- 5 days ago
Years Of Living Dangerously
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00:19Oh, my God, look at this down here.
00:22That looks like I did it.
00:24Dave, you want an electrician?
00:25No, I'll take care of it.
00:27I've always been fascinated by India.
00:30But what I hear more and more these days
00:31is how it will soon be the most populous nation on Earth.
00:36For me, the question is, what's it going to mean for climate change?
00:40Excuse me.
00:41Aaron, could you go a little faster?
00:44No, I'm joking.
00:45I'm joking.
00:46It's a joke.
00:48No, please don't go faster.
00:53What is that?
00:55What is that?
00:55Those are electricity wires.
00:57And there's electricity going through there now.
01:00Right now, yeah.
01:00Just one snarl is worse than the next.
01:05Honest to God, what are you going to do?
01:07Look, this infrastructure has to be modernized, right?
01:11Oh, you think?
01:12Okay.
01:12We want to modernize this a little bit.
01:14What, just maybe a coat of paint?
01:16But here's what's happening.
01:17Look, all this power is coming from the grid, right?
01:2160% of that power capacity is coal.
01:24But this infrastructure has not been upgraded for a very, very long time.
01:29Right.
01:29Right?
01:29So about 30% of what we are generating is getting lost in transmission.
01:33So when we lose the electricity in the transmission, we're having to burn more coal for the same
01:39amount of electricity.
01:40And that affects the climate?
01:42That affects the climate.
01:46But that's not all.
01:47The economy is also booming here.
01:50India is already the third largest consumer of coal, right behind the U.S. and China.
01:57And to feed its growth, India plans to burn twice as much of it.
02:02Coal is the single biggest contributor to climate change.
02:05And this is a problem not only for them, but for the entire planet.
02:10It's interesting.
02:11The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, seems determined to find a solution using solar power.
02:17But can he pull it off before it's too late?
02:30Okay.
02:31So I'm not really supposed to be up here.
02:34But I was told there's something I have to see.
02:37Oh, wow.
02:40Oh, my God.
02:43I'm on the roof of the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.
02:47You would never know this was up here.
02:50Ever since I first learned about solar energy, I've loved the idea that the sun could provide
02:56us with all the electricity we need.
03:00But in Nevada, where solar has been growing rapidly, there's actually a huge battle unfolding
03:07over rooftop solar.
03:09A battle that could affect the rest of the country.
03:12Yo, block the sun!
03:14Yo, block the sun!
03:16Yo, block the sun!
03:17Yo, block the sun!
03:19So what's going on here?
03:20Who's trying to block the sun?
03:23My first clue came from an insider, a former CEO in the energy industry.
03:28Nationwide, there's less than a million American homes that have solar on the roof right now.
03:33And people say there's roughly 55 million American homes that should.
03:37Why is that?
03:38What's stopping it?
03:40Well, if you think about it, energy worldwide is a $6 trillion a year business.
03:45And the first goal of the people in that industry are to make sure that it continues to be a
03:49$6 trillion a year business.
03:51So their economic interest is huge.
03:54Now, some states have started to do solar, others aren't doing it at all.
03:58Why?
03:59The powers that be in those states are resisting.
04:02They don't want it.
04:03If he's right, what does this mean for solar's future?
04:45The power is all just smiling.
04:46Theons can support you and the Internet.
04:46Why is so much time to develop solar's future money...
04:55See where they do so, nothing more time to try and save your attention.
04:56I rasa beyond that.
04:57What is your brain god?
04:58I really do great.
05:01So your brain god is small.
05:01I'm excited to not be great until you soon.
05:10God damn it.
05:18Hello.
05:19Good afternoon, Mr. Letterman.
05:20Pleasure to see you.
05:22How may I assist you?
05:23I was in my room a moment ago.
05:25I was using the hairdryer.
05:28I was drying my beard.
05:31And all of a sudden, everything stopped.
05:33And then everything comes back on.
05:37Unfortunately, we do have frequent power outages.
05:39So that was a power outage.
05:41Yes.
05:42And when you say frequently, how often?
05:44Well, at least about four to six times a day.
05:47Four to six times a day.
05:48But you don't need to worry.
05:49We have a full power backup.
05:51What is the power backup?
05:53We do have a generator.
05:54A generator?
05:56Powering a big hotel on a daily basis?
05:59Well, that's something I didn't expect.
06:03Today, I'm meeting Indian filmmaker Iqbal Kidwai.
