
Kurzweil predicts solar industry growth of 2^6 in 12 years - Osiris30
http://electrek.co/2016/04/21/kurzweil-solar-industry-dominance/
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pink_dinner
The only way it will grow is if it's actually cheaper for the average consumer
to use solar. It will most likely never be cheaper, because as soon as it it,
the government adds a tax for lost revenue from standard electricity.

The same thing is happening with the electric car: Some states are now
proposing a per/mile car usage tax (where a mandatory black box needs to be
installed in your car to track it) to make up for the lost gas tax revenue.

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maxerickson
What mechanism of paying for roads would you propose?

Light vehicles don't do a lot of damage to roads, but in many areas weathering
takes quite a toll, so it can make sense to charge all users rather than push
it all on shippers or whatever.

Also, do you have an example of governments taxing solar? The trend I'm more
aware of is net metering, which is a great deal for the homeowner (the
wholesale value of electricity is lower than household metering, on an open
market the power company would not purchase power for the retail rate).

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pink_dinner
If there is no fee decrease for the average consumer, electric cars will never
be fully adopted. Unchecked government greed is a big problem. There needs to
be more government accountability in terms of spending.

Hawaii is putting a stop to solar. Taxing the panels and making it more cost
effective to use standard electricity.

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maxerickson
I don't see that Hawaii is taxing panels. They aren't forcing power companies
to buy solar power, but that isn't a tax on panels.

It's also the case that Hawaii is a really special case. I wouldn't look to it
being the beginning of a trend.

(Of course net metering will probably decline over time elsewhere, but this is
not really a tax.)

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awinter-py
Solar singularity? Please let 'singularity' become code for 'baseless
prediction' rather than AI apotheosis.

Let's give Teilhard de Chardin kudos for 'he does not exist but he will' and
give RK credit for his screenreader & MIDI work in the 80s.

