[quote=briansd1][quote=Allan from Fallbrook HP at present is not in any way an example of government support of “innovation”. Completely specious and not remotely relevant.
[/quote]

Yes, Allan. I was trying to be sarcastic and the opposite of the argument that we shouldn’t have an industrial policy.

I do, however, think that solar is a missed opportunity for us.

last year, the Chinese government provided more than $30 billion, billion with a B, to their solar companies
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/14/140477571/how-to-u-s-solar-companies-compare-to-chinas?ps=rs

And we are crying about a $500 million guarantee (not even a direct government loan).

I guess our industrial policy is our agricultural subsidies.[/quote]

Brian: Interesting article at the WashPost on the Solyndra situation: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/five-myths-about-the-solyndra-collapse/2011/09/14/gIQAfkyvRK_blog.html

Author makes the point that R&D in energy is small ($3Bn), especially compared with Defense ($77Bn), and needs to increase. I definitely agree with this, and California would benefit hugely from this type of R&D investment as energy is already a specialty of ours. Continuing in this vein, the author mentions that some 24,000 energy projects are underway, with a large percentage here in California. This is a good example of what I said earlier, have the government do the heavy lifting in R&D and let the market pick the drivers (a point the article also makes with successful solar companies that benefited from government sponsored R&D).

He also debunks the conventional wisdom that China has stolen a march on the rest of the world in solar and further states that emerging technologies being used (such as molten salt in Spain) are changing the game and away from China’s strength (i.e. cheap, mass-produced panels).

Worth a read.