Solyndra industries

[Ranchero]

well i finally saw something about the Solyndra solar panel company in CA closing on ABC news last night. those jobs are overseas and they have taken your money.

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sorry for the rant, but you can't go very far with energy topics without it becoming political.

If you can't post about energy without becoming political then better not to post here. It will be deleted. Russ

[Sunking]

Russ I am not so sure that is a good idea. People need to know most of the government subsidy money for renewable energy is going overseas financing our demise.

[Ranchero]

new guy apology.

[Mike in San Jose]

Bad Info

There's way too much bad (incorrect) info out there about Solyndra. First of all, Solyndra is not closing. Solyndra closed an older, inefficient manufacturing facility and moved production into a newer, extremely efficient facility drastically reducing costs.

Second, Solyndra has sent no jobs overseas, all production is done in Fremont, California. While it is true that Solyndra did layoff employees in some departments it has hired in others. These layoffs were not companywide headcount reductions.

Solyndra has become the whipping boy of the GOP simply because it received the DOE loan check during this administration. What nobody mentions is that the loan was approved while Bush was still in office.

[Ranchero]

thanks for the correction and sharing.

[Sunking]

What nobody mentions is that the loan was approved while Bush was still in office.

Presidents do not make, approve, or sign loans. The loans come from the Federal Reserve System who the Executive branch does not control. The oversight is done by the Congress which was under Democrat control at the time. Bush had nothing to do with it.

[russ]

The problem with politics is that generally there are far more bits of misinformation out there that people heard somewhere (barber shop, hair dressers, talk radio) than facts.

This thread is a good example - of misconceptions
1) Solyndra did not move off shore
2) Bush did not approve it - the Obama administration in totality part of the ARA money I believe

If people want to rant I have no problem - there are many different forums for that. I don't use them as they are a waste of time.

Subsidies being silly? I can certainly agree with that but we will do nothing about that here.

Funny thing is that where I live I can look out over the top of the village toward the bay and see hundreds of solar hot water systems but not one single PV panel. There are no incentives available here. That tells me that solar thermal is more economical than solar PV, today.

Russ

[MarineLiner]

Presidents do not make, approve, or sign loans. The loans come from the Federal Reserve System who the Executive branch does not control. The oversight is done by the Congress which was under Democrat control at the time. Bush had nothing to do with it.

[Mike in San Jose]

Presidents do not make, approve, or sign loans. The loans come from the Federal Reserve System who the Executive branch does not control. The oversight is done by the Congress which was under Democrat control at the time. Bush had nothing to do with it.

True, true. My point wasn't neccessarily to imply that Bush gave us the loan. It was more that Solyndra is being dragged though the dirt by Obama haters simply due to the timing of when the DOE loan was received. I'm sure Obama's speech here didn't help either. Its a pity when you think of the fact that Solyndra is a company employing over 1000 Americans who are doing everything they can to compete with the Chinese and keep jobs in America.

[russ]

Excerpts from http://www.mercurynews.com/business/...nclick_check=1

From Solyndra two months back -

1)"We're not yet cash flow positive, but we've adjusted our spending and slowed the rate of cash we are consuming," he added.

2) But Ramesh Misra, a semiconductor and solar energy analyst at Brigantine Advisors, says excessive spending is just one of Solyndra's problems. Another is that there doesn't appear to be much demand for its product.

3) "At the end of the day, customers pay the bills," Misra said. "Where are their customers? That's where the story starts to unravel. Solyndra is a disaster waiting to happen."

I have yet to read anything positive about Solyndra unless it came from their own PR department.

Russ

[Naptown]

It is a cool system and certainly optimized for flat roof installs where roof loading is a critical factor due to the lack of required ballasting. However this is amorphous technology and watt per sq ft vs cost are a big consideration.

[russ]

Their reliance on reflected light is kind of strange - unless you plan on washing the roof daily.

[Naptown]

They would certainly work better on a white roof than a black one.
However I would imagine the reflected light is minimal as the collectors themselves will cause shading on the roof.

[russ]

Agreed but Solyndra makes a big thing out of it.

[Sunking]

Its a pity when you think of the fact that Solyndra is a company employing over 1000 Americans who are doing everything they can to compete with the Chinese and keep jobs in America.

There lies the problem; no country can compete with China manufacturing. It is futile to even try.