Do not worry about lack of wonkishness, this is a great overview.

Eyeopener:
America at this time only accounts for 8% of the solar power in the world.

That's a disappointing surprise; the US consumes almost 25% of the world's oil production. The time to change course came long ago.

John McCain - Less Jobs More War

America at this time only accounts for 8% of the solar power in the world.

the truly sad part of that statement, and one you likely won't see anywhere, is that...

In 1997 ... America was the leader in solar energy technology, with 40 percent of global solar production. "Last year, we were less than 8 percent, and even most of that was manufacturing for overseas markets."

that's a decline of over 80%, and it should come as not surprise, to those of us paying attention, that we have squandered our opportunities, and leadership in the fields of alternative energy with "oil men" in the white house and energy companies writing our "energy laws".

it's been happening since abandonment of the the alternative energy initiatives that were first initiated by jimmy carter in the 70's, then systematically dismantled by subsequent administrations and a compliant congress at the direction of big energy cos.

even thomas friedman, whom l am not particularly fond of, gets it:

Dumb as We Wanna Be

...The McCain-Clinton gas holiday proposal is a perfect example of what energy expert Peter Schwartz of Global Business Network describes as the true American energy policy today: "Maximize demand, minimize supply and buy the rest from the people who hate us the most."
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"It's a disaster," says Michael Polsky, founder of Invenergy, one of the biggest wind-power developers in America. "Wind is a very capital-intensive industry, and financial institutions are not ready to take `Congressional risk.' They say if you don't get the [production tax credit] we will not lend you the money to buy more turbines and build projects."

It is also alarming, says Rhone Resch, the president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, that the U.S. has reached a point "where the priorities of Congress could become so distorted by politics" that it would turn its back on the next great global industry -- clean power -- "but that's exactly what is happening." If the wind and solar credits expire, said Resch, the impact in just 2009 would be more than 100,000 jobs either lost or not created in these industries, and $20 billion worth of investments that won't be made.

While all the presidential candidates were railing about lost manufacturing jobs in Ohio, no one noticed that America's premier solar company, First Solar, from Toledo, Ohio, was opening its newest factory in the former East Germany -- 540 high-paying engineering jobs -- because Germany has created a booming solar market and America has not.

NYT

so there it is, in a nutshell. the only thing that's changed is that big energy has decided they want a controlling position in the technology, because you can't make a profit directly from wind, tides, sunshine, etc., therefore, they're pouring a large number of their ill gotten gains into r&d to lock up the patents, copyrights etc., and using their political clout to drive the smaller, independent producers, like first solar, either off-shore, or out of business.

a prime example of this is the latest purchase of the storage tek campus here in colo by conoco/phillips:

Energy giant ConocoPhillips' purchase of a 432-acre corporate campus in Louisville boosts Colorado's status as a clean-energy hub.

The Houston-based oil and gas company plans to rebuild the campus into a center to research hydrogen fuel cells, solar and wind power, and clean diesel fuel made from renewable resources. It also plans to establish a learning center to train employees from more than 40 countries.

"We believe this demonstrates what we've been saying about the new energy economy of Colorado," said Gov. Bill Ritter, announcing the deal Wednesday afternoon at a hastily called news conference at the Holiday Inn Denver International Airport. "The company recognizes that fossil fuels will be part of our energy future for decades to come. They are building a bridge to the future by investing in new, cleaner technologies and in renewable energy."

ConocoPhillips paid $58.5 million for the campus -- among the largest in the world. It houses numerous buildings, warehouses and manufacturing facilities, most of which will be razed.

link

here endeth the rant.

lTMF'sA...the revolution will not be televised...Peace

We need an FDR style national effort to energize our country (pun intended)! The result would be a win for all of us (except for the poor oil execs). Too bad about them. Let 'em sell fries.

"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." Dorothy Thompson, Journalist

Thanks for this. Solar and wind should have had huge infrastrutural support thrown at them 20 years ago, but we all know what stood in the way of that. We're going to get tired of having to follow Europe's lead, sooner or later, on all this. If one wants to make a national security argument about it, that could be easily done as well -- and should. All it may take is one broad push from the White House to get it all rolling -- can't wait to find out.