06:07And he's taken me on a tour of New Delhi to show me all the problems that come with use
06:11of generators.
06:13This is...
06:13What neighborhood is this?
06:15This is Kwanath Blesa.
06:16A huge commercial center.
06:18A huge commercial center.
06:19So as we're walking around, I see a tailor shop.
06:22And I think this is the perfect opportunity to try to get one of those long shirts that I see
06:26people in India wearing.
06:28Well, you know what I'm interested in are the long...
06:31Kurta.
06:31Kurta.
06:32Kurta.
06:32It's uniform for the politicians.
06:34So the prime minister would wear...
06:35Yes, he would.
06:36Modi is a big trendsetter, actually, in terms of fashion.
06:39Oh, is that?
06:39The Modi jacket and the Modi kurta has become quite a fashion statement.
06:42You want to measure me and we'll go...
06:45Are you going to do the measure?
06:46Yeah.
06:46Okay.
06:47Is there any disrobing?
06:48No, not at all.
06:49Oh.
06:54Have you ever seen a more powerfully built man?
06:58Is it possible to get my name across the back?
07:03That'd be good.
07:04We could have it embroidered.
07:04Yeah, that would be very nice.
07:06Should I write there with that letterman?
07:08Just D. Letterman.
07:10Okay.
07:10Wait, you know what?
07:12Letterman.
07:13You know what?
07:14I'm sorry.
07:15Dave.
07:15Oh, only Dave.
07:17Yes, thank you.
07:19I'm excited to get my Kurta in a couple of days, but meanwhile, Iqbal gets me back to
07:24the task at hand.
07:25We have a bit of a climb up, Dave.
07:27Smart.
07:27All right.
07:28Yep, this way.
07:29Turn up the stairs.
07:30All right.
07:33Oh, my.
07:33What are these giant things?
07:35That, sir, is what we need to power ourselves.
07:39Any of those green things?
07:41These are generators, right?
07:43These are generators.
07:43Yeah.
07:43There's several over there.
07:45All those green ones and the yellow ones.
07:46As far as you can see, for 360 degrees, that guy's got his car horn hooked up to a generator.
07:54Back home, we use generators when a tree falls on a line, but here, power failures seem to be
07:59pretty routine.
08:01The power, when it goes, it can come back in two minutes and come back in 20.
08:04Sure.
08:05See, when you're not sure, you need a backup.
08:08Iqbal tells me these generators are all powered by diesel and pour huge quantities of carbon
08:14dioxide into the atmosphere.
08:16And here's the really scary thing.
08:18India has enough backup generators to power all of Australia.
08:24A grid powered by coal inefficiently run with power outages left and right, all requiring
08:32more coal.
08:33And on top of that, these diesel generators are warming the planet even more.
08:39But why can't India's power come from a cleaner and more efficient source, like solar?
08:45That's actually what India is trying to do.
08:58I will.
09:05You're good, baby.
09:06I love you.
09:07Take care of yourself.
09:08Okay?
09:09You be Teddy.
09:10Don't change.
09:11Be good, dude.
09:13Bye, guys.
09:23I'm learning that Sunrun had been one of the top-performing solar companies in Nevada,
09:28and now it's in the process of shutting down most of their operations here.
09:35So this entire warehouse was filled with solar panels?
09:39Solar panels and all the components you would ever need to build them.
09:42We were actually installing more solar from this warehouse than any warehouse in the whole
09:46company.
09:46Wow.
09:47Nationwide.
09:47Nationwide.
09:48This was the top-performing warehouse nationwide.
09:51And how many states are you in?
09:53We're in about 15 states.
09:55To see it as a ghost town like this is terribly sad.
09:59How could a thriving company disappear virtually overnight?
10:03What's going on here in Nevada?
10:06Some say it's a no-brainer to get solar energy.
10:09But as of today, some of the biggest players say their industry could collapse.
10:13Customers of solar power companies may see a more expensive bill soon.
10:17Envy Energy proposed increasing their service fee for solar customers.
10:21Now I'm starting to get the picture.
10:22This fight is about residential rooftop solar.
10:26It's been taking off all over the U.S., and Nevada had been one of the fastest-growing markets.
10:31Thousands of people here were installing solar panels on their roofs and saving money on
10:36their electric bills.
10:37But the utility company, Envy Energy, claimed rooftop solar customers were benefiting at
10:43the expense of non-solar customers.
