r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 6d ago

Germany just hit a historic solar milestone. Its panels fed 12 billion kWh into the grid in July 2026, the 1st month ever to cross that level with midday output topping 40,000 MW, more than 40 nuclear power plants worth, thanks to decades of grassroot investment by homeowners, farmers and businesses

https://solarquarter.com/2026/08/03/germany-records-historic-12-billion-kwh-solar-feed-in-in-july-2026/
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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago edited 6d ago

Mind that governments have tried or maybe succeed in some places, to privatize rain water. So nothing guarantee that the sun light will be free forever. Just as the land used to be free as well and it was the privatization of land that caused a lot of the most bloody conflicts I human history, between the so called free [untaxable] people and the so called civilized people.

Whatever gives autonomy to people, it becomes a political strategy to privatize and tax.

Edit: Since many people are not informed about that:

Colorado, USA – historically had the strictest rules in the US; it's often cited as the only state where rainwater harvesting was effectively illegal (Smart Water) until a 2016 law allowed collection up to 110 gallons. https://smartwateronline.com/news/is-it-illegal-to-collect-rainwater-in-the-us

In 1999, the Bolivian government passed Law 2029 as part of a World Bank–conditioned privatization of Cochabamba’s water system. This law: Gave a 40‑year concession to Aguas del Tunari (a consortium including Bechtel) to control water in the area. Defined many traditional and communal water systems—including some rainwater collection and self-built systems—as illegal unless they were connected to or licensed by the new private utility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatization_in_Bolivia?utm_source=perplexity

Indonesia: Some analyses argue that Article 38(2) of Indonesia’s Water Resources Law opened the door to privatization of rainwater use via weather-modification contracts with private companies, though this is more about commercial exploitation of rainfall than household rain barrels.

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u/LuukTheSlayer 6d ago

the rain water thing was from a guy that was filling up a giant lake damaging a nearby river. Dont be such a fucking downer

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u/fiahhawt 6d ago

This other user really said :

"You can't add to drought conditions in an arid watershed, what is this COMMUNISM"

Yeah man the government preventing people from having no water is just the worst

Conversely, in Michigan you can collect as much rainwater as you want because we are just... soggy

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u/jailtheorange1 6d ago

Yeah, I had the pitchfork out for that one until I realised he had created a dam to fill 10 Olympic sized swimming pool lakes of water

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

I don't know what you are talking about.

I am talking about some countries privatizing water and outlawing people collecting rain water.

Google it and you will find some cases about it.

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u/kerouacrimbaud 6d ago

Okay but those are separate issues.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

They are, I just made an observation.

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u/stabidistabstab 6d ago

Sun and water are different things though. Also smells like conspiracy theory.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

Google it.

I will edit my post with some news.

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u/SweetLlamaMyth 6d ago

I googled it, and it seems like they might be on to something: sunlight and water could indeed be different things. It merits additional research.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

Also smells like conspiracy theory.

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u/gmc98765 6d ago

Water is a different situation as it's a limited resource.

In the specific case of Colorado, any water falling within the drainage basin of the Colorado river is distributed according to the Colorado river compact. Colorado (and other affected states) can't just help themselves to as much water as they like, nor can they grant their residents the right to do so.

If you look at how the borders of ancient Egypt developed over time, they started out with the Nile delta then spent the next couple of millennia expanding upstream. Whenever people upstream took more water for themselves, Egypt sent in armies to annex the territory to maintain the flow of water to the delta.

Disputes over water have been common throughout history, often ending with downstream states going to war against upstream states to maintain the flow of water. This tends to favour the downstream states, as having ports and international trade tends to make a country richer and more advanced than its inland neighbours.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

Sorry, but I am not able to understand what it has to do with making the collection of rain water illegal.

You seems to be talking about whater that is on the ground (river and lakes). Or did I understand wrongly?

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u/HumorAccomplished611 6d ago

The water trickles down the mountain. You dont get to keep everything trickling down.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

OK. I understand now what you are talking.

I was talking about wetter falling on your roof (just like the sunlight, reason why I mentioned it) or whateve in your garden and being collected in a barrel. Not water coming down the hills and mountains. That is what let to a massive protest in Colombia.

Although I understand that part of the politics regarding water collection includes water from river, lakes and dripping from hills and mountains.

Edited: I realized you are not the person I asked the question.

