Hazel Henderson

Balance Sheet Wars: U.S. Solar Companies vs. Chinese Government

Add that China's stimulus package was more accurately trageted than was possible in the USA .China's rapid shift toward the green economy and raising domestic consumption is possible because their approach is not limited to hyping private consumption ( e.g. cash for clunkers ) but toward targeting both the green economy and group domestic consumption : e.g. putting a national healthcare system in place , along with beefing up social security ..
And naive financial " pundits" in the USA who keep warning about the solvency of China's banks don't seem to grasp that their percentage of government ownership and China's huge reserves mean that China will never allow its banks to be in financial jeopardy.

So US -based solar companies do face an uphill climb . However, the global green economy market is so huge ( tens of trillions over the next five years ) that there will be enough for everybody ( see Climate Prosperity Funds at EthicalMarkets.com ) . Meanwhile collapsing gas prices due to new ways of accessing shale deposits means that coal is now too expensive , even for old coal utilities , who will begin substituting gas not only for peak loads , but for baseload as well. So if I owned any coal stocks which I don't I'd be shorting them . As for nukes, they are still the most expensive way humans have ever devised to boil water..

Dosclosure : holding Stirling Energy Systems, Solaria, Envision Solar,as well as Suntech