here is a take down of that complete with solar map.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/from-you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-files.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/02/07/fox-cedes-solar-industry-to-germany/192568" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(note: highly responsible and liberal. not recommended to citadel residents.)
But while Germany gets relatively little sunlight, it does have a more coherent national solar policy than the U.S., as Bloomberg Businessweek reported in October 2012:
Unlike the U.S., Germany has a national solar policy, a quick, inexpensive permitting process, and a national mandate that utilities sign up rooftop installations under what's known as a feed-in tariff--essentially a long-term contract whereby the utilities agree not just to allow the solar on their grids but also to buy the excess power from consumers.
The U.S. is lagging behind Germany in solar power generation, but it doesn't have anything to do with our solar potential. In fact, the Southwest has "among the best photovoltaic resources in the world," according to a report by GTM Research. And even the East Coast states have greater solar potential than Germany, as illustrated by this map from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory:
"Here in the US we prefer to concentrate all our focus on fracking. Its potentially lethal consequences give us that big thrill we love. That's what makes us so darned exceptional."
