The Success of the Solar Industry Has Societal Importance
Regarding my earlier suggestion in which I lament the downturn in the solar industry, and that 9800 job were lost in solar in 2017, frequent commenter MarcoPolo writes: Every boom time industry, especially those heavily reliant on consumer or taxpayer subsidies will eventually undergo a constriction. At least half of all the companies participating in the boom time sales conditions were unsustainable ventures; the natural attrition rate was always obvious once the shakeout began.
Obviously, the forces of the free market need to act against incompetent and inefficient companies. Yet we need to think about the solar industry in a qualitatively different way than we do about dog food, cell phones, or sports shoes. Our civilization is in a desperate race to power its needs from its closest star, so as to avoid catastrophe. No one really cares if Nike beats Adidas or AT&T beats Verizon. Everyone cares if our planet ceases to support life.
Craig,
“we need to think about the solar industry in a qualitatively different way”
Er,.. why, and more importantly, how ? Your answer has an touch of irrational hysteria instead of rational objectivity. Your original premise was President Trump ‘conspired’,( with whom isn’t exactly clear) to cause the loss of 9800 solar industry job in 2017 by introducing a mild tariff on imported panels.
When this was demonstrated to be completely inaccurate and erroneous, you propose the solar industry should operate in different manner than all other industries !
Unlike Al Gore, why is it so hard for you to admit in this case your accusation against the President’s policy was ill considered ? ( I don’t expect a reply or even an admission of error, the left never admit error :)).
But I’m curious, how would you like to see the solar industry operate ?
We put a man on the moon. Did we do that based on the market economics? Of course not. It was a concerted effort that we, for whatever reason, believed to be eminently worthwhile.
Craig,
Well, I guess I’m right, you can’t bring yourself to admit error.
Like Lawrence, I can’t see the relevance of your reply ? I suspect that like most ardent anti-fossil fuel advocates, you haven’t any feasible plan of how to proceed, just a sort of wish list for a Utopian desire, and an urge to spend a lot of other people money on useless symbolism.
Maybe I’m wrong (I often am), maybe you have a brilliant secret plan that doesn’t fall apart on careful analysis. Then again maybe the reason we remain skeptical is the last time a government got involved in ” mandating” a technology, we ended up with the ongoing economic and environmental disaster of US corn ethanol.
That’s a more relevant example.
@Craig
“The success or otherwise of the Global Solar PV Industry moving forward will be determined by well established market forces applicable to the Global technology industry in general.”
Lawrence Coomber
And for those who may be opinionated on the subject rather than knowledgeable………
One important reason of course is that by society formally elevating (presumable through national government legislation) a particular technology at any given point of time or under any circumstances to a position of prominence or favored status is dangerous.
It immediately snuffs out innovation in that particular technology sector and sets up an impossible to exit treadmill to obsolescence for that technology sector.
Very dangerous strategy, unheard of in the techno centric human history hitherto, and a very weird scenario to put forth Craig.
Lawrence Coomber