Hear This Idea

#57 – Greg Nemet on Technological Change and How Solar Became Cheap

Dec 20, 2022

01:49:19

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Why Electric Utilities Don't Like Solar?

02:16

Is There a Tension Between Solar and Public Investment?

03:05

Solar Panels - What Happened to the University of New South Wales?

04:28

Introduction

2min

How Fast Can Climate Technologies Grow?

4min

Solar PV

2min

What's Your Take on Solar?

3min

Solar PV - What's the Learning Curve?

5min

The Fundamental Understanding of Light Interacts With Semiconductors

2min

How Much Can You Direct Basic Scientific Research?

4min

Energy Independence

3min

Is There a Roadmap to Solar?

3min

10.

Pandemic Preparedness and COVID-19

2min

11.

Solar PV

2min

12.

Is There a Tension Between Solar and Public Investment?

3min

13.

The Transition From US R&D to Japanese Niche Markets

4min

14.

The Demand Curve for Solar Panels

2min

15.

The Importance of Consistent R&D Funding

2min

16.

What's the Key Thing About Knowledge Transfers?

2min

17.

The German Subsidy Program

3min

18.

Why Would Germany Subsidize Solar?

4min

19.

The German Environmentalism of the 1980s

2min

20.

The German Coalition and the Subsidy Program

2min

21.

Why Electric Utilities Don't Like Solar?

2min

22.

Why Solar Isn't Getting Cheaper Than Nuclear?

2min

23.

The Death Spira of the Utility Model

2min

24.

Is the German Market a Threat to Solar?

2min

25.

Solar Panels - What Happened to the University of New South Wales?

4min

26.

Solar PV

3min

27.

Solar Needs This Ambition

3min

28.

The Chinese Central Government Is a Big Part of the Story

2min

29.

Are We at the End of the Learning Curve?

2min

30.

Is There a Key Player in the Solar Industry?

3min

31.

Is There a Future for Solar?

2min

32.

Is There a Macro Implication of Solar?

4min

33.

Solar - What Are the Nine Key Factors?

2min

34.

Solar PV

3min

35.

Small Modular Reactors - Are They Better Than Large Scale?

4min

36.

Is There a Future for Small Modular Reactors?

2min

37.

National Innovation Systems - What Are They?

2min

38.

The Advantage of Not Having a Resource

3min

39.

How Much Solar Will Grow in 2050?

2min

40.

Is There a Need for More People Working on Climate Change?

4min

A full writeup of this episode, including references and a transcript, is available on our website: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/nemet

Greg Nemet is a a Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. He is also the author of How Solar Energy Became Cheap

We discuss:

The distinct phases that helped solar PV move down its learning curve
What lessons we can learn on how to accelerate and affect other technologies
Theories about National Innovation Systems and lock-in

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