{"id":582477,"date":"2010-05-27T16:12:23","date_gmt":"2010-05-27T20:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2010-05-27-green-start-ups-rev-up-with-stimulus-money\/"},"modified":"2010-05-27T16:12:23","modified_gmt":"2010-05-27T20:12:23","slug":"obama-preaches-green-tech-gospel-to-california-choir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/582477","title":{"rendered":"Obama preaches green tech gospel to California choir"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Todd Woody.<\/p>\n

Silicon Valley in the Internet age has not made for great
\npresidential photo ops. The Valley’s computer-chip factories were off-shored
\ndecades ago and (Google accepted) the software giants that supplanted hardware companies just
\ndidn’t have the same pizzazz—T-shirted geeks writing code can’t compete with guys and gals in bunny
\nsuits tending big futuristic machines.<\/p>\n

The rise of green tech has changed all that. The Valley
\nis back in the business of building stuff—solar panels, electric cars, fuel cells, and various energy efficient
\nwidgets and gadgets.<\/p>\n

And so when President Obama’s helicopter landed Wednesday
\nmorning at Solyndra, a solar module maker, a television-ready tableau awaited—a huge American flag hung in an unfinished factory, shiny high-tech thin-film
\nsolar panels were on display and workers in hard hats mingled with an audience
\nof some 200 engineers, scientists, venture capitalists, and California’s patron
\nsaint of green tech PR events, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“We’ve got to go back to making things. We’ve got to go back
\nto exports. We’ve got to go back to innovation,” said Obama on Wednesday
\nin Fremont as Solyndra employees snapped photos with their iPhones. <\/p>\n

“The true engine of economic growth will always be companies
\nlike Solyndra, will always be America’s businesses,” he continued. “But that
\ndoesn’t mean the government can just sit on the sidelines.  Government
\nstill has the responsibility to help create the conditions in which students
\ncan gain an education so they can work at Solyndra, and entrepreneurs can get
\nfinancing so they can start a company, and new industries can take hold.”<\/p>\n

It’s an apt choice of words, for the fortunes of green tech
\nstartups like Solyndra have become entwined with the government as the Obama
\nadministration attempts to jumpstart a transition to a clean energy economy.
\nThe sprawling solar module plant we’re standing in—its construction is
\nemploying 3,000 workers—is being financed thanks in large part to a $535
\nmillion loan guarantee the Department of Energy granted to Solyndra last year.<\/p>\n

A few months later, the startup filed for an initial public
\noffering. The extensive vetting of Solyndra that the federal government performed
\nbefore issuing the loan guarantee bolstered the company’s IPO (though Solyndra’s cash
\nburn rate led auditors to question its viability).<\/p>\n

“This facility would not have been possible in the current
\nfinancial climate without that loan,” Kelly Truman, a Solyndra senior vice
\npresident, told me as the presidential podium was dismantled and construction
\nworkers returned to their jobs. “In terms of our business, having the Department of Energy
\ngive us this loan has certainly given us some credibility because of the
\nscrutiny. We went through a year of due diligence.
\nImagine the most conservative bank in the world looking you over.”<\/p>\n

The federal stimulus package’s 30 percent cash tax incentive
\nfor buyers of rooftop photovoltaic systems like those made by Solyndra has also
\nhelped keep the solar industry growing at a rapid clip through the Great
\nRecession.<\/p>\n

“But we’ve still got more work to do, and that’s why I’m
\ngoing to keep fighting to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation in
\nWashington,” said the president, who called climate change “a threat to our way
\nof life.”<\/p>\n

Maybe it was the luxury of being 3,000 miles away from Washington, D.C.
\nsurrounded by apostles of an alternative energy future while the grim reality
\nof the fossil fuel present hung over his head, but Obama spoke more bluntly
\nthan usual.<\/p>\n

“We all know the price we pay as a country as a result of
\nhow we produce and use—and, yes, waste—energy today,” he said. “And the
\nspill in the Gulf, which is just heartbreaking, only underscores the necessity
\nof seeking alternative fuel sources … With the increased risks, the increased
\ncosts, it gives you a sense of where we’re going. We’re not going to be
\nable to sustain this kind of fossil fuel use.”<\/p>\n

A few miles up the road from Solyndra sits the empty hulk of
\nthe New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. plant. The now-defunct joint venture
\nbetween General Motors and Toyota was California’s only auto manufacturing
\nplant when the last Corolla rolled off the line in April. Its closing idled some 5,000
\nworkers.<\/p>\n

Last week, Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley electric
\ncarmaker, announced it was buying the NUMMI factory, tapping a $465 million
\nfederal loan guarantee to close the deal. Tesla will build its Model S
\nbattery-powered sedan at the plant and produce electric cars with Toyota,
\nputting about a thousand autoworkers back on the line.<\/p>\n

“This is only the beginning,” Obama said, referring to the
\nