184 replies to this topic

[Rogerdodger]

White House was all-hands-on-deck as SOLYNDRA collapse neared...

Edited by Rogerdodger, 24 March 2012 - 10:53 PM.

[Rogerdodger]

How much energy could have been created just by burning all that money?
SOLYNDRA 2: Solar Trust for America got $2.1 billion from feds: BANKRUPT.

Solar Trust for America received $2.1 billion in conditional loan guarantees from the Department of Energy -- "the largest amount ever offered to a solar project," according to Energy Secretary Steven Chu -- for a project near Blythe, Calif., but declared bankruptcy within a year.
The list of bankrupt solar companies has grown since Schmidt scolded Solyndra investigators.

How many more might go bankrupt?
Secretary Chu won't say.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 03 April 2012 - 10:29 AM.

[Rogerdodger]

GREEN? SOLYNDRA Ignoring Buckets Of Toxic Waste Left At Vacant Facility...
Now the bankrupt solar firm, once touted as a symbol of green technology, may be trying to abandon toxic waste.
“Some materials, such as cadmium, are toxic, and hard to dispose of. “They don’t degrade at all” he said.

It’s not just the leftover hazardous materials, but also the machinery used to apply them to the glass tubes. “Certainly those tools will need to be decontaminated, cleaned up, handled correctly as they are taken apart,” he said.

Materials labeled hazardous waste require a lot more protocol, so its actually a lot more expensive to clean,” Mulvaney said. “It’s very sad looking at this facility taken apart like this, because a lot of money went into building this.”

Edited by Rogerdodger, 01 May 2012 - 08:59 AM.

[stocks]

Fairy Tales don't last forever.

http://stockcharts.c...2066&r=7476.png

Forbes' fastest growing tech company down 90% in a year

Forbes 2010 Fast Tech List:

#1 First Solar


http://www.forbes.co...ast-tech_2.html

[stocks]

Green Welfare, Green Taxes, Green Poverty

The world changed from wind, solar, and biomass to oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear for good reasons of physics and math. First and foremost are the concepts of energy density and power density. The hydrocarbons and nuclear pack a massively more concentrated punch. The power of solar and wind are very broadly diffused throughout the atmosphere, so more than herculean efforts are needed to collect and concentrate it in usable forms. Hence we see solar panels and several hundred foot wind turbines spread out over square miles, and it still doesn't add up to much.

before the Industrial Revolution, "while solar, wind, and water power all provided critical quantities of useful energy, they were no match for coal, oil and natural gas. Hydrocarbons provided huge increases in power availability, allowing humans to go from diffused and geographically dispersed power sources to ones that were concentrated and free of specific geographic requirements. Hydrocarbons were cheap, could be transported, and most important, had greater energy density and power density. That increasing availability of power has allowed us to do ever-greater amounts of work in less time." Hence the industrial revolution and modern prosperity, now spreading worldwide.

Across the globe, modern prosperity is perfectly correlated with the use of energy and electricity. Byrce writes, "[T]he simple, unavoidable truth is that using oil makes us rich.


http://spectator.org...reen-taxes-gree

[stocks]

Direct-digital manufacturing is an innovation that could lead to the "desktop" printing of entire products from automobiles to washing machines.

What's missing is any public awareness of the huge quantities of electricity needed to power data centers. It's been estimated that data centers consume 1.3 percent of the world's electricity, and there are tens of thousands of electronic data centers being built, and each one needs as much electricity as a steel mill.

Those requirements underscore the need to build many more "base-load" power plants in the United States. Most of the electricity will need to come from nuclear power and the abundance of cheap natural gas. But too few power plants are being built.

Some products developed from three-dimensional computerized manufacturing — such as patient-specific implants for hip joints or teeth, and lighter and stronger aircraft parts — are being made from computer-engineered materials that did not exist a few years ago.
Smart manufacturing, in which the science of emerging materials revolutionizes the very fabrication of physical products, has extraordinary economic implications for the United States, which is at the epicenter of digital innovation.
Yet this good news gives rise to some serious questions: Will the United States be able to produce enough electricity to power smart manufacturing and the wireless revolution?


http://www.detroitne...d-manufacturing

[diogenes227]

I guess the rest of the world doesn't get the "absurdity."

PANASONIC EXPANDING SOLAR PANEL PRODUCTION

[Rogerdodger]

One more "shovel ready" union slush fund theft:

Vegas Solar plant closes after 14 months, $20m in federal subsidies...

At its peak, the plant had about 700 employees working three shifts a day to produce solar panels for a utility in Amarosa, Colo., he said.
"I don't think they had a lot of training," Kenerly said. "There were a lot of quality issues. A lot of stuff was coming back because it had some functionality issues."
The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, subsidized by more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility about a year after it opened.

Meet John Hutchings: Lining Union Pockets with Your Money

WATCH: Union bosses OK digging up- then filling back in - ditches ...

Edited by Rogerdodger, 18 July 2012 - 10:24 PM.

[Rogerdodger]

WATCH: Union bosses OK digging up- then filling back in - ditches ...

"The more workers we get, the more money you (unions) get."

(And the more union slush fund money goes back to the politicians.)

But it's not absurd.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 18 July 2012 - 10:51 PM.

[diogenes227]

Nuclear is good.

Checking in on Chernobyl and Pripyat