The Jury's Still Out On Solar

Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA reiterated yesterday that the United States government is committed to a green economy during her trip to Paris for "international talks on how rich governments can include global climate concerns in overall development aid."  We have heard several proclamations from this administration that renewable energy including solar power is at the top of their priority list.

The problem is that everytime one of these government talking heads preaches about the energy revolution they speak in broad, general terms.  Where are the specifics?  When you hear Barack Obama speak on education you can tell he "gets it".  He is adept at pinpointing past failures and spelling out changes that are practical and proactive.  In essense they have a long term plan for success in this sector of the government.  With regard to solar power not so much.

The time period between 1979 to 1986 in the solar industry is widely known as the "tax credit era".  In the early 1970s as a result of the Arab-Isreal War and the embargo that followed oil prices rose sharply.  In 1979 President Jimmy Carter created a 40% Federal Tax Credit for solar power in response to these volatile oil prices. Many new businesses entered the solar hot water business at a time when the technology was fledgling and as a result the market was full of poor equipment and unscrupulous tax credit schemes.  I recently spoke with a long time builder about his experiences with solar equipment.  He stated "we installed a lot of them about 20 years ago but the problem was they were junk, they didn't work." 

In a sort of "thinning of the herd" scenario, the solar tax credits ended in 1986 and most of the industry disappeared.  The companies that have stuck around this far have vastly improved the technology of solar equipment as well as the techniques for installing them. 

This all begs the question:  Why are we again throwing money at solar without a viable long term plan that avoids the failures of the past?  It is understandable that given the timing of the Obama Presidency and the recession the money had to come first.  However, am I the only one who thinks that they still don't have a grasp for what it is going to take to make solar a viable industry in this country?  What we need are less generic cheerleading speeches and more specifics about improved regulation of the industry as well as a marketing blitz to educate the public about the technology and the long term cost benefits. 

We are once again at the precipice of having a viable solar industry in the United States.  Sustained demand for solar products will only lead to further technological advances and price reduction.  However, until we start hearing specific plans about sustainability after tax credits it all just sounds like a familiar old song.