I've written before about the remarkable achievements in Germany in expanding its use of solar power, even to the extent that has allowed them to close nuclear plants, despite not being a country notorious for sunny days. This article goes into some fascinating detail about how the Germans accomplished this. In the process of doing so, it makes two points worth repeating, one for each side of the political fence.
Government intervention: Solar power would not have taken off in Germany without public policy and subsidies to make that happen. The fact that it is enabling the country to wean itself off of nuclear power, the most toxic and dangerous form of energy there is, makes that an investment well worth making. Score one against the anti-government crowd. However, there is another problem.
The need for more technological innovation: For the most part, solar power's advocates have failed to acknowledge that solar, like its cousin wind power, is essentially intermittent, which forces us to continue, at least in the short term, our reliance on dirtier but steadier sources of power. As the article acknowledges, this won't change until more effective ways of storing solar power on a massive scale are developed. Developing these ways, and ensuring their safety, are what solar power advocates really need to focus on promoting. Otherwise, we'll never free ourselves from the grip of extraction-industry politics.
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