10:46The utility got approval to cancel incentives for solar and tack on new and substantial fees.
10:52This made rooftop solar suddenly far too expensive.
10:56The three members of the PUC are at the center of a solar fire store.
11:01Hangar thousands of customers who'd invested in solar in prompted land.
11:06Now this whole thing is shot out of the water.
11:10I mean, talk about betrayal.
11:13My name is Teddy Stanowski.
11:15I am a solar customer, homeowner, and until last Wednesday was a solar employee for Sunrun.
11:22And, Commissioner, you claim that you have not seen any evidence of hardship or job loss.
11:28Well, the truth is, I am the evidence.
11:30We are the evidence.
11:35What these guys are doing is wrong.
11:38These are people who have been laid off by the extreme actions of the commissioners that
11:41are inside this building.
11:42They've eliminated these jobs and the jobs of thousands of other people across the state.
11:47We want freedom!
11:56So, what happened with solar in Nevada?
12:00How does this end up an empty office?
12:03Well, the Public Utilities Commission, who just wrote the recent decision,
12:07what that decision did was it made it completely uneconomic for anyone to go solar.
12:12And so, the next day after that decision, there was simply nothing to sell.
12:15And that's why we've seen layoffs, not just our company, but every solar company in the state.
12:20So, who is this commission?
12:22What's the name of it?
12:24It's called the Public Utilities Commission.
12:26And their job is to look out for?
12:28Their job is to look out for all repairs.
12:30It's for people.
12:30It's to look out for every Nevadan.
12:33And unfortunately, what they did in this case is they only looked out for the utility.
12:37So, how many, who are they?
12:39There's a lot of sordid ties here.
12:41Maybe we've drawn out on something if we could find, if you draw on a cardboard box, right?
12:45All right.
12:47Listen, Governor Sandoval is in charge.
12:51He is at the top of the pyramid.
12:54Okay.
12:54Now, Governor Sandoval himself used to be a lawyer for the very utility interest that
13:01we're talking about here.
13:02So, this is a Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility.
13:06Okay.
13:07At the same time, he appoints the regulators, the commissioners.
13:12There's three of these folks.
13:14Just three.
13:15Just three.
13:16And Sandoval appoints these commissioners.
13:18The people that link it all together are utility lobbyists, or sit in the middle,
13:24and they are connected to everyone.
13:28These, the two top utility lobbyists, are actually Sandoval's closest political advisors.
13:35They've been friends since college.
13:37They convinced him to run for office.
13:38They serve on his campaigns.
13:40That's pretty powerful people.
13:42Yeah.
13:44It turns out, before he was elected, Governor Sandoval did indeed work for the utility shareholders
13:50of Nevada, supporting Envy Energy's bids to raise electricity rates.
13:55And two of Envy Energy's top lobbyists, Peter Ernau and Greg Ferraro, have made no secret
14:01about their close relationships with the governor.
14:03But Brian tells me what's happening in Nevada is just the half of it.
14:08There's a much bigger campaign to slow down the rise of rooftop solar across the U.S., and
14:14I need to know about it.
14:30I need to know about it.
14:51We are heading into the more rural, less developed, let's say, less developed areas
14:57where the places that we are going to, we will find villages completely off-grid, like this village here.
15:03Wow.
15:04And off-grid, and short.
15:06They've got power lines going past them, but they're not connected.
15:09It's becoming clear when it comes to energy, there's another side of India I need to see.
15:17People without money can't buy generators, so they have to depend on all kinds of kittling
15:22and firewood or kerosene lamps.
15:25Like this village here?
15:26Uh-huh.
15:29After a long drive, we come to a small village in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
15:34Oh, my.
15:36One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
15:41Hello.
15:42Excuse me.
15:42Hello.
15:43Do you mind if I sit down?
15:44Hi.
15:45Okay.
15:46Please sit.
15:47I want you to, first of all, names.
15:50What is your name?
15:52Koban.
15:52Beautiful name.
15:53Your name?
15:55Kansai.
15:56And your name?
15:58My name is Dave.
16:00How old are you?
16:02Teen.
16:03Teen.
16:04He's about 12 years old.
16:0512 years old.
16:06I have a son 12 years old.
16:08It looks to me like you're studying.
16:11You're doing school work, is that correct?
16:13Yes.
16:14And you're doing it with this for light.
16:18What is that?
16:19It's called a diphi.
16:20It's called a diphi.
16:21And what is it burning?
16:23It's a diphi.
