ABSTRACT
At the outset we asked two essential questions about solar. First, why was a technology with such enormous potential so slow to diffuse in emerging markets throughout the 1980s and 1990s? And second, why at just the point when many were starting to give up on solar, did diffusion pick up in some emerging markets so quickly at the turn of the new century? We asked these questions not just because they were relevant to solar, but because through answering them, we could shine a light on the much bigger picture of renewable energy diffusion.
