Staff Reports
The Pentagon, located near Washington D.C., is considering adding Chinese-made solar panels to their campus as part of the Biden administration’s push for clean energy. The Defense Department plans to use Energy Department grants to increase the amount of carbon-free electricity at federal facilities and create more clean-energy capacity. However, Republicans in Congress are raising concerns about the project. They worry that using Chinese solar panels could pose economic and national security risks. They noted that a large majority of solar panels in the United States are from China, and even if the government buys American-made panels, the materials needed to make them often come from China as well. The potential dependence on Chinese materials for solar energy and battery storage could threaten national security.
.@SecDef cannot allow our nation’s military installations to rely on CCP materials and must ensure U.S. dollars do not benefit one of our greatest adversaries.
I’m calling on @SecDef to put America’s economic and national security interests over the Biden administration’s green… pic.twitter.com/kpaEqTlG9n
— Rep. Rob Wittman (@RobWittman) June 10, 2024
Additionally, the article points out that the production, transportation, and disposal of solar panels are heavily carbon-intensive, and the data used to claim carbon neutrality may not be reliable. A report by Environmental Progress raised concerns about the accuracy of the figures influencing government investments in solar energy. The data is often provided by a few industry sources, and the organization that compiles the data might not provide a complete and transparent picture. Furthermore, a new investigation suggested that the carbon footprint of solar PV could be significantly higher than previously estimated, potentially not comparing favorably with other energy sources.
Overall, the conservative rewrite of the article emphasizes concerns about the use of Chinese solar panels at the Pentagon, particularly in terms of national security and the reliability of the data used to promote clean energy initiatives.
