The first big scandal in The War Against Oil is warming up, and its name is CitizenRe.
There are all the earmarks of a crash here:
- They claim $650 million in investment, but won’t say where it comes from.
- The head of direct sales was part of a large pyramid scheme in a previous life.
- It is using multi-level marketing.
- The claim, a free installation of panels, is too good to be true.
- Plans for building its plant have already been pushed back.
- Most of their money seems to have gone into slick marketing aimed at consumers.
PoliticalCortex has a good rundown of all of it. Just remember Rule One, which is that if something sounds too good to be true, it generally is.
Current solar panel technology is based on the same type of silicon
used in chips. There is currently a worldwide shortage of this silicon.
Nanosolar, backed by Google’s co-founders, has just broken ground on its plant and these guys claim theirs will be bigger. CitizenRe claims its panels will use less
of the expensive silicon, but with current technology this just means
their yield in electricity will be less, and already the numbers just
don’t work — you’re not getting enough electricity to justify the
expense and installation costs. And if it doesn’t work for the guy selling it, it won’t work for you.
My fear, which I suspect Mike Taylor of Solar Kismet may
share, is that this whole thing blows up right in the middle of the
next political campaign, discrediting all solar ventures just as voters
are making decisions in the first election of the Global Warming Age.
Who benefits? All competitors to solar benefit. Ethanol and nuclear and coal and oil all benefit. Is the possible benefit
large enough to justify hiring a scam artist? You betcha.
I fully expect to see a lot of scams as The War Against Oil gets rolling, just as we’ve seen rip-offs in the current Iraq War. That’s why an important element in structuring this debate must be an insistence on stiff laws, with stiff penalties, stiff enforcement, and stiff oversight. Unless we treat energy scam artists as war profiteers, as traitors, we’re just going to get stiffed.
So the only suggestion as to why this company is doing what they are doing has to do with collusion and conspiracies among their potential competitors? They don’t even pay the security deposit in advance. I agree they are “reaching,” but I don’t agree that they are doing what they are doing just to be destructive. I still can’t see what this “destructive” competition could provide them other than bad PR.
So the only suggestion as to why this company is doing what they are doing has to do with collusion and conspiracies among their potential competitors? They don’t even pay the security deposit in advance. I agree they are “reaching,” but I don’t agree that they are doing what they are doing just to be destructive. I still can’t see what this “destructive” competition could provide them other than bad PR.
Howdy,
It has been a long time since I have hit the blogs about Citizenre and am happy to say there is some great news!
After a lot of passion and dedication of those of us who did not give up on the mission to bring renewable energy to the masses we have now got what we need to really make a difference.
We had a press Release this morning and I am happy to share three of the links where you can read about recent developments:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Citizenre-Signs-Development-Agreement-1392962.htm
http://newsblaze.com/story/2011020906124600002.mwir/topstory.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Citizenre-Signs-Development-iw-1095316263.html?x=0
We are finally doing what we started out to do even tho’ we had to make many changes.
Our plan is now even simpler… there is no longer a deposit required and all it takes to get a system is to be a home-owner in one of our service areas, have a home suitable for solar power, and the first month’s rent.
No credit checks and a fixed rate for 10-years so many citizens can produce their own clean green energy.
WE will be adding new service territories as time progresses.
Peace,
Frank Knight
P.S. I have literally over 400 blogs to post to that basically wanted not to hear from us until there was some serious action so you may see this same message repeated… I certainly don’t have time to make individual posts right now and will have many hours just copying and re-posting!
Howdy,
It has been a long time since I have hit the blogs about Citizenre and am happy to say there is some great news!
After a lot of passion and dedication of those of us who did not give up on the mission to bring renewable energy to the masses we have now got what we need to really make a difference.
We had a press Release this morning and I am happy to share three of the links where you can read about recent developments:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Citizenre-Signs-Development-Agreement-1392962.htm
http://newsblaze.com/story/2011020906124600002.mwir/topstory.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Citizenre-Signs-Development-iw-1095316263.html?x=0
We are finally doing what we started out to do even tho’ we had to make many changes.
Our plan is now even simpler… there is no longer a deposit required and all it takes to get a system is to be a home-owner in one of our service areas, have a home suitable for solar power, and the first month’s rent.
No credit checks and a fixed rate for 10-years so many citizens can produce their own clean green energy.
WE will be adding new service territories as time progresses.
Peace,
Frank Knight
P.S. I have literally over 400 blogs to post to that basically wanted not to hear from us until there was some serious action so you may see this same message repeated… I certainly don’t have time to make individual posts right now and will have many hours just copying and re-posting!
The real scam is of course the ‘renewable energy’ which is highly inefficient and costs way more than traditional energy. Only by stealing money from hardworking taxpayers, can Hussein HopenChange fulfill the wishes of his lefto worshippers. Real Americans (those born here) made it clear in the November elections that they don’t want the Islamo-Change that Hussein is trying to push through.
The real scam is of course the ‘renewable energy’ which is highly inefficient and costs way more than traditional energy. Only by stealing money from hardworking taxpayers, can Hussein HopenChange fulfill the wishes of his lefto worshippers. Real Americans (those born here) made it clear in the November elections that they don’t want the Islamo-Change that Hussein is trying to push through.
I find the ignorance of people that don’t know what they are talking about to be humorous. I have the solar unit on my house and many others do as well and it saves tons of money and CO2 production. I hope that the person who started this site and everyone related to him don’t ever get solar energy or any other energy saving systems. That way they can pay the high price of the corrupt energy producers.
Blankenhorn, you obviously are not smart and you probably voted for Obama. I want people to know that Citizenre is a great company and they have saved me lots of money. Please don’t listen to this IDIOT.
I find the ignorance of people that don’t know what they are talking about to be humorous. I have the solar unit on my house and many others do as well and it saves tons of money and CO2 production. I hope that the person who started this site and everyone related to him don’t ever get solar energy or any other energy saving systems. That way they can pay the high price of the corrupt energy producers.
Blankenhorn, you obviously are not smart and you probably voted for Obama. I want people to know that Citizenre is a great company and they have saved me lots of money. Please don’t listen to this IDIOT.