Solar Dividends: How Solar Energy Can Generate a Basic Income For Everyone on Earth

Imagine a world where poverty has been eliminated and global warming has been brought under control. That's the world envisioned by Solar Dividends. Starting from the premise that no one owns the sun, Solar Dividends puts forth a bold new plan to share the wealth of planet's primary energy source--solar energy--with all people. Although utopian in scope, Solar Dividends details a realistic program to use solar energy to pay for unconditional basic incomes for everyone on Earth. The idea is simple: we set up solar panels for each person, sell the electricity the panels generate, and deliver the money as solar dividends to the person as their basic income, for the rest of their life. The solar panels pay for themselves through the money they earn by generating electricity. The money won't run out because the panels are maintained and replaced as needed. And we don't have to wait for an international treaty because every country receives enough raw solar energy to set up their own program. Solar energy gives us a new way to pay for basic incomes, and basic incomes give us a new reason to build solar energy. Combining these two big ideas will lift everyone out of economic insecurity, reduce the carbon emissions that drive climate change, and assemble a clean energy system that can sustain us indefinitely into the future--all with one program. Solar Dividends makes clear the practical steps to bring about this positive future.