Solar Power slowly consolidating

Looks like another solar power company is shuttering the solar power business as Bosch gave up earlier today. The 2.6 billion dollar investment just didn't pay off, especially since the industry is being flooded by lower cost chinese components. This is not very surprising as the overall solar panel industry is one with small incremental efficiency gains, no enormous technological leaps, just consistent, small improvements in processes. This model leads to locations with cheap manufacturing and lower labor costs eventually overtaking the market.

The real take here is that China is going to be the primary manufacturer of solar panels on a cost basis until someone else can make a technological breakthrough. The question to ask though...is this a bad thing? Yeah solar panels are a good 'green' field, but at the root its a messy, pollution oriented manufacturing business, not a paragon of green energy. I say let China make the panels, we'll buy them and work on research for better systems..

But that's my 2 cents

Huh???

Just because Washington DC was starting to get to extreme, it looks like Oregon wants to up the tax lunacy with a fuel efficient vehicle tax. Turns out that fuel efficient vehicles mean you use less gas, insert sarcastic O RLY cue the internal What the Fuck, or WTF. 

This is because you use less gas and therefore there are lower gas tax revenues collected, so now if you have an efficient vehicle(over 55 mpg) you get to pay a few cents PER MILE, to drive your car. I'm not sure where exactly I got confused at first, but this is just sloppy legislation, and an even sloppier commision report. There is an easy solution to road usage and repair costs, its called a toll. It's used all over, and people pay it to use a service. Or to go old school, say income taxes, property taxes or the standard ones vice a per mile fee to drive your car.