Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Diane Ellis, Ed. ·
Nov 4, 2010 at 3:30pm
Here's one to file away in the day-after-the-election shenanigans folder:
Solyndra, the poster child of green energy in Silicon Valley, that was going to create the jobs of the future, announced that it will layoff 17.5% of its workers just one day after the elections. The company received $535 million in U.S. tax payer bailout to create jobs. President Obama and Senator Barbara Boxer visited and campaigned at the plant.
...Tax payers own 73% of the company. The company said it could not complete with lower cost products from China.
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May '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Solar panals can only work when it rains Federal dollars?
Edited on Nov 4, 2010 at 3:47pmOct '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
So begins (I hope) the slow death spiral of green energy. Solar energy (photo voltaics) is so ineffecient that, even in high insolation zones like the southwest, the carbon based energy sources would need to much more expensive to make solar PV economical without massive subsidies. With high opposition to Cap and Trade in the House, Solyndra is probably seeing the handwritng on the wall.
I hope this is an example of a new form of "shovel ready projects"; ones that are dead, rotting and ready to be buried
May '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Whether or not there is going to be a "Green Industry", its becoming certain that those industries won't be in California, and probably not in the US.
Let's replace talk of "jobs American won't do" with the more important subject of "jobs Americans won't get".
May '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
I'm a little surprised. Sure, the Democrats shower "green" companies with money, but plenty of Republicans have been jumping on the eco bandwagon.
I wouldn't be surprised if some type of bipartisan energy or environment bill gets passed and approved in the next couple years.
Aug '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
How about "jobs American's won't stop doing"? Because if you think a little Reality is going to derail Obama's die hard commitment to the green energy schtick... well, you haven't talked to a lefty recently. He's betting the house on this one, and he doesn't have the personality or character to fold in the face of losing odds.
Shouldn't it be horribly scary that the one plan the Obama Administration had for massive revitalization of the economy is turning up a dead end?
May '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
You mean, like if war broke out in the Middle East and the EPA regulated CO2 emissions or oil with renewed fury? Nah, that could never happen.
Regardless, fossil fuels will continue to be our main energy source. But other energy sources can be worthwhile on a state-by-state basis (hydroelectric, for example). I wonder if a Republican president in 2012 would support nuclear with more than words. It would be great if he/she could put a stop to the ethanol nonsense, too.
May '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Clearly the issue is that 27% of Solyndra which We The People haven't subsidized!
Even as the son of a farmer - especially as the son of a farmer - I must echo Aaron's hopes that the ethanol boondoggle die an unceremonious death. If special tax breaks and free advertising aren't enough to make a green energy company profitable, it's not so much a "business" as a "theory."
Oct '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Typical distortion of the market by our government. Wind and solar power both require that 70% of their power generation capacity be duplicated standard generating facilities. The wind doesn't always blow and somtimes it blows too much. Nor does the sun always shine, especially not at night.
Aside from nuclear, there is no reliable, cost effective energy alternative to fossil fuel.
Jun '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Hey what's not to like about ethanol? It takes more energy to produce than you get out. It raises the cost of food, which means more people starve--but they had it comming for being born in the third world, so who cares. Besides, that starving thing is just a speed bump on the expressway to utopia, so we need not worry too much about it. What greater gift, I ask, can a man give than to lay down his life for my road trip?
Jul '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Well that's...just...great.
Now where do I get juice for my Chevy Volt?
Jul '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Matthew Osborn: Typical distortion of the market by our government. Wind and solar power both require that 70% of their power generation capacity be duplicated standard generating facilities. The wind doesn't always blow and somtimes it blows too much. Nor does the sun always shine, especially not at night.
Aside from nuclear, there is no reliable, cost effective energy alternative to fossil fuel. · Nov 4 at 4:26pm
California gets a lot of electricity from hydropower.
Guess what? There's an environmental movement calling for removal of small-scale hydropower dams in order to restore rivers to their bucolic state of nature. They've already torn down a fair number of them in Oregon.
