[credit_guy]

I don't know. LED light bulbs used to be very expensive. A market study 15 years ago would have found close to zero demand for them. Now they are affordable, they cut electricity bills and people do buy them. Technologies need to go over a certain threshold for demand to show up. The government can help with this.

[nickpp]

55" 4K TVs used to be very expensive as well. Now they are so cheap and thin and good I hug one in my basement just for the occasional workout video streamed from YouTube.

Technological progress is the secret to price reduction. No government interaction required or even wanted, it's usually much more likely to create problems...

[credit_guy]

> No government interaction required or even wanted, it's usually much more likely to create problems...

That's generally true, but there are exceptions. Solar panels are very cheap now because of decades of government subsidies. Battery electric vehicles are still more expensive than their regular counterparts, but certainly one day they'll be cheaper (they have many more fewer moving parts). But would they have caught on without government subsidies?

[nickpp]

Actually solar panels are very cheap now because the technology used to produce them (the same tech used to produce CPUs and chips and such) has become incredibly cheap due to the widespread high-tech adoption.

Same amazing price reductions with li-ion batteries which are used in every mobile device. EVs? Who knows - but since the government is subsidizing gas prices, that market is already corrupted beyond salvation.

Governmental subsidies managed to skew demand and create market aberrations like the rainy Germany covered in solar panels while their nuclear sector was being closed.