2nd Edition
How Solar Energy Became Cheap Pathway to a Solar-Centric Economy
Table of Contents:
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction
Part 1: Creating a Technology
2. Scientific Origins
3. US Technology Push
Part 2: Building a Market
4. Japanese Niche Markets
5. German Demand Pull
Part 3: Making it Cheap
6. Chinese Entrepreneurs
7. Australia and India
8. Local Learning
Part 4: Future pathways
9. Solar as a Model to Follow
10. Accelerating Innovation
11. Toward a Solar-Centric Economy
Biography
Gregory F. Nemet is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA, in the La Follette School of Public Affairs, where he recently served as Interim Director. He holds the Salzwedel Distinguished Faculty Chair in Business and Regulation and is also a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor. He was awarded the inaugural World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance by APPAM in 2019. He was a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Report (2023).
“Gregory Nemet brings new insights to his definitive study on the solar technology revolution. Solar is cheap, Nemet documents in detail, because it became a global technology—a warning to policy makers who are pushing nationalism without regard for how it will undermine technological innovation and solving problems like climate change.”
— Prof. David Victor, University of California San Diego
“It is rare for a book to aim so explicitly at explaining one of the fundamental transformations of the age; it is rarer still for one to succeed in that aim. Greg Nemet’s ‘How solar energy became cheap’ is one of those rarest of books. And as if that were not enough, it does so clearly and in a way useful not only to those seeking to understand today’s world, but also to those seeking to improve tomorrow’s. If the fight against climate change is to stand a chance, many other technologies need to achieve solar-like growth. This book has important lessons for how that can be done. It is indispensable.”
— Oliver Morton, The Economist
“Gregory Nemet brilliantly describes how solar became cheap. Now it is time to transfer this solar success story to all types of renewable energy and other technologies to bring carbon dioxide concentrations back to pre-industrial levels. This is the path to the survival of human civilization, for which Gregory Nemet provides important suggestions.”
— Hans-Josef Fell, Member German Parliament 1998–2013
