Other countries with central government clean energy strategies pulling ahead of the US

[eridani]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/guest-post-will-asia-own-cleantech/

The most common objection to any form of industrial policy is that governments, as opposed to markets, are considered unqualified to select those sectors most worthy of investment. But what happens when governments do pick the right targets and then back that up with the resources, influence and patience needed to guide and support these fledgling industries to long-term success?

Central government programs in Asia, most notably in China and Korea, are indeed on the mark as they mobilize public policies and resources in order to subsidize and nurture their domestic cleantech industries. Emerging sectors such as solar power, wind power and electric vehicles are all characterized by the need to achieve scale before they can be cost-competitive. This makes the availability of subsidies a matter of critical importance. Additionally, extensive coordination between public and private interests (something best provided by central governments, the more central the better) is vital to creating the complex infrastructure required for a large-scale shift to renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Evidence is mounting that government-subsidized R&D, beneficial manufacturing conditions and cheap capital are helping to tip the scales in favor of Asian companies or Asia-based joint ventures competing in certain large sectors of the global cleantech industry. At the very least, Western players in many cleantech sectors are increasingly required to develop a strategy to work with Asian partners in order to compete. Meanwhile, the divisive political climate prevailing in the U.S. has not produced a cohesive and forward-looking energy policy. To make matters worse, the 2010 midterm elections brought to Congress many lawmakers whose primary agenda is to limit government spending and government influence -- i.e., the antithesis of the industrial policies that have made China and Korea emerging cleantech powers

[Kolesar]

1. Need a DUer with a business degree to explain this part:

Plotting the relative value or profit derived from the sequential stages of a product business yields a curve named after the smile on those ubiquitous yellow buttons or decals: starting high with Brand and steadily descending through Design and Engineering to a nadir of Manufacturing, the curve rises again to Sales and eventually to Service. China’s roster of globally recognized brands is short, but we can add Goldwind to the list. Others will surely follow. As for moving toward the other high-value end of the Smiley Curve -- sales and service -- it helps that as its economy has grown 20-fold over the last thirty years, China has become a formidable market, not just a favorable manufacturing location. Most of Goldwind’s turbines are installed in China, which is now the world leader in wind power.
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