16:24They burn it with kerosene oil.
16:26Do we have electricity here?
16:28In the village?
16:28In the house?
16:29Anywhere?
16:30No.
16:42Does it bother you, the three of you, to breathe the fumes?
16:47Does that bother you?
16:49It's a diphi.
16:51It's a diphi.
17:02How long will this go on?
17:04When will you get electricity?
17:07Another year? Another five years?
17:09How long do you think it will be?
17:15What do you want to do when you grow up?
17:19What kind of things?
17:22She wants to become a teacher.
17:26A teacher? How about you?
17:29Good. And then you?
17:34She wants to become a dansa in the movies.
17:37Oh, very nice.
17:40Those are all wonderful thoughts, hopes, and ideas for your lives.
17:45Before coming here, I never imagined kids having to breathe in toxic kerosene fumes just to do their homework.
17:53But there are 300 million others in India that live just like this, with no access to any power at
18:01all.
18:02300 million people.
18:04Basically, the population of the United States.
18:08It's not just an energy problem.
18:11It's a human problem.
18:13Something has to change.
18:18It's shocking to learn that rooftop solar has so many enemies here in Nevada.
18:23But Brian Miller says there are even bigger forces at play.
18:27Let me just tell you what this fight's about.
18:29In one word, this fight is about competition.
18:31Rooftop solar is the first form of competition that utilities have ever faced.
18:36And so the utility's strategy is to quietly go to the legislators and get them to kill solar under the
18:44cover of darkness.
18:44Well, how do you know all of that?
18:46I actually used to work at the largest utility in the country when these modern rooftop solar wars started.
18:52Really?
18:53Yeah, I did.
18:54I was, at the time, in a progressive, forward-thinking utility that was actually trying to develop solar.
19:00And then they got bought by an even bigger utility.
19:04It became the largest utility in the country.
19:05And my new bosses came to me one day and said, listen, I know you think your job was to
19:10promote renewables.
19:11Your new job in this newly formed company is to eliminate all renewables at all costs, and specifically rooftop solar.
19:18That's crazy.
19:19It was pretty crazy.
19:20It was a pretty surreal experience.
19:21And I said, well, I'm sort of accidentally in the middle of the Death Star here.
19:25I should probably figure out how the thing works before I leave.
19:28And I was in internal discussions where they plotted the campaigns on these issues.
19:33And what were some of the tactics discussed?
19:38Well, specifically, the idea was that all of our team of lobbyists would go and fan across the country
19:44and lobby against renewable energy policies, specifically rooftop solar policies.
19:49And you were asked?
19:50I was asked to do that, too.
19:51Wow.
19:51I think what surprised me the most is being in a fossil fuel company that was that big,
19:56I was, like, awed at their extent of political influence.
20:00I mean, it was just stunning.
20:02I remember at one point in a state capitol that the utility had dozens of paid lobbyists on retainer in
20:09this little capitol.
20:11What they would actually do, and utilities across the country do this, we run into it all the time,
20:15is they will go to lobbyists in town and give them a retainer of $10,000, $20,000, $30,000
20:21and say,
20:21we are paying you not to work.
20:23We are just going to give you this money.
20:25As long as you agree not to work for renewable interests against us,
20:28we will just give you the money to do nothing and be conflicted out from representing clean energy.
20:33You know, if you've got unlimited resources, those are the kind of tactics you deploy.
20:47The energy company that Brian used to work for is Exelon, which operates in 48 states.
20:54I asked them about their lobbying practices.
20:56They responded in an email, saying,
20:59we have never employed a strategy to prevent other stakeholders from finding adequate representation
21:05or having their voices heard.
21:09And Governor Sandoval claims that lobbyists have no influence on him.
21:13I don't think so.
21:13I mean, there's no bigger champion of rooftop solar and renewable energy than me.
21:17So how can he stand by and watch his appointees engineer the industry's demise?
21:23They're my appointees.
21:24But it's very important to emphasize they're an independent board.
21:27They're a quasi-judicial board.
21:29It would be improper and perhaps illegal for me to interfere with their process.
21:33But we need to back up.
21:35I spoke to a woman named Rita Rizvi.
21:37Rita?
21:38Who also worked at Exelon the same time Brian did, but in the sales division.
21:43That's correct.
21:43We were both there.
21:44She confirmed Brian's story.
21:46What stood out to me was just the scale, how they would hire tons of lobbyists to lock solar
21:55out of entire states.
