At present, California is not as desperate as northern Sudan, and, in some ways
resembles southern Sudan. Given southern Sudan's oil fields, China, among others,
will be happy to sell, joint venture or probably even swap solar panels. The situation in
California is much more complex: suppose the Republican Party obtains a blocking
position in one or both houses of Congress. It would be foolish to expect that the
Federal government would be inclined to print billions of dollars to bail California out.
California could declare itself bankrupt, but we are not clear that will actually achieve
anything. What the State, its schools and even the Federal government (owns 45.3% of
California land) can do is to rapidly add solar panels on both an intimate level
(=individual schools, buildings and homes) as well as a grand scale. This will take a
smart grid. Of interest to US banks is that this represents an opportunity to achieve
reasonable profits without depending on credit card interest. We are certain if US
banks don't want the business China will be more than pleased to dominate the sector.
Any responsible leader for any part of present-day Sudan should
be aggressive about solar power. Sudan needs electricity and
should not be buying or burning coal and oil to produce it.
There's a lot of good reasons not to suffer through the expense
and danger of nuclear power. An additional benefit for Sudan is
scalability: solar farms can be concentrated near large cities,
while outlying populations can use individual panels. Solar
panels will shade the ground, slowing the relentless spread of
deserts, and should make possible a profitable bio-fuel producing
industry. With some clever design, solar panels can also serve to
capture water - always at a premium in Sudan - and power
desalinization. Especially in northern Sudan there's the added
benefit that local electrical light makes it possible to pray
properly and will facilitate pilgrimages to Mecca.