Feast or Famine Cycles of American Clean Energy Development

[Originally posted at CleanTechnica on March 13, 2008]. In my first post about the feast or Famine Cycles of American Clean Energy Development, I touched upon the up and down nature of federal funding for renewable energy deployment in the late 70s and early 80s. The following examination adds some more context with a historical-institutional perspective of what went down in the early 80’s, how, and why. And in the spirit of some of the earlier posts this week that covered the technology of solar thermal, and the practical application of solar thermal technology to entire neighborood developments, I have decided to follow suit by writing about solar thermal as well. I hope to show that the decline and slow fazing out of federal support for solar thermal research and development during the Reagan and George Bush administrations has had a substantial effect on where the industry is today. More...