Here Comes the Sun?

          Little darlings, it’s been a long cold lonely winter….for solar power. With the emergence of theSolyndra scandal, the future of “green” industry in the US is called into question.

          It is clear that Solyndra’s business model sucked and the company was an Administration pet project. However, Solyndra also demonstrated the fate of companies which can’t innovate to “smaller, faster, cheaper”. Bad books didn’t kill Solyndra, Market forces killed Solyndra.

          Green opponents speak as though Solyndra was the only solar company in the US, gorging itself on wasted taxpayer dollars. In fact, there are more than 800 solar R&D companies attempting to produce products which will globally compete. These companies have pushed electrical generation costs to under 10 cents per KWH. Coal is $0.01 per KWH. When any green energy crosses this threshold, traditional energy sources will become obsolete.

          Green energy and green jobs are being used as a political football by Administration opponents. Let’s not “do” this green energy thing. Green industry, environmentalists, and labor unions are terms which spew out in one breath. Let’s cut funding for Green research….but keep the subsidies for oil companies. By the way, we need to drill for more yummy oil, which helps keep our Congressional jobs.

          Bottom line for opponents: Let’s not try to compete globally with Green technology research. Green is an ideology of the enemy. Green is a lie to cheat Americans out of their tax dollars….and we don’t much want to “do” this globalization thing anyway.

          While politicians argue in a vacuum, they (and us) are getting their asses kicked by foreign competition, who is quite content to “do” the globalization thing and make the globalization bucks. Our politicians introspective squabbling never seems to get at the real cause for Solyndra’s demise. Their demise didn’t stem from incompetence, shady books, or shadier politicians. Solyndra couldn’t compete with the cost of Chinese flat panel solar panels. Solyndra was killed by global competition.

          While the politicians argue back and forth on the merits of actually “doing” Green tech, the rest of the world has turned Green tech into a $3 trillion industry. This is not a “future” industry, but a “we’re currently kicking your ass but you’re looking in the wrong direction to know it” industry. The rest of the world is kicking our ass NOW.

          We can continue to buy dead dinosaurs from our actual enemies, or we can ask what is best for the country and for our competitive future. Bear in mind that I’m not a tree hugger. I advocate use of natural gas & 4th gen nuclear as well (look it up if you don’t know what it is). We have GOT to get over this “I don’t like globalization” mindset and come up with a national strategy and policies to make the rest of the world stop kicking our asses…..or one could simply take up permanent residence in the State of Denial.