In this inspiring and optimistic story of a green revolution in the making, a veteran science and technology journalist shows how the unrelenting efforts of a small band of grassroots activists have discovered ways to make solar a practical retail energy solution. The crucial driver for the adoption of solar energy has not been technology but policy. Focusing on initiatives in Germany, he describes the use of the "feed-in tariff" as the most successful policy mechanism yet invented to spur on widespread deployment of solar energy. Turning to California, the author reviews the efforts of policy wonks to create new schemes to make solar affordable at the municipal level. Pioneers in both tree-hugging Berkeley and golf-playing Palm Desert have united in common cause, and other towns and cities are planning to follow suit. As with other emerging trends, as California goes so goes the rest of the country. Concluding with a positive view of the future, the author describes the creativity of many startups fueled by venture capital. Innovation is being applied to every part of the process, from silicon production to financing and installation. The details may still be uncertain, but there's no doubt that the solar revolution is underway. Bob Johnstone (Melbourne, Australia) is the author of Brilliant!: Shuji Nakamura and the Revolution in Lighting Technology; We Were Burning: Japanese Entrepreneurs and the Forging of the Electronic Age; and Never Mind the Laptops: Kids, Computers, and the Transformation of Learning. He has also contributed numerous articles on technology to Forbes, Nature, New Scientist, MIT Technology Review, Wired, and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Switching to Solar What We Can Learn from Germany's Success in HARNESSING CLEAN ENERGY By Bob Johnstone Prometheus Books Copyright © 2011 Bob Johnstone All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-61614-222-3 Contents INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................11NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY.............................................................................................................................1911. A Most Exciting Adventure...................................................................................................................2312. To Hell with the Generals...................................................................................................................3513. Cells and Gasoline..........................................................................................................................4714. Camel with the Fridge on Top................................................................................................................5715. Skunk the Government........................................................................................................................6516. End of "Solar Socialism"....................................................................................................................7717. Like a Snowball Down a Mountainside.........................................................................................................8718. Alpha Male..................................................................................................................................9719. Glorious SMUD...............................................................................................................................10510. Beware the Camel's Nose.....................................................................................................................11511. Land of the Rising Solar....................................................................................................................12312. Leaving the Army to Fight...................................................................................................................13513. A Persuasive Demonstration..................................................................................................................14714. Solar Proliferator..........................................................................................................................15515. Escape from STAWAG..........................................................................................................................16716. Electricity Rebels..........................................................................................................................17717. An Ecological Masterpiece...................................................................................................................18318. Making of Solar Valley......................................................................................................................19719. Catching Rays in Fog Town...................................................................................................................21120. Sola