The Green Economy

[shatto]

$500,000,000 capital injection, yet.....the sun sets on Solyndra.
On the other hand, it looks like things are heating up after all.

[theclencher]

Gee, that was informative.

[trollbait]

From my casual following of the story, a drop materials pricing (silicon,IIRC) left Solyndra's tech uncompetitive.

The US, as of 2009, is the fifth largest PV producer in the world.

[shatto]

Away from the Silicon Valley, that the FBI removed all the documents might not have made the news.
Apparently, Solyndra receiving half a billion dollars of 'stimulus' money
when they already knew their technology was uncompetitive and then closing the doors, made somebody think there was some chicanery going on.
Maybe it was that a couple of the financiers happened to be major 'money bundler's' for politicians.

[Sludgy]

The real problem is that right now there is a "race to the bottom" among solar cell manufacturers. Solar cells, once high-tech, have become a commmodity, and the low cost producer will always win the race.

The United States is not competitive in commodity manufacturing (with the exception of agricultural materials). High wages and benefits, low productivity, unions, overweening regulations, and a 34% corporate income tax rate mean that business moves overseas.

Hello, China.

[bowtieguy]

which generation is/was greener, todays' or yesteryears'...

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

[trollbait]

If you did have the green thing, why did you switch away from reusing glass bottles, line drying, washable diapers, etc?

[Sludgy]

Originally Posted by trollbait

If you did have the green thing, why did you switch away from reusing glass bottles, line drying, washable diapers, etc?

Because all of those things are a pain in the a**.

[madnessspirit]

That one TV with the tiny screen used more power than both of my computers and my 52" combined.

Originally Posted by Sludgy

overweening regulations, and a 34% corporate income tax rate mean that business moves overseas.

Hello, China.

Yeah... Having little regulation like China would make this world a better place. Imagine all the smog we could be breathing, paying our laborers next to nothing, people who aren't rich not really having any rights in the workplace, and great products like glowing pork, exploding watermelons and all those beautiful substandard parts on E-Bay. Tax rate moving business overseas? Sure, it is a fun talking point and seems to make sense if that is all you look at, but I guarantee you the tax rate is not why businesses move overseas. Besides, there is no business that can afford to operate multi-nationally that cannot afford an even marginally competent accountant, so the base corporate tax rate has nothing to do with anything.

Interesting to see though, one companies malfeasance is an indictment on the green economy or US economic policy.... I wasn't aware this was a political forum.

[bowtieguy]

there is no political forum!

to give credence to my friend sludgy and his view, THIS is a VERY simple example of ignorant, job killing legislation in the form of regulation...http://www.timesgazette.com/main.asp...ticleID=180196

there are MANY more!...