21:56I remember a large omnibus energy bill out of Illinois.
22:01And Brian's story about buying up lobbyists in a state capital, that was Springfield, Illinois.
22:08I spoke to a lobbyist who was there at the time.
22:11He asked to remain anonymous.
22:13You've seen it.
22:14You know, oftentimes a utility will hire a number of lobbyists to do a very, very small
22:19amount of work.
22:20And what that means is that it becomes difficult for a renewable energy company to find a lobbyist
22:25who isn't already contracted out.
22:27And that hamstring is being distributed.
22:29Brian said he was awed at the extent of Exelon's political influence.
22:34How is solar supposed to compete with that?
22:37And how are we all supposed to beat back climate change if people in places like this can't afford
22:43to put solar panels on their roofs?
22:58So much of India lives the way we did before our own industrial revolution.
23:04But that's changing fast.
23:06This country is becoming an economic powerhouse, running headlong into the 21st century, and
23:13there's no stopping it.
23:15Iqbal introduces me to a company out here trying to bring light to the 300 million Indians
23:21living without power.
23:23OMC is a private company, and we generate power, and we sell this to businesses and to families,
23:32the homes that you see around here.
23:34And we use mostly solar.
23:37This is not a very big solar array.
23:40No, it's not.
23:40But it is actually enough to power about 200 homes.
23:45You know, we need all the energy we can get in India.
23:48How many of these do you have around the country?
23:51Right now, we have about 70 of them in and around the state.
23:56And we're building at the rate of one such plant every day.
24:00One a day?
24:01Yeah.
24:02Well, you're very busy then.
24:03We're pretty busy.
24:05You know, the entire community around here is deprived, right?
24:08There is pretty much no power.
24:11You've become a neighborhood utility.
24:13I like that term, the neighborhood utility, because that's exactly what we are.
24:17We're local.
24:18We can talk about you using that later.
24:21You know, 45 days after we started, we signed up our first customer.
24:26If that's it, if that's all it takes, you know, sign me up.
24:30Did you bring some stuff that I can sign?
24:32Did you get your checkbook?
24:33Yes, I do.
24:34Next, they show me how they store power at night when the sun goes down.
24:39And they have plans for expansion.
24:41And they tell me business was the inspiration, not charity.
24:46For years, Anil worked in the telecom business where he had the idea to power cell towers with solar instead
24:52of diesel.
24:53It worked so well, he ended up with surplus electricity.
24:56And then he realized he could also start bringing solar power to the people.
25:01It's not a high-tech operation, but it gets the job done.
25:06Hundreds of other companies have similar operations, mini power plants not connected to the grid, which bring solar power to
25:14villages that for decades have had to rely on dirty forms of energy.
25:19So she's saying, you know, this has been a transformation because earlier she used to run her life on a
25:23little kerosene lamp.
25:24And when the power finally came to her home, it changed her life.
25:28And the kids can study to 12 and to 1 o'clock at night.
25:31It's an amazing story because she's a widow.
25:33And she's supporting, you know, this entire family, putting the kids through school.
25:38And that was the motivation to get the solar hookup.
25:42Yeah, that's right.
25:43So your children could study.
25:45Could I ask her a question?
25:47Did it give you more confidence when you realized at night you could read and study?
25:55And things easier now in school?
26:01It's a lot easier.
26:03What can you say about this?
26:05It's the transformative power of a single white ball.
26:09Yeah.
26:09Well, yes, and never better illustrated than here, I think.
26:13The family gets 12 hours of power each day at a price they can afford, just $2 a month.
26:22I'm wondering if every village in this country had its own solar array,
26:27then maybe India could simply bypass new coal plants.
26:37I met up again with David Crane, the former head of a huge, dirty energy company who developed a passion
26:44for solar.
26:45All right, so I went to Nevada.
26:47You did?
26:48And it was terrible.
26:50I wanted to talk to him about the ruling in Nevada that just shut down the growing rooftop solar market.
26:56So how big of a setback is this to the solar movement in Nevada and in the country?
27:03Well, this is a huge setback because, in one way, because it provides a blueprint for the opponents, the utilities.
27:08Okay, we rolled it back in Nevada.
27:10We can go around and roll it back in other states, which, of course, puts the solar industry on its
27:15back heels because these are young companies.
27:17And to spend their resources fighting these utilities is a drain on them.
27:22But the other thing is that Wall Street then loses confidence in them because Wall Street doesn't like industries that
27:30are subject to regulatory whims.