Jun '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
You need to use Stimulus Math. The question is not how many Green Jobs have we lost but how many more Green Jobs would we have lost had it not been for AB 32, the "Global Warming Act of 2006?" This just proves the need to set even more aggressive emission reduction targets so we can "save or create" even more jobs!
Aug '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
A great scenic "stand athwart history" view from the highway of the future. This combined with obamacare must be prime targets. Otherwise we can only hope our surgeries are scheduled on sunny, windy days in their future .
Jun '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Kenneth, when you close down your dams California will get its electricity from where it always has, British Columbia. We have a really nifty gas fired generation plant up here that only gets fired up when California says pretty please. The bonus for me is that our greenie pukes go all apoplectic when BC Hydo even thinks about firing up that plant, which is a consumation not to be missed. Heads explode and it rains brains, which is a real surprise because I never thought greens had them.
Jul '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
I spent a large part of my childhood in an old logging camp in the Sierra's. At some point in the 50's everything for miles around became a National Forest, but the owners of our square mile refused to sell.
Boy, if you want to see a vindictive Federal Agency, just square off with the Bureau of Land Management.
Our little hamlet- about 40 cabins - was served by a small dam that fed into a hydro generator. The Feds couldn't force us to sell, but once the EPA came into being, they could force us to take down the dam.
So, instead of one zero-emissions generator, we went to 40 gas-gobblers.
Edited on Nov 4, 2010 at 5:32pmJun '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Kenneth
Guess what? There's an environmental movement calling for removal of small-scale hydropower dams in order to restore rivers to their bucolic state of nature. They've already torn down a fair number of them in Oregon. · Nov 4 at 4:34pm
And guess what again? Oregon just re-elected the same governor who wanted to tear down our biggest dam near Portland. He already ran two terms, sat out 8 years, and came back. One of his first priorities to save the economy is... weatherizing our homes. Hoorah! We're saved! God help me...
Jul '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Oh, don't you dare think that's the end of green energy. Our faculty and many others are searching for "Sustainable Energy" scientists and engineers. There are a lot of Federal dollars out there for increasing the electron transfer from a photo-sensitizer to the titania particle, for example.
A colleague is buying a Nissan Leaf. I asked him where the electricity comes from.
The next generation is this: Honda FCX. The engineers at Honda, the largest engine manufacturer in the world, and elsewhere think this is not a bridging technology.
Jul '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Separating hydrogen from water takes more energy than it yields. Storing and distributing on a mass scale is close to impossible - being the smallest atom in nature, it seeps right through anything but an absolute perfect seal.
Jul '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Kenneth, everything takes more energy than it yields in work. This is written in the First Law of Thermodynamics. E = q + w. Otherwise known as: "You can't win." You do get some energy in the form of work. Otherwise, the machine wouldn't run, and the car would just sit there, getting hotter.
In this vehicle, hydrogen gas from a fuel tank is separated into protons and electrons, which provides the current that charges the Li ion battery. We can separate hydrogen pretty readily nowadays. A tank of the pure stuff is fairly cheap for laboratory purposes. The issue mostly is in the membrane technology as well as the design of the fuel cell and storing the hydrogen. That's why metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are a big deal for hydrogen storage capabilities.
Jul '10
Re: Solyndra's Massive Layoffs and the Myth of Green Jobs
Michael Tee: Kenneth, everything takes more energy than it yields in work. This is written in the First Law of Thermodynamics. E = q + w. Otherwise known as: "You can't win." You do get some energy in the form of work. Otherwise, the machine wouldn't run, and the car would just sit there, getting hotter.
In this vehicle, hydrogen gas from a fuel tank is separated into protons and electrons, which provides the current that charges the Li ion battery. We can separate hydrogen pretty readily nowadays. A tank of the pure stuff is fairly cheap for laboratory purposes. The issue mostly is in the membrane technology as well as the design of the fuel cell and storing the hydrogen. That's why metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are a big deal for hydrogen storage capabilities. · Nov 4 at 6:32pm
I love it when you talk about MOF's.
But you really had me at E = q + w.