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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gamesmistress who wrote (62634)	4/30/2008 12:13:27 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541120

Hello, Gina. Sam is our resident expert on these matters. I really don't know the answer to your questions. I was struck by Friedman's column so would like to know more. Perhaps Sam will weigh in here.

To: gamesmistress who wrote (62634)	4/30/2008 3:05:49 PM
From: Cogito	Respond to of 541120

>>What does "created a market" mean? (Germany has created a booming solar market and America has not.)<< Gina - I think "created a market" may not be the right phrase, exactly. I think it's more like "created an industry". Solar technology is very close to the point where it will achieve cost parity with fossil fuels. But the industry needs a leg up to get to the scale of production that will allow that. Germany saw that a long time ago, and made a commitment to helping the solar power industry get going. Manufacturing breakthroughs are being made, and costs for solar PV systems are going to come down over the next few years, with or without the US government's assistance. It would happen faster with. - Allen