global coal consumption has advanced by over 50% in the past decade

[OKIsItJustMe]

40. Yes, I had read that they were

I think a good comparison can be made between Germany (as a single country of the EU) and New Jersey as a single state of the US. Thanks to state policies, solar installations in New Jersey have increased, more companies have entered the market, and competition between them has driven installation prices down.



Unfortunately;

http://www.northjersey.com/news/160110835_Solar_panel_maker_halts_production.html

[font face=Serif][font size=5]N.J.'s only solar panel manufacturer ceases production[/font]


Saturday June 23, 2012, 11:07 AM
BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER
The Record

* N.J. manufacturer says company can’t compete with China.

[font size=3]New Jersey’s largest solar panel manufacturer has ceased production, unable to compete with the influx of low-priced Chinese products flooding the market, a company executive said Friday.

MX Solar USA LLC stopped making panels in May and laid off its few remaining production workers, said Carlo Santoro, the company's director of business development. An earlier layoff cut the bulk of the employees in March, but a small amount of production continued until recently, he said.

"We had to cease production because we were so drastically affected by the Chinese dumping of solar panels," he said. "We can’t make them for what they are being sold for."

…

Yet several panel makers have gone bankrupt in the face of fierce competition from Chinese producers, even as solar panel installers have welcomed the drop in prices that have made their systems more accessible to consumers.

…[/font][/font]