27:33You have a business in one state one day, and the next day it's gone.
27:36That's terrible from your investor's perspective.
27:39So you were the head of a major energy company, and you fought for solar power, right?
27:48That's right.
27:48And I don't know exactly why I got fired, but I think the reason I'm sitting at this bar today
27:53not working is because what we were doing in home solar,
27:57there is still a concern on Wall Street that it's really a viable industry because of some of the issues
28:02that we're talking about,
28:03which is just shockingly ironic to me because if you can put solar on the roof of your house,
28:10make your own electricity cheaper than you could buy from the grid,
28:14have a bit of grid independence for when the wires go down,
28:17and enhance the property value of your house while keeping the globe from melting,
28:23what informed American homeowners not going to do that?
28:26It is the game changer in the power industry, and that's why it's so important to the consumer
28:31and such a threat to the powers that be.
28:34And the way that the utilities fight these battles is just old-fashioned NRA type.
28:41If you're with me, I will give you money, and if you're against me, I will fund your opponent, and
28:46you'll lose your time.
28:46Fry my utilities from my cold, dead hands.
28:49That's right.
28:49Where is it the worst, the absolute worst?
28:52Well, there's only one place that you can, you have to go to the Sunshine State.
28:57You have to go to Florida.
28:58What?
28:59The utility down there, Florida Power and Light,
29:01is the undefeated reigning heavyweight champion of preventing solar from coming into their territory.
29:08Wow.
29:08In the Sunshine State.
29:10In the Sunshine State.
29:11You'll have to see for yourself.
29:12It's quite remarkable.
29:19So I took his advice and went to Florida.
29:24Oh, a snowman.
29:26Well, who says the climate isn't changing?
29:35The good thing about a country with a booming economy is that many people finally have access to the things
29:40that we take for granted.
29:42The bad thing is that it all comes at a price, and in the case of India, it means the
29:47need for more energy.
29:49A lot more energy.
29:52What is the government's plan for all this?
29:55Today, I get to ask India's Minister of Energy, Piyush Goyal.
29:59Minister Goyal, Dave Letterman.
30:01Nice to meet you.
30:02Great pleasure to meet you.
30:03Let me just say, you are immaculately dressed.
30:07So is that so?
30:08This is beautiful.
30:09You are one slick dude.
30:12Yeah.
30:13My wife would like to hear that.
30:21Oh, thank you very much.
30:23You want some of these?
30:25No, they can't get it to him.
30:26Okay.
30:30The idea of one and a half billion people, will they receive their electricity via solar, or will we still
30:39be using coal here?
30:40Of course we'll be using coal.
30:42Still using coal.
30:43That's our basic load.
30:44Right.
30:45So the power will flow from coal, and all renewable sources will supplement it.
30:50But if coal is used parallel to the other goals, solar, renewable sources, how do we improve the climate?
31:01Well, you know, for starters, we could have the developer very seriously look at their consumption of electricity,
31:09and possibly stop having all the waste that we are seeing.
31:14I can show you some pictures from around the world.
31:17You name the city, and I'll show it to you.
31:20Look at office buildings.
31:21This is at maybe midnight or 2 o'clock in the night.
31:25Every light is on, not a single person working.
31:27I live in New York City.
31:28I know this to be true.
31:29You want to see the New York City.
31:30No, I see it every day.
31:32You want to see the street lights right outside the White House?
31:35I can show it to you.
31:37Street lights running in the day hours.
31:39And you imagine the angst a person like me feels.
31:42I understand.
31:43When I'm being told that, you know, you stop using coal.
31:46Right.
31:47But we have a right to waste electricity.
31:49Sure.
31:49By the way, is this an active runway?
31:53Just a thought.
31:55I don't know.
31:56Yeah, it is.
31:57It should be.
31:58I don't know.
31:58There's nobody from the airport here.
31:59No, we're fine.
32:00I'm not worried about it.
32:01You don't worry about it.
32:01We have no choice.
32:03Let's have a look at this.
32:05Here we go.
32:05The minister says we're out here to see how India is implementing a big push on solar energy.
32:12If all countries in the world help with capital to invest, help us with modern technology,
32:17help us keep these costs low, in the last two years alone, we've been able to bring down
32:23the price of solar power by about 35 to 40 percent.
32:27Yes.
32:27Now, if the whole world joins hands, we can bring it down for you.
