remember Fox and the presidential election? This misinformation is pretty common on Fox. They generally do it in much more clever ways though, and live to cloud issues as much as possible, in hopes that it will influence non Fox people, and keep the Fox people in the folds. They are generally pretty good at what they do, propagating right wing propaganda, that their viewers don't even notice it.

Seriously, you guys have become immune to spotting the outright propaganda, but if you could transport a regular guy from 1965 to your living room and let him listen to Fox for 15 minutes, he would easily spot the obvious. And probably be appalled by it. I don't believe any other MSM outlet is so damn overt with the propaganda as Fox is. Fox took it to a whole new level since 1996. The year that birthed modern propaganda machines not seen since Goebels as far as america is concerned.

And that is the main reason I have swore off of all the MSM news.

If you hate FOX News so much, why did you watch it in the first place?

Originally Posted by OldmanDan

Media matters takes great glee in pouncing on FOX News any time they make an error. They monitor the station 24/7 and watch for any fact they might challenge. It's always news when they make such a mistake because despite the intense monitoring, it happens so infrequently.

It is one thing to make an, even controversial point about solar energy. It is quite another to make a claim like the one in question, that is not even open for interpretation. It is just plain , surprisingly easily refutable nonsense. Which means that either noone at FOX was aware of it, or that noone expected their viewers to be aware of it. Which does not exactly speak volumes about journalistic quality. I am NOT saying that this kind of partisan nonsense was only found in one political camp. But it kind of shows the quality of debate in the US right now.........

This is what liberals do; some idiot at a TP rally shows up with a sign mocking Obama and the whole movement is painted as racist. Somebody says something factually wrong on FoxNews and the entire FoxNews outlet is discredited as stupid. Any individual mistake that can be seized upon to discredit an entire opposing group(s) to the liberal cause can and will be used to the maximum extent possible. It's what they do.

If Fox only made these mistakes once in a blue moon you could have a point but they do it so often it's beyond a joke.

John Stewart has pretty much made his career from pointing out the mistakes Fox makes.

Originally Posted by Blue Doggy

When your journalists are driven by ideology first, this tends to happen. Remember Fox and the presidential election? This misinformation is pretty common on Fox. They generally do it in much more clever ways though, and live to cloud issues as much as possible, in hopes that it will influence non Fox people, and keep the Fox people in the folds. They are generally pretty good at what they do, propagating right wing propaganda, that their viewers don't even notice it.

Seriously, you guys have become immune to spotting the outright propaganda, but if you could transport a regular guy from 1965 to your living room and let him listen to Fox for 15 minutes, he would easily spot the obvious. And probably be appalled by it. I don't believe any other MSM outlet is so damn overt with the propaganda as Fox is. Fox took it to a whole new level since 1996. The year that birthed modern propaganda machines not seen since Goebels as far as america is concerned.

And that is the main reason I have swore off of all the MSM news.

BD, I don't know whether your post is hilarious, or pathetic. Maybe it's both.

Reading it conjures up the image of a man wearing sandals, knee high dark socks, plaid Bermuda shorts, a sleeveless white t-shirt with a ketchup stain down the front, and a propeller beanie, being interviewed by a local tv station as he bitches about the state of modern fashion.

Fox could have simply pointed out the expense of German solar power. Find out how much it costs to actually get 3r4 % of their power from solar, some of the time. But that would take an hour or so of research.

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

Fox could have simply pointed out the expense of German solar power. Find out how much it costs to actually get 3r4 % of their power from solar, some of the time. But that would take an hour or so of research.

Yes, of course one could research that

German Renewable Energy Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The economic outcome of the EEG for Germany has been impressive. According to the Green Energy Act Alliance, 2011, the net benefit of the EEG exceeds the additional costs of initial investment - by 3.2 billion Euros. Building a safe and clean power supply incurs costs. However, Krewitt and Nitsch (2001) compared the external costs avoided in the German energy system to the compensation to be paid by grid operators for electricity from renewable energies and found that results clearly indicate that the reduced environmental impacts and related economic benefits outweigh by far the additional costs for the compensation of electricity from renewable energies.
In addition, the feed-in tariff generates more competition, more jobs and more rapid deployment for manufacturing, and does not pick technological winners, such as more mature wind power technology versus solar photovoltaics technology (EC, 2005; Morris, 2007; Butler & Neuhoff, 2008)

Solar power in Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A feed-in tariff is the most effective means of developing solar power.[16] It is the same as a power purchase agreement, but is at a much higher rate. As the industry matures, it is reduced and becomes the same as a power purchase agreement. A feed-in tariff allows investors a guaranteed return on investment - a requirement for development. A primary difference between a tax credit and a feed-in tariff is that the cost is born the year of installation with a tax credit, and is spread out over many years with a feed-in tariff. In both cases the incentive cost is distributed over all consumers. This means that the initial cost is very low for a feed-in tariff and very high for a tax credit. In both cases the learning curve reduces the cost of installation, but is not a large contribution to growth, as grid parity is still always reached.[17]

Voland, that's far more research than one is going to get out of a broadcast or cable news piece in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Voland

It is one thing to make an, even controversial point about solar energy. It is quite another to make a claim like the one in question, that is not even open for interpretation. It is just plain , surprisingly easily refutable nonsense. Which means that either noone at FOX was aware of it, or that noone expected their viewers to be aware of it. Which does not exactly speak volumes about journalistic quality. I am NOT saying that this kind of partisan nonsense was only found in one political camp. But it kind of shows the quality of debate in the US right now.........

Let's face it, the lady was not hired for her knowledge of solar power. She is a commentator from their business network, not a solar energy expert. The thrust of the story was that we have spent billions on solar energy and all we have gotten from it is campaign contributions to Obama's reelection campaign. Every Green project that Obama as invested tax dollars in has gone belly up after contributing large amounts to his campaign.

If Germany has a viable solar power production system, why aren't we just buying what they have developed and stop wasting billions on reinventing the wheel? Makes one think the only reason is converting tax dollars to campaign contributions. Also, FOX News did not represent this lady as any expert on anything, Slate is the one who misrepresented her as an expert.