I'd use a Bose-Einstein condensate, with (light) refractive indexes between 1X10^6 and infinity

The U.S. applied these "anti dumping" tariffs on Chinese solar panels on the same day Saudi Arabia announced plans for a massive dump of oil to drive down prices. Isn't it obvious that Mideast oil dumps have done far more harm to U.S. alternative energy industry, including solar, than a handful of fledgling Chinese photovoltaic companies ever did?

With the exception of a few wildcat oil well companies in the late 90s, the U.S. has never complained of mideast oil dumping. And the U.S. actually complains when China stops dumping Rare Earths. Bush era steel tariffs might have saved a handful of remaining domestic steel jobs at the cost of the thousands of jobs lost with the near demise of the domestic auto industry. 1980s and 90s tariffs on Chinese and Japanese chips did nothing but move manufacturing to Philippines and Central America and Solar tariffs will cost thousands of U.S. jobs by denying U.S. consumers and corporations access to inexpensive clean energy the rest of the world will have. Looking at the history of U.S. WTO trade policy, you'd swear that it was being dictated by policies designed to crush our economy and continue our addiction to oil.

I've been paying > $7 for about 10 years but I hardly ever drive. Well-stocked stores and public transport are within walking distance for most Europeans. Has anyone calculated the average distance between an American and a rail line? How about the average distance between an american and their workplace or grocer. Beyond a few exceptions, DC, NYC, SF and a couple of other colonial cities, U.S. cities were laid out when oil was cheap and readily available. Federal policies propped up the price of land while hiding the true cost of oil which caused U.S. cities to sprawl out, especially in the past two decades. Boutique public transport is absolutely right, investment in current modes of public transport will help a few poor people move within wealthy districts, but it will do nothing for the vast majority of Americans. We've moved beyond the 19th century America political environmentalists are designing for. Given the current layout of the U.S. the options should be:

• Telecommute, whenever and wherever possible. There should be government subsidies and tax breaks to get it started so that 'factory-whistle' mindset companies will be forced into seeing that this is a no-brainer.
• Smart car/pod trains (vehicles which use existing roads, use GPS + radar to maintain an aerodynamically efficient distance from the lead vehicles, detach would be signaled to the lead car so that separation.
• Redesign an economic system to price in the cost of oil, its environmental cleanup and related defense. There is absolutely no way a farmer half way around the world should be able to sell a locally produced agricultural product for less than the local farmer, regardless of labor costs and currency fluctuation.
• Change zoning laws so that modern relatively clean businesses and workplaces aren't miles away from residential areas.
• Move to a decentralized power generation infrastructure, encourage home heat+electric co-generation which can exceed 90% efficiency
• When the Chinese are able to sell solar panels for 1/5th the cost of domestic ones or Brazilians are able to sell ethanol for 1/2 the cost of locally produced corn-ethanol, don't tell them to get lost. Don't bow to ADM and local business lobbies, thank them and build new industries based on this.
• Repair should have an economic advantage over disposal and reimport. The past 30 years have been an economic hiccup caused by mutually disfunctional codependent relationships between the U.S. and its trading partners. Products and produce should come from as near to the consumer as possible.

Markus Kayser's solar sintering 3D printer shows what is possible when you use ingenuity, technology and two abundant desert resources, sunlight and sand. Mr. Kayser says he is already working with Kohler on the possibility of using solar powered, sand fed replicators like his to make sanitation products such as toilets and plumbing.