The USA badly losing the real energy / tech race

By Rick Ehrlich

Solar and wind power invented in the USA, then effectively given away

The solar photovoltaic cell (solar panel) was invented by Bell Labs (USA) in 1954, and wind-generated electricity was discovered (invented) by American Charles Brush in 1888. But in the commercial development of both solar and wind power, we are getting killed, swamped, massacred by China.

Waffling on renewable energy has put us far behind China; we may never come close to the Chinese again.

Our US Treasury has been bankrupted, in debt beyond any ability to repay, due to enormous military excesses. Now green energy has become the cheapest by far to make the hardware, and the cheapest by far to generate electric power. And we are unable to take advantage of it. Our fall is in motion now, and economically inevitable… most Americans aren’t even aware of it. We generally think solar and wind power are quaint, idealist ideas of post-hippie granola-eating leftists. But consider…

By 2024, solar electricity had become 41% cheaper than fossil fuel power; wind power 53% cheaper — a huge advantage that will, as technology continues to slash the cost of green energy, make the use of coal and petroleum for electricity stupid, utterly absurd. From about now on, fossil-fuel power will cost more than twice as much as solar and wind power, with renewable hydro and nuclear not yet sharing the cost advantage. Illogically, the USA has halted major offshore wind projects, ended the subsidy for solar, wind, and EV purchases, and offered more lands for petro and coal leases. Our government has derailed any transition to green energy, ruining our economic competitiveness, with trendlines predicting even worse.
China has already completely dominated the world’s solar power industry. In 2024, it cut the wholesale price of its solar panel exports in half, nearly doubled its exports of panel components, and mandated a “new trio” of solar panels, lithium batteries, and electric cars. In the single month of May 2025, China installed enough wind and solar energy to power a country as big as Poland forever (38 million). China now has half the world’s total installed solar capacity. By 2024, China was already producing at least 80% of the world’s solar panel components and 60% of wind equipment, with huge economies of scale. We can’t even make shirts economically anymore. In 2022, Germany’s cost of electricity doubled due to war-related sabotage of Russia’s Nordstream Pipeline. Since this time, Germany has been in recession only because of the ramifications of greatly increased electricity costs. Our cost of electricity has effectively doubled vis-à-vis China’s, thus killing the competitiveness of our international economic basis.

Vehicle transportation consumes approximately 65% of the annual USA petroleum consumed. Electric vehicles (EVs) are now gaining on the global car market outside the USA. In 2024, 17.3 million electric cars were made worldwide, and China produced 70% of them. Chinese companies are also making the world’s cheapest and best value cars — today BYD’s latest plug-in hybrid models cost $13,700 (go 1,200 miles on a single charge and tank of gas). Fully electric cars, like the self-driving BYD Seagull sedan, are priced at $8,000.

While Americans pay an average $50,000 for a new car in 2025 (Google), the Chinese can buy e-cars for $8,000 with stats as good as ours. In 2024, half of China’s domestic car sales were E-cars. In the USA in 2024, e-car sales were under 10%. The USA cannot even allow the Chinese e-cars inside our country as IT WOULD BANKRUPT ALL OUR CAR MAKERS! Compete with $8,000 for a perfect, new car? Sad.

Sources: NPR, Ciphernews.com, CurrentAffairs.org, Reddit.com, worldpopulationreview.com, dash.harvard.edu, reuters.com

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