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Comment by zeynel1 | Hacker News Reader

"This industry is well suited to independent contractors with the skills to install environmental gear such as wind turbines. . ."

This doesn't sound right. Installing wind turbines is in the domain of huge energy corporations, as far as I know.

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I don't know about the US, but here in Europe there are huge numbers of small wind and solar installations going up on residential and commercial property. Architects and energy experts are calling it "eco-bling" - largely useless, but a highly visible and expensive way of signalling how much you care for the environment. I've lost count of the number of solar panels I've seen fitted on the north side of a building so as to face the main entrance rather than the sun.

The same sort of thing is happening here in the US as well.

There is a difference. The solar panels in Europe go up everywhere nothing compared to US you see. Some countries in Europe have a highly subsidized government programs where you get paid 50c per KWh for so many years. That spurred a rush to install a panel on the roof top and with it came many small solar installers/companies.

I have a friend who is an engineer at a wind turbine startup here in the US and he has told me that most of their prototypes are bought by big names in Hollywood for "eco-bling" as well.

Not all of them go on the grid to power entire cities. There are many wind turbines that only power a school or a hospital, or a section of a small town. IIRC, here in MN there are State grants available for people who want to start renewable energy businesses. I think (it was a while ago I heard about it) that their focus is on the smaller end; e.g., a laid off electrician who wants to start a business installing wind turbines.

"Installing wind turbines is in the domain of huge energy corporations..."

The large corps. contract a lot of the work out to smaller companies - An old highschool friend of mine works along Hwy.58 (Techachapi/Mojave) corridor in CA working exclusively on wind turbine maintenance. Rather lucrative work.

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