Like lots of Americans I have been wired with an unwavering sense of pride in America. That is why every time I read about another country being more innovative than the United States it really hurts especially when it comes to advancing green technology we invented.
Many are familiar with solar technology but usually it is in reference to Photovoltaic (PV) panels. In the 1980s the first large scale concentrating solar tower was built in the desert of California by the Department of Energy. Concentrating solar towers work by concentrating light from hundreds (thousands in current systems) of mirrors onto a single location. The intense heat produces steam which in turn is used to run a generator. These facilities work similar to how most modern day gas or coal plants except the initial power source is the sun. The first power plant built generates 10 megawatts of energy and is still in use today.
Spain, as part of its initiative to generate 12% of its power from renewable sources by 2010 has started to deploy large scale solar towers. Its first plant went online in March 2007 (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS10_solar_power_tower) with a generation capacity of 11 megawatts. In 2008 it started construction on a 50 megawatt power plant that utilizes molten salt to store and generate electricity during non-sunny hours of the day. Did I mention that the molten salt storage system was developed the in the United States?
Didn't Bell Labs invent solar panels in 1969? So why is it that Japan and Germany has surpassed the United States in installed solar power derived from solar cells? The United States is the third largest country in the world with the largest economy. Germany and Japan are formidable competitors but given the size and power consumption of the United States we should be 10x the next closest competitor. Germany created a unique rebate program unlike the United States where individuals are guaranteed at rates closer to retail for excess production instead of the much lower wholesale prices. Sounds risky but the risk is actually quite low because most homes don't have the roof space to generate any significant amount of excess power.
Denmark currently generates 20% of its power from Wind. Power that can't be immediately used is exported to three nearby countries. Denmark is now starting a project to convert their cars to plug in which will not only reduce their dependence on oil but will act as a giant distributed storage device for excess power generated. While the United States can't claim to have invented the windmill (that actually happened thousands of years ago), in 1941 we did attach the first one-megawatt wind turbine to the electrical grid. Want to guess if we are number one based on total production? We aren't! That honor belongs to Germany and if you look by percentage we aren't anywhere near the top of the list.
Many factors drive whether a new technology is adopted but given the amount of capital the United States invests into research and development in new green technologies it's a shame we can't take advantage of these technologies to solve some of our greatest challenges. It would also help keep the United States from losing its coveted place as #1 for science and entrepreneurship!