Argue Your Case 1. A friend argues that subsidies for solar and other renewable energy sources make no sense because they force the public to pay extra for energy that just isn't competitive on the open market. What do you argue? 2. You're debating a representative of the coal industry, who claims that solar energy will never make a substantial contribution to our electrical energy supply because it's too diffuse and because the Sun doesn't shine 24 hours a day. Formulate a counterargument