Once upon a time in a TV land older than most people I know, there lived a prime time soap opera called Dallas. In this show lived a big-hat-wearing Texas oil tycoon named J.R. Ewing. Those of you who remember this egregious, womanizing, money-grubbing corporate captain of industry will get how amusing it is that the owner of Ewing Oil (then and now played by Larry Hagman) has come out of this oil well to promote solar power. The rest of you might want to search Wikipedia and then, perhaps,YouTube.
Hagman, who is probably more famous for playing Major Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie, is now a spokesman for SolarWorld. And he has resurrected the J.R. Ewing character to help illustrate that point. SolarWorld is based in Germany but has manufacturing plants in California and Oregon. The 500-megawatt plant in Oregon is currently the largest solar cell manufacturing facility in North America.
As for Larry Hagman/J.R. Ewing, he lives in Ojai, California on a veritable plantation. There he grows vegetables and some 200 avocado trees, and has already installed a 94-kilowatt solar power system. If you’re wondering how the former (if fictional) oil tycoon changed his tune to one of solar energy, know that this photovoltaic system has reduced his annual electric bill from $37,000 to just $13, according to the LA Times.
Hagman is starring in a new ad campaign for SolarWorld in which he will play off Sarah Palin’slaughable Drill, Baby, Drill exclamation by encouraging homeowners to “Shine, baby, shine.”
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