Actor Larry Hagman was all about petroleum when he played oil magnate J.R. Ewing in television's longrunning "Dallas" series.

These days, he's pitching solar energy with a new slogan -- "Shine, baby, shine," -- soon to air on a television near you.

Hagman is the face of a new ad campaign for SolarWorld, the German company making solar cells in Hillsboro. He admits the slogan is a jab at Sarah Palin's "Drill, baby, drill," refrain during the 2008 presidential campaign.

"'Shine, baby, shine' is an inexhaustible source of energy," said Hagman, who plans to address the Intersolar trade show today in San Francisco. "When affordable oil gives out, we're in real trouble -- I mean the collapse of civilization, within 15 to 20 years."

Hagman, who also acted in "I Dream of Jeannie," is a longtime renewable-energy advocate who has installed what he believes to be the country's largest residential solar system at his eco-estate north of Los Angeles. He's served on the board of the Solar Electric Light Fund, or SELF, a nonprofit that brings sun-powered projects to developing countries.

Solarworld plans to donate 100 kilowatts of panels to SELF, destined to power at least five additional health clinics in Haiti.

For Hagman, though, the move toward solar is bigger than one ad campaign. "We've got a work force that's looking for jobs," he said. "We've got a long line of people returning from wars."

Hagman, 78, says, "I'm well and happy and living in California, which has lots of sun."

-- Richard Read
 

I am proud to say that I never wasted one brain cell or one minute of my life watching the TV program "Dallas". I'll also say that I am very skeptical about the efficiency of solar and wind power production methods as they stand today. However, I try to have an open mind, I don't want to do like the Catholic church and excommunicate Galileo because his discovery didn't conform to church dogma.

I wish success to Mr. Hagman and SELF. A lot of our energy problems would be solved if their equipment could provide an inexpensive, practical and efficient source of reliable electric power. And even though I dislike Mr. Hagman, when I was a little kid, his mother, Mary Martin, was my favorite Peter Pan. Although I would have been shocked to find out he was a girl, older than my mother.