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Falling panel prices lead to global solar boom, except for the US

(arstechnica.com)
249 points Jtsummers | 1 comments | 30 Oct 25 16:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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mmooss ◴[30 Oct 25 17:14 UTC] No.45762412[source]▶
As I wrote elsewhere, the US government and economy are now essentially a private equity takeover for a large segment of wealthy business: Squeeze out as much money as possible short term - including by issuing debt againts its assets, slashing and burning any costs regardless of ROI and with no regard for the future, and leave the bankrupt husk for someone else to deal with.

The treatment of fossil fuels and renewables fits: Block the obviously more economical and better long-term solution in order to shovel money toward the entrenched wealthy. That it sabotages the future due to climate change and economic inefficiency doesn't seem to be a significant factor to them.

I forgot, one of the entrenched corporate wealthy told us that climate change isn't a big deal, and we should send money to his and his friends for solutions.

I'm not anti-business; in fact, quite the opposite: These policies block a free market and the brilliant new businesses that can thrive and deliver solutions to everyone.

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seanmcdirmid ◴[30 Oct 25 17:17 UTC] No.45762459[source]▶
If only Musk didn't turn out to be such a twitt, Tesla was really supposed to be part of the solution but somehow Musk managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The future is pretty much in China now as far as green energy tech and consumption goes. Two bad elections and the US has basically lost world leader status in just over a decade.

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kakacik ◴[30 Oct 25 17:35 UTC] No.45762699[source]▶
Musk is a nogo poisoned brand in Europe... that damage his needless psychotic attacks have done won't be forgotten anytime soon. I'd happily buy chinese car instead of tesla just because of above, if prices were same. But they are far from same, and seeing their progress they may soon be better products overall.
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lenerdenator ◴[30 Oct 25 17:42 UTC] No.45762794[source]▶
> Musk is a nogo poisoned brand in Europe... that damage his needless psychotic attacks have done won't be forgotten anytime soon. I'd happily buy chinese car instead of tesla just because of above, if prices were same. But they are far from same, and seeing their progress they may soon be better products overall.

This more-or-less summarizes American geopolitical and economic attitudes towards China from 1970 until 2016.

"Sure, they're problematic, but so are we, and their product is cheaper, so..."

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1. mmooss ◴[01 Nov 25 00:38 UTC] No.45778242[source]▶
> This more-or-less summarizes American geopolitical and economic attitudes towards China from 1970 until 2016.

That is misleading. First, China wasn't economically productive in 1970, during the Cultural Revolution. It wasn't until the 1990s that things began to subtantially improve, and then take off in the 2000s.

Also, they weren't so problematic - they were a good trading partner, and they were democratizing slowly: They had with a major setback in 1989, but were improving until Xi took over.

Under Xi, it took a few years to see what would happen, which trends were temporary and which were long-term problems; which could be reversed and which would only get worse. I think the problem calcified, in large part, because the US abandoned universal human rights in large part. If the US doesn't advocate that, who will? How can people in China say that freedom is a right and democracy superior if the US doesn't.