32:31And it'll be a win-win for everybody.
32:34Well, see, now, here, I see this, and my pessimism diminishes.
32:39We plan to replace 770 million incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs and 35 million streetlights.
32:49It's going to reduce carbon dioxide emission by 80 million tons a year.
32:5480 million tons a year.
32:56And you get that done, the schedule is, oh, I thought, like a weekend.
33:022019, it's not all that difficult if people work together, support each other's initiatives.
33:08I don't see any difficulty in making it happen.
33:10The minister tells me this solar installation is just one small part of a much bigger plan.
33:16They're trying to squeeze solar fields on every available pot of land possible.
33:21And back in the hotel, I see he's not kidding.
33:24Prime Minister Modi is planning to build the largest solar array in the world.
33:29He intends to increase India's solar capacity 10 times over in just the next six years,
33:36installing everything from large scale to rooftop to solar covering everything from canals to cricket fields.
33:44Wow, this country has the will to go solar.
33:47Back home, it feels like all we do is argue about renewable energy.
33:54Is it really possible that the sunshine state could be worse than Nevada when it comes to rooftop solar?
34:14But I can't help but think of all of the billions of dollars it's going to take to make this
34:18happen.
34:19Tomorrow, I'm meeting the prime minister.
34:22Perhaps he can tell me the plan.
34:29As rooftop solar grows in popularity, utilities continue to fight it tooth and nail.
34:35There are currently challenges in over half the states in the country.
34:39And a lot of these fights are now taking place in these obscure public utility commissions.
34:45I still haven't been able to talk to anyone who's been on one of these commissions.
34:51Then I discovered Nancy Argenziano, a former Republican chairwoman of the Florida Public Service Commission.
34:58She made waves when she stood up to the utilities.
35:00And I am going to move to amend the motion on the floor, whether it's accepted or it's not.
35:05When Florida Power and Light asked for a $1.3 billion rate increase,
35:10Argenziano and her colleagues voted against it.
35:13Reports surfaced that the utility was orchestrating a smear campaign.
35:17An ethics complaint was filed against Argenziano.
35:21FP&L denied involvement.
35:23However, the person who signed the complaint later admitted it was bogus.
35:27She had been promised a job in exchange for her signature on a blank complaint form.
35:37I've seen some examples of what Florida Power and Light's capable of.
35:43And what did they do to you?
35:45I guess I had a reputation of being a consumer advocate.
35:48And they didn't like FAIR.
35:49FAIR wasn't good enough.
35:50So they employed all kinds of tactics, hiring attorneys that filed fake ethics complaints.
35:57They acted like thugs.
35:59And growing up in Brooklyn, I could tell you what a thug is.
36:01Yeah.
36:02Okay.
36:02I couldn't believe here's a corporation trying to remove sitting commissioners for doing their job.
36:09But that's exactly what they did.
36:12We were going to go for reappointment after our four-year term.
36:15And in the history of Florida, they've been reappointed over and over and over again, except for us.
36:21So the public has no public service commission, and it's not fair by any means.
36:25I mean, what's so frustrating is in Florida, you're ignoring the sunniest state, ignoring the sun.
36:32Exactly.
36:33The sunshine state.
36:34And you're not allowed to provide energy through sunshine.
36:37Now, if you had a solar industry or an alternative industry that had the money like these government-backed monopolies
36:45do, possibly you'd see some change.
36:48I admire so much people I've met that are not giving up the battle.
36:52Absolutely.
36:53Because it's so difficult, and it just seems like, how do you...
36:58Because if you give up, if you give up, then we give it all to them.
37:02So you have to stay involved.
37:04Give if you can.
37:06If you're a person who really wants to do it for the right reasons, go there and do it.
37:13So silly.
37:14I'm sorry.
37:15It's not silly.
37:17I'm sorry.
37:18I'll pull it together.
37:19It just brought back all of that.
37:21You can't go up there and do good.
37:23They won't let you.
37:24And I understand the rule of politics and the bending here and there, but you don't sell out to this
37:30degree.
37:30You know that solar energy is good for the state of Florida.
37:34You know that it will bring jobs.
37:35You know that it's a whole new industry, and it's the right way to go.
37:38How could you sit back and pretend?
37:40And you know what happens if we don't.
37:41Exactly.
37:42The biggest cost is to our future, and time is running out.
37:49I left Nevada and Florida feeling disillusioned.
37:54But back in my home state of New York, where it's cold and gray, it appears using the sun is
38:00okay.
