On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Jerry Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: > > "Political BS aside....why are these companies failing? Is there > really no money > to be made in the alternative energy business???" > > * Overseas markets can and do make the same items for cheaper.
This is true, although it isn't a level playing field because of massive subsidies and dumping in China, hence recent trade disputes and tariffs. > * They don't work. At least they don't work as well as the current > alternatives. > * They are more expensive (even when bought from overseas) than the current > alternatives. These are not really true. In fact, the reason why there have been a number of business failures in the area is because the technology is developing too fast and the price is dropping too quickly. When you build a new business to create Technology A with a plan to sell it at Price B and then another company quickly comes along with Technology X that sells at Price Y and Y is quite a bit less than B, it is awesome for consumers but not so good for the first company. Right now, solar energy is finally reaching the critical mark of being about 12 cents per kilowatt hour, which is our national average for energy. But the cost has been coming down exponentially, which means that 10 years ago when a lot of these companies were started, the cost was significantly higher. The rapid reduction in costs is great for consumers but has been very difficult on the finances of companies that had to make significant infrastructure investments when prices were higher. The backing of those investments has helped reduce the consumer prices we see today but at the cost of some of those companies along the way. Cheers, Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:352899 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
