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A reader sent in a note the other day that looked interesting. The reader works in the solar industry and, apparently, their company has started considering offering a battery system owned by Koch Industries.
Koch, for those unfamiliar, is one of the leading polluters in the world, and hands-down one of the ones that plays dirtiest in the public sphere. Koch Industries became rich and powerful helping the Nazis and Russians in World War II develop and produce jet fuel resources. They then focused their work on the U.S. and have refineries and other operations across the country.
Charles and David Koch, two of the sons of the original founder, who inherited the 12-figure family wealth (hundreds of billions of dollars, but not yet a trillion…), became leading masterminds in efforts to undermine the legitimacy of climate science, and implemented and achieved wide-scale plans to create global dependence on fossil fuels (read Dark Money, by Jane Meyer, if you’re curious on this topic). The sheer amount of propaganda and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) produced by the Kochtopus, as it was called, that had the clear intention to hinder the development and consumption of renewables is beyond even the wildest imagination.
And now, they sell batteries for your house? Hmm. Here is the reader commentary, printed with the author’s permission:
Our sales team was recently pitched by Homegrid, as something we might want to start selling. Homegrid, through one subsidiary or another (Lithion Batteries Inc.,) seems to be owned by the Koch Industries or one of their investment companies, which also own GameChanger Solar.
I guess I’m happy that companies like Koch industries are moving into clean tech, but I’m not that interested in having my company support the Koch Industries by selling their products, as I got into solar to help move the world away from Koch Industries type of capitalism. So I’m conflicted.
Thoughts? Please comment below….
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