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There's not much balance - there are tons of people working to install solar panels, and very few producing them. He's harming the former and probably won't do

by davidw 9y ago

There's not much balance - there are tons of people working to install solar panels, and very few producing them. He's harming the former and probably won't do much for the latter, long term. Not to mention people purchasing the things, and, while we're at it, the environment, because solar is by and large a lot better than many alternatives. The correct response when someone who is sort of a competitor is selling you stuff below cost is probably to buy lots and lots of it.

grizzles 9y ago
Yep, a better approach would have been to enforce a labelling standard for the efficiency of the panels, furthering the cause of commodifying them. Then when the dumpers finally jack up the price (their long term strategy), people just switch suppliers. I don't think Trump would have went for that solution tho, since he wants to kill EnergyStar: http://e360.yale.edu/features/killing-energy-star-a-popular-program-lands-on-the-trump-hit-list http://e360.yale.edu/features/killing-energy-star-a-popular-...
bsder 9y ago
> There's not much balance - there are tons of people working to install solar panels, and very few producing them. He's harming the former and probably won't do much for the latter, long term. Except that quite a few of the cheaper Chinese-made solar panels have shorter lifetimes than the American-made ones did. Consequently, installers have started getting burned because they are getting warranty claims much sooner than they should be. And, of course, the supplier of the Chinese panels is long gone. And most of the American suppliers have been driven out of business by the cheaper prices--which means the installers can't switch to more reliable panels. Now, do I think Trump thought about any of this? Not even slightly. However, because solar panels are durable goods (or perhaps you prefer "capital expense") the calculus is a bit more complicated than just "cheaper is gooder".
- russdpale 9y ago
  Very interesting take on it.
- kaycebasques 9y ago
  Where do you learn all this stuff?
  - bsder 9y ago
    In this instance, I knew a couple people who did solar installation businesses early on. They did very nicely with the uptick in business, but then sold out. All of them specifically cited the Chinese flood with causing them to cash out. They weren't prescient enough to predict the drop in actual reliability, but they could see very quickly that they were going to be the ones holding the bag on warranty claims with Chinese suppliers. And, if they didn't use Chinese suppliers, they couldn't compete on price. So, they just got out.

by davidw 9y ago

grizzles 9y ago

Yep, a better approach would have been to enforce a labelling standard for the efficiency of the panels, furthering the cause of commodifying them. Then when the dumpers finally jack up the price (their long term strategy), people just switch suppliers. I don't think Trump would have went for that solution tho, since he wants to kill EnergyStar: http://e360.yale.edu/features/killing-energy-star-a-popular-program-lands-on-the-trump-hit-list http://e360.yale.edu/features/killing-energy-star-a-popular-...

bsder 9y ago

> There's not much balance - there are tons of people working to install solar panels, and very few producing them. He's harming the former and probably won't do much for the latter, long term. Except that quite a few of the cheaper Chinese-made solar panels have shorter lifetimes than the American-made ones did. Consequently, installers have started getting burned because they are getting warranty claims much sooner than they should be. And, of course, the supplier of the Chinese panels is long gone. And most of the American suppliers have been driven out of business by the cheaper prices--which means the installers can't switch to more reliable panels. Now, do I think Trump thought about any of this? Not even slightly. However, because solar panels are durable goods (or perhaps you prefer "capital expense") the calculus is a bit more complicated than just "cheaper is gooder".

russdpale 9y ago
Very interesting take on it.
kaycebasques 9y ago
Where do you learn all this stuff?
- bsder 9y ago
  In this instance, I knew a couple people who did solar installation businesses early on. They did very nicely with the uptick in business, but then sold out. All of them specifically cited the Chinese flood with causing them to cash out. They weren't prescient enough to predict the drop in actual reliability, but they could see very quickly that they were going to be the ones holding the bag on warranty claims with Chinese suppliers. And, if they didn't use Chinese suppliers, they couldn't compete on price. So, they just got out.