How Will America Capitalize on Green Revolution and Solar Power?
The whole world is looking at what the US will do for the green technology and solar power. Here’s a point of view from Examiner blog.
The debate over future energy alternatives continues as countries deliberate on government subsidies and clean energy companies develop new technology, while fossil fuel companies adjust supply based on market pricing of oil, natural gas and coal. However, energy stocks have been recently outperforming the market according to several market analyst firms.
One of the myths of government subsidies for green energy or the clean tech sector is that U.S. or state legislation will fully support domestic companies and jobs, which is not the case. Actually, a bill designed to offer incentives for consumers to install solar panels on their homes and hoped to create a certain number of green jobs may lead to environmental benefits for the U.S.; yet the panels may ultimately be manufactured overseas in a country where the cost of labor is significantly less than the U.S.
Another misconception pervasive in the general pubic is that solar panel installations on homes are the most efficient way to harness solar energy. In contrast, “solar farms” represent an underutilized source for solar energy. It has been documented in Semiconductor International that the United States could supply its entire energy demand by covering just 1.6% of its land area with solar cells. Furthermore, putting solar cells on 1% of the area of global deserts would be sufficient to produce electricity for all the people in the world.
The United States may be able to remarkably reduce foreign oil imports and pollution-oriented sources of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas over the next 20 years; however, the nature of emerging legislation at both the federal and state level will dictate how well the country capitalizes on the green revolution, including job creation and the trade deficit, and the transformation from high carbon emission industrialization to clean alternative energy sources such as solar power.