38:00I'm headed to meet with Richard Kaufman, New York's energy czar, and Peter Claro, the COO of a restaurant supply
38:07store that's powered by solar.
38:11This is all solar.
38:13It runs about 40% of our building.
38:15How much would you say you've saved?
38:19About 30 to 35% of our annual spending.
38:22Wow.
38:22In New York, it's different than some sunny weather states.
38:25Because you have facilities in Florida.
38:26We have almost a dozen facilities in Florida.
38:29You do, and you can't do this there.
38:32Because of government policy.
38:33Exactly.
38:34It just doesn't make sense right now.
38:36Wow.
38:36In New York state, it's one of the fastest growing job creators in the state.
38:39And it's also increasingly what individuals and communities and businesses want.
38:46How did this all come about?
38:48The governor here, Andrew Cuomo, made climate change a top priority.
38:52So he created incentives for the utilities and renewable companies to work together.
38:58How have these utility companies dealt with it?
39:01So I give the utilities a lot of credit.
39:03We want them, and they are, working in partnership with the solar industry.
39:08What we've tried to do is to create an opportunity for, frankly, everybody to win.
39:13It's happening.
39:14It's happening already in New York.
39:16And once we can show that this is something that works, we would expect that other states will support this.
39:23Governor Cuomo hopes to provide enough solar by 2023 to power 400,000 homes.
39:31But in other places, change is slow.
39:35Alyssa's pro-solar group was handily defeated by the utilities, which spent millions on their campaign.
39:41But Alyssa is still hopeful.
39:43And so am I.
39:45California, Arizona, North Carolina, and other states are going gangbusters on rooftop solar.
39:53Imagine if every state could follow their lead.
39:58My last stop in India is a visit with the leader of the largest democracy on earth.
40:04Thank goodness I brought a suit.
40:06Thank you for allowing us this time.
40:10The relationship of India with the United States of America, what is your view of that?
40:33Tell me more about yourself.
40:34Where did you grow up?
40:35What kind of a kid were you?
40:49What is fascinating to me is the combination of politics and a spiritual motivation.
41:24People have told me.
41:25Anywhere between 300 and 400 million Indians do not have electricity.
41:33And the population over a billion now and will in a few years be a billion and a half.
41:39Does it bother you spiritually that the coal will be used to help electrify the entire country?
41:48Will they have to get their electricity from coal until the entire solar project is complete?
41:55They must have to escape.
41:58One should get the utility from its actions.
42:00Others should use their aspirations to complete the whole of its TongQuran.
42:01They must have to be full and this is our responsibility also.
42:04but not at the cost of the nature.
42:10But if the world helps me technological,
42:14if the world has resources,
42:17then I will be the first person
42:19who will be able to convert the coal into clean energy.
42:26Until I can't do that,
42:29then I can think of another way.
42:30That's what it's about.
42:32Prime Minister Modi is overseeing
42:35one of the greatest renewable energy plans ever devised.
42:39Yet when it comes to getting investment capital to build it,
42:42it's coming up short.
42:43And when the Prime Minister talks about other ways to provide energy,
42:47he's talking about burning twice as much coal by 2030.
42:52And that, frankly, scares the hell out of me.
42:55Will the world help India get off coal and onto solar?
42:59I wonder how many people back home
43:00know how much is writing for them
43:02on the answer to that question.
43:07Oh, how are you? You're looking good.
43:09No, I know.
43:11Hey, how you doing? Nice to see you.
43:13From around here?
43:15This is what I'm looking for.
43:17Thank you again.
43:18Thank you, sir.
43:18Thank you. Thank you.
43:20Not just for this, but all of your time
43:22and all of your knowledge.
43:24Thank you very much.
43:25Thank you very much for being with you.
43:37Here in America, we're certainly not as ambitious as India is
43:41in cleaning up the way we make energy.
43:46So maybe we need to get our own house in order and also find the political will to help countries
43:52like India leapfrog fossil fuels to a cleaner future.
43:58I know it's not much, but I am trying to shrink my own carbon footprint.
44:05Are these things working? Did you ever get them plugged in?
44:08Do we want our children one day to say to us,
44:11wait a minute, you knew this was a problem and you ignored it?
44:16But to really fix it, it's going to require all of us and every country to do much, much more.
44:23We'll see you next time.
44:27Bye.
44:32Bye.
44:34Bye.
44:35Bye.
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