Quote:
Originally Posted by DiracSpike
How does withdrawing from a plan based on emissions targets effect the USA's competitiveness in the clean tech sector? Doesn't seem to make sense
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Because early on, emerging technology companies tend to be dependent on domestic markets; you can't exist as a strictly export company in a competitive environment. Take solar, for example; the US did have major solar farm projects that were driving their domestic industries. So did Europe and China. But regulatory uncertainty has largely put on-hold the US market for utility-scale solar projects, and the US solar manufacturers have been forced to switch to residential. Without a regulatory push toward clean energy, there's a weak and uncertain domestic market, and the industry fails to keep up with their international rivals.
Meanwhile, with Europe and China pushing ahead with utility-scale solar, solar manufacturers there are growing significantly, bringing their prices down as they increase efficiency (especially in China). US solar producers may eventually find themselves unable to compete... stocks of US solar manufacturers are already in the toilet compared to a decade ago. It's a similar story with wind, albeit with Europe taking a more significant role in manufacturing than in solar. It could be that by the time the US decides to get serious about utility-scale solar, they have no choice but to import most of their panels.
Right now, building utility-scale solar is mostly a first-world concern, but there is going to be a developing-world market as well. North Africa should be a massive solar market in the coming years, both for their own power sources as well as exporting to Europe. The US is currently positioned to be a non-factor in those markets.