Thanks, Sebastian, for taking time to respond in detail. I doubt anyone would expec results different from what you describe.

At the Energy conference they said:
“A carbon tax is much more effective than a Feed In Tariff.”
My answer and my question was “you know that the republicans will never agree to a carbon tax, as it is bad for the industry. A Feed In Tariff is just an incentive, even supporting the industry… So do you have a plan B, in case the republicans prevent the carbon tax legislation?”
They haven´t had a plan B and the carbon tax did not come.

At Harvard, Prof. Hogan was basically saying a Feed In Tariff is interesting, but then he was telling me things like “the attempt to initiate an artificial learning curve should not collide with the fundamental goal of the energy supply and should not be the only goal of an incentive”.
So I asked him for an alternative incentive system. But he did not give me one single suggestion what the US should do to implement renewables within our 40 minutes conversation.
He said again how great my work was, but basically he was not interested in it at all…

I did many more things (talking to other people from the white house, Columbia Professors etc etc). My subjective opinion is:
1. that the US coal / oil / gas industry is far too powerful to not intervene any attempt to initiate such an incentive…
2. At the same time the Obama administration, at least in April 2010, had great goals, but was not trying to find any trade offs from their “best-answer-plans”. I think they were too blind to see, that even if they are in charge, they still live in a democracy where you have to find compromises all the time. And even if the carbon tax might be more efficient, it was obvious that it would fail. At least a Feed In Tariff might would have had a slight chance and as shown in my work it would not be that expensive (thus not crazy inefficient).
By the way: The results in my work would even be better today, as the underlying data is from 2008 and the costs for renewable energy systems decreased a lot the last years, so the rates would be at around 1.5 Cents per kWh at maximum.
For tripling the renewables in the grid, creating over 3 Million Jobs, cleaner air, less health costs, less electricity outages etc etc etc…

I wonder if the americans would be ready to pay 1.5 cents per kWh for all that …? Obviously the politicians think that they are not. But I personally think they would be. Especially because at the end the economy push would give them back those 1.5 Cents easily. (Through lower taxes, lower health care rates etc)

Currently the Obama administration and the republicans do nothing world changing regarding renewables and I don´t see why that should change in the future. Sorry for that…

How likely are the politicians to do it?

The US doesn´t need new nuclear power, either new coal or gas power plants. Politicians would just have to initiate the plan as described and the US would become the world leader in renewable energies…

Thanks for stopping by and sharing what you are doing. Maybe you’ll inspire others.

Walter and Julie, I did end the piece on a pessimistic note and you are completely right, there is everything in the future to look forward to and one such thing is a brighter energy future in the U.S. I must admit that a part of my problem is that I am skeptical about this current government having the fortitude to enact something along the lines of this German incentive program.

I sincerely believe that real change to stem the global climate debacle will not take place unless the government takes the lead by enacting initiatives and policies that will tackle the situation.

Hugo, funny enough that you mention the equator. Of course this technology should work seamlessly along the equator: ample sunlight and no shortage of rain . However, I would imagine that the only problem for countries that lie along this band would be the money: solar panels can already be expensive in some of the richer nations.

But when I think about the fact that many countries in South America have made the decision to provide some form of universal health care, although most are poor, that leads me to believe ‘”where there is a will, there is a way” .
I really like the fact that the German experience has stimulated your mind with regards to your own nation. Yes, I want Americans to think about it but would be thrilled if French, Italians, Costa Ricans and Ecuadorians were all challenging their countries to adopt this German incentive program while adapting it to their local needs and resources.