China Making Huge Gains in Solar While Trump Team Has Misguided Focus on Coal

Trump Losing in a Game He Doesn't Even Know He's Playing In

Coal is dying, solar is booming and so where is the Trump administration putting their resources?  In coal of course, making the wrong decisions is what foolish ignorant policy makers do.  As the NYT reports, in solar China is eating our lunch (and breakfast and dinner too).

"But economists and business groups warn that China’s industrial ambitions have entered a new, far-reaching phase. With its deep government pockets, growing technical sophistication and a comprehensive plan to free itself from dependence on foreign companies, China aims to become dominant in industries of the future like renewable energy, big data and self-driving cars.

With solar, it has already happened. China is now home to two-thirds of the world’s solar-production capacity. The efficiency with which its products convert sunlight into electricity is increasingly close to that of panels made by American, German and South Korean companies. Because China also buys half of the world’s new solar panels, it now effectively controls the market."



Of course, all of this could have been avoided has the Republicans support clean energy during the Obama years. But they did not and now for purely political reasons Republican have hitched their energy policy to the dead horse of coal.

To compete in the world market on solar the United States needs a strong government pro solar policy along with massive government support. The nation under conservatives is going the other way, and the results are predictable. Another market, another opportunity, another road to growth is lost.