Word: mainstream
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...photoactive chemicals needed for the technology, as compared with the thicker films used in crystalline-silicon solar modules. Though thin-film photovoltaics are cheaper than the crystalline ones on most rooftop solar panels, the technology has proved maddeningly difficult to mass-produce, which had kept it from going mainstream. But today thin film is the hottest part of the fastest-growing new energy source in the world. BCC Research, which charts technology markets, expects the global solar market to grow from $13 billion to $32 billion by 2012, with thin film expanding 45% a year. Masdar, the clean-energy...
...developing world," says Hurst. "But we haven't transferred the skills or expertise needed to provide decent jobs." Many companies don't care (as long as the audits look good), but more progressive firms are working to develop creative new ways to improve factory conditions, moving far beyond mainstream tactics like auditing and standard codes of conduct...
...even in Europe the surge of populist xenophobia since the 1990s has propelled previously fringe groups such as the British National Party, Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in France, neo-Nazis in Germany and the assassinated Pim Fortuyn's eponymous party in the Netherlands into the political mainstream. Last October, the Swiss People's Party won the largest single share of the vote - 29% - in a general election using a campaign poster depicting three white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag. Surveys show that even the U.S., a nation built on immigration, is now more...
Part of those financial systems, though, are consumer loans, and that is a sticking point for microfinance purists. There is nothing inherently wrong with buying TVs and microwaves on credit, but as lending to poor people has gone mainstream, certain markets, like Mexico, have been flooded with loans that have nothing to do with providing capital to aspiring entrepreneurs--just racking up household debt. That's especially worrisome, since most developing countries don't have strong consumer-protection laws. "Everyone has realized you can make money," says Damian von Stauffenberg, principal of MicroRate, which evaluates microfinance firms. "Before...
...progressive face masking a regressive mindset that has shifted in the past five decades but has not disappeared. Although the academic left scored a victory in the latter half of the 20th century by making “ethnic” and “regional” studies mainstream, the creation of venues of study for non-Western disciplines or topics is only half the battle. While the 1957 establishment of the Center for East Asian Studies surely led to a greater understanding of East Asian cultures on Harvard’s campus, it is impossible to escape...