Solyndra and the Green Energy Boondoggle



Another Federal Government boondoggle! Yes, folks another example of your "Federal Tax Dollars" at work. The Obama Administration was so anxious to find a "Green Energy" success story that they were willing to jump into an investment with a company that apparently had a very bad business model. Of course that is no surprise to most who have been paying attention to the Obama Administration's understanding of how the economy works and that is another story for another day.

Solyndra manufactures "Solar Panels." They lobbied very hard for a $535 million dollar loan from the "Energy Department" that you yes, you the taxpayer are now going to have to pay for because Solyndra has gone bankrupt. The Obama Administration insisted on loaning Solyndra the money and did not do basic vetting of Solyndra. Now there is a "Big Investigation" underway to see what went wrong and this may put the White House in VERY HOT WATER! For more on the investigation please click this link. Solyndra

Green Energy got a huge boost when the Obama Administration came to Washington but it did not start with them. It all started in 1970 when President Nixon proposed and Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is the marriage of Environmentalist and the Federal Government. Later that decade Congress passed and President Carter signed into law "The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977" which created the Department of Energy (DOE). Although the DOE is responsible for regulating a wide range of energy it was created in response to the Oil Embargo by OPEC. Its primary purpose in the beginning was to get the United States off of foreign oil.

How has that worked out over the last 34 years? Not too good has it? Under the Obama Administration they have pushed a "Green Energy Policy" which is very reliant on Wind & Solar generated electric power and ethanol production. Let's deal with Wind and Solar power for now.



Wind Power

Wind power isn't new it has been around for centuries. It has been used to power grain mills, well pumps and even some electric power in the past among other things. Way back when Edison and others were beginning their electric power grid they did not use the wind as a source of energy. I wonder why? Well it is very simple. When the wind doesn't blow the turbines do not produce electricity. Basically wind was and is very unreliable and they needed a reliable source of energy 24 hours a day and so was born the Coal Powered Steam Turbines. Now they have been putting these giant wind turbines in places where the wind tends to blow most of the time. There is one problem with this. They tend to be in areas where migratory birds travel and many have been killed by the turbine blades. I wonder how the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) feels about that? If Wind Power was such a great idea the private sector would have invested in Wind Turbine companies and Wind Farms years ago just like they did with Coal Powered Steam Turbines.



Solar Power

The Space Program gave Solar Power Panels a big boost beginning in the 1960's. It was hoped that Solar Panel Farms would be able to produce enough energy during the day that they would have enough stored away for use during the night. Well this isn't working out quite as planned. Obviously Solar Panels do not produce electricity when it is cloudy or at night and this is a problem not to mention the fact that they take up a large area and use a lot of water. Of course if Solar Panel Farms were the answer to the problem the private sector would be investing heavily and they are not.

Hydrogen Power

What I find extremely interesting is that the Federal Government shows a tremendous amount of support for Solar & Wind Power but little or no interest in Hydrogen Power. Here is a question for you. What is the largest source of Hydrogen & Oxygen in the world? Give up? It is water and we have oceans of it. Water also falls from the sky in the form of rain, sleet, snow & hail. If the government is hell bent on Green Energy then why are they not funding Hydrogen Power. Simple, they cannot tax it and the Energy Company's cannot charge for it. Is it possible to run your car or house on WATER? Check out the videos below (from the late 1990's). Oh by the way the byproduct of breaking water down into HHO gas and burning it in a internal combustion engine is "Water Vapor" amazing!



Folks, don't get me wrong. I am not against "Green Energy." I am against our tax dollars being used to fund it.