Grüne Idioten - Germany Destroys Domestic Solar Industry - Der Spiegel

[SgtRock]

Dear EEVBees:

--See below link for Der Spiegel article about how the Green Dingbats in the German government are loaning China money to put the domestic PV Solar industry out of business. This idiocy is being paid for by increased electric rates, for German working folks. Meanwhile they are closing all the Nuclear power plants. Ich verstehe nicht.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,817781,00.html

"It is indeed true that Asian low-wage manufacturers have access to funding sources to which German companies do not. Those sources include the German government's budget for development aid, as well as the budgets of government institutions that aim to promote what the environment ministry calls "global climate justice" in its brochures. More than €100 million ($134 million) in government subsidies have already reached China from Germany, partly along circuitous routes, to bolster an industry that has already become the dominant global market player in some areas."

--Meanwhile in the US, the Administration is is hurrying to loan money to Green firms, not so they will not go bankrupt, but to make sure to get the money loaned before the bankruptcy.  If there is an English speaking or European government that is not similarly stupid? If so, please name one.

"If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
Ronald Reagan 1911 - 2004

Best Regards
Clear Ether

[SoftwareSamurai]

I find it fascinating that Solar Energy has been only 10 years away for the last 50-some years.

I'm still waiting for someone to market a solar panel and equipment that supplies my house with all the energy it needs without having to double my mortgage, cover every inch of my roof with fragile equipment, and take up half of my garage with enough batteries to jump-start every car in my city on a daily basis.

---

"Well, anyway, it's wonderful to be having this White House Conference on Small Business again after almost 6 years. Things certainly have changed in the meantime. Back then, government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

--Ronald Reagan, August 15, 1986 (Via Remarks to State Chairpersons of the National White House Conference on Small Business)

[RJSC]

They're dumping and solar panels still continue unfordable to the general public...
The feature is not bright for renewable energy enthusiasts such as myself. I guess we'll have to wait until oil, gas and coal reach unbearable prices.

This does not surprise me at all since almost the west's tech companies have shifted physical goods production to china or other low wages country.

Here aresome widely known examples:
Intel - almost all of the CPU's that have passed my hands say made in Malaysia, Philippines or the likes;
Apple, Dell, HP, (others) - China (Foxconn)

Western Companies only do lab research, simulations, software and paper work now.
But they are forgetting people pay money for the physical product they buy.

Yet, at least on my local market I (paradoxically) see German as the exception: there are at least German made electrical products on the shelves here with a build quality superior to the Chinese ones roughly at the same price.

I've bought a Chinese made but Spanish distributed (and maybe designed) car radio with bluetooth (AD2P), CD palyer, USB host port and SD card reader (mp3 and wma playback) for 89€, which failed in 3 months.
It went to service and they gave me a new unit which lasted 4 months, and than another new one which lasted another 3 months. Finally they gave up giving me new ones and offered a refund. 
They I found an incredibly similar one, but manufactured in Germany for 10€ less!  The quality of the plastics on the front panel, the metal housing, the buttons, the display are of much better quality, and both of the radios seem based on the same chip manufacturer reference circuit, since they operate exactly the same and even some secondary functions that were printed on the Chinese radio buttons but not on the German ones (such as change the directory on flash memory devices and data CDs) are present on the German one, but not documented on they button printings or the instruction manual.

At least price wise the same happens with German vs Chinese made low end corded or cordless power tools, but I don't know if their relative failure rate is the same as with my car radio experience.

[LEECH666]

In der Deutschen Politik geht es nur noch um eins: Machterhalt.

(German Politiks have only one goal: Secure that the people who are currently empowered stay empowered).