Germany is cutting the subsidies it provides for solar panels. Bjørn Lomborg looks at why this is and concludes that the policies “have subsidized Chinese jobs and other European countries’ reliance on dirty energy sources”. Highlights include:

• It’s an expensive policy that has negligible effects on global warming. Under the most generous statistical assumptions Germany’s efforts have delayed temperature increases by 23 hours.
• Being a part of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme mean that there are, in fact, no effects on CO2 reductions. Instead it is now just easier and cheaper for other European countries such as Portugal to use coal.
• The jobs the policy has created have mostly gone to China.
• A better use of the funds would be to encourage research and development of more efficient and competitive green technology.

To read both the advantages and drawbacks of solar power, and why it has a promising future click here.

Source: Slate