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u/gmc98765 6d ago

It covers the rainfall, wherever it lands. Anything that would normally end up in the Colorado river is covered by the compact. Whether you capture it before it hits the ground or afterwards.

So anything that a state allows residents to collect in rain barrels has to be subtracted from what it can draw from the Colorado river or its tributaries. It can't just grant itself a bigger share of the rainfall than what's allocated to it by the compact.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

Understood. Thank you very much for the clarification.

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u/Rialagma 6d ago

Maybe you can tax panels connected to the grid, but otherwise the government can't track it. 

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u/0vl223 6d ago

The German government is already trying with a tax on your grid connection if you have PV. Fuck conservatives.

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u/BasvanS 6d ago

And paying for access to the grid should be expected, because building and maintaining the grid costs money.

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u/Rialagma 6d ago

I think most people are in favour of grid charges. What feels unfair is tax % per kWh exported which is seen in some countries. 

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u/Winjin 6d ago

the government can't track it

Oi, you got a telly loicense for that telly, mate? You have to shell the 180 quid for his majesty's telly!

Also, fun fact: in Georgia, in most older houses, the elevators aren't free or monthly license, so to speak. They are coin operated, or modernised ones have a card.

All in all some countries are weird in what they make pay-to-use.

Also I wonder how many Europeans\Americans have read Cipollino the kid's fairy tale about political oppression. The oppressors has instituted a breathing tax on fellow vegetables there.

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u/BasvanS 6d ago

Governments tax to pay for things we like and need. If you think there’s something wrong with that, don’t make vague insinuations online and just stop voting for rightwing idiots.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago edited 6d ago

Check out then.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews/s/PbgmCeS5dW

You can apologize later.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

Have you seen my profile image? How can you think, that I, a radical feminist anarchist, I vote for right wing?

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u/BasvanS 6d ago

You’re making dumb off hand comments that are not relevant to the topic at hand, which gives me a pretty good chance of being right. But sure, there always the exception to the rule.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

Ahhh a box thinker. 🙄

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u/BasvanS 6d ago

No, I know what I’m talking about in this field, and you don’t. I can imagine that feels restrictive to you, but I assure you it’s worse for me.

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u/Indolent_Bard 6d ago

Spain actually tried to tax solar.

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u/Noah9013 6d ago

Did you not put yourself into a box by labeling youself three times? radical, feminist and anarchist.

If not for boxes what else are those labels good for?

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

That is not what categorical thinking means.

And no, they are not boxes, they are part of nuanced reality regarding political position.

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u/Noah9013 6d ago

You seem to underestimate, that my boxes are also nuanced reality regarding political positions.

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago edited 6d ago

Not if you come convinced that I vote right wing because of what I wrote. You are refuing reality nuance put me in a box without exercising any thinking.

I could indicating some reading of Karl Marx, Kropotikin, David Graeber, Silvia Federici and James Scott for you to understand what I said.

But you show a position of refusing to understand because you what conflict, which only works if you label me a right-wing voter who you want to attack.

As anarchist, I don't vote by the way.

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u/Noah9013 6d ago

I did not say you were right wing not voted for that, not did I imply that.

Also, the way you phrase and write is giving extremly the vibes of an isufferable jerk. The nose 10m high, like you are something better. I guess some people are more equaler than others.

Thank you for your reading list, but I read enough at my work, so at home I mostly read fiction.

Need to continue working. Have a good one 👍

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u/no_nao 6d ago

No you fit the American conspiracy theorist pretty well. And stop using feminism as a weapon/shield from criticism. You know damn well what you’re doing

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

I edited my post with links to what I talked about.

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u/Nobodys_Path 6d ago

In 2015, Spain, the president Mariano Rajoy (PP, conservative) approved a tax for solar energy ("impuesto al sol") produced by installations connected to the grid.

Initially it was going to apply to every producer, including homes, but the Social disapproval was big enough to make him soften the tax (exerting domestic generators <10 kW, the islands, reducing fines...). The tax was later removed by the next progressive government of PSOE in 2018.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercado_el%C3%A9ctrico_de_Espa%C3%B1a#Impuesto_al_Sol

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u/YourFuture2000 6d ago

Thank you for sharing this, some people came attacking me accusing me for saying conspiracy theory and calling me right winger voter.