Remarks on Solar Energy by Steven Chu Dr. Steven Chu is an American physicist and Nobel Prize winner who served as the twelfth U.S. secretary of energy from 2009 to 2013. He gave this speech at the General Electric solar facility in Aurora, Colorado, in 2011. 1 I’m here at a critical time for America’s energy future. It’s a time of challenge, but it’s also a time of opportunity. 2 Last year, more than $240 billion was invested globally in clean energy. The worldwide market for solar photovoltaic systems alone is worth more than $80 billion. 3 The solar market is going to explode in the coming decades. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, trillions of dollars will be invested globally in solar and other renewable energy sectors over the next 20 years. 4 Countries around the world, especially China, recognize the economic potential in the solar market, and are racing at full speed to capture the lead. China leads the world in total clean energy investments and has provided strong government support to its solar industry. Today, China’s market share in solar cell and solar module production is roughly 50 percent, up significantly from just a few years ago. 5 Meanwhile, the U.S. market share has dropped. In 1995, the United States produced more than 40 percent of the world’s solar panels, but last year, we only produced about seven percent. Although the United States invented solar PV technologies, we are no longer the leading manufacturer. 6 America has a choice to make today: Are we going to be importers or exporters of solar technologies? We can accept defeat and watch the solar jobs go to China, Germany and other countries, or we can get in the game and play to win, creating jobs in Colorado and across the country. 7 To compete in the clean energy race, we have to do more than invent technologies, we have to make them and sell them too. 8 There are some in Washington who think we can’t, or shouldn’t, compete when it comes to producing solar panels, wind turbines and other clean energy technologies.