Thanks to a high electricity prices and a generous renewable energy law, solar energy is a booming growth industry in Germany:
Even though millions of Germans flee their damp, dark homeland for holidays in the Mediterranean sun, 55 percent of the world’s photovoltaic (PV) power is generated on solar panels set up between the Baltic Sea and the Black Forest.
So far just 3 percent of Germany’s electricity comes from the sun, but the government wants to raise the share of renewables to 27 percent of all energy by 2020 from 13 percent.
It is a thriving industry with booming exports that has created tens of thousands of jobs in recent years, posting growth rates that surpassed the optimistic forecasts made by the fathers of a pioneering 2000 renewable energy law.
I don’t know whether or not it’s wise to adopt the German incentive model here in America. Many people couldn’t afford it if we doubled electric rates. But Germany is demonstrating what we are capable of doing if we mobilize to change our energy paradigm.
If cloudy Germany can harness the sun’s energy, we can certainly do it in the Southeast.
Here’s a clip from PBS’ Nova which examines German solar energy:
What depresses me about this report is really how much ground the United States has lost under the Bush Administration vis a vis the environment.
At the time Germany was investing in solar power and setting targets for renewables, the United States had a budget surplus and a candidate who would have forged us into a world leader in environmental technology.
Instead we got tax cuts for the rich and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of war without end. The fact is that even if we began investing now, it would take years to catch up with/and pass more aggressive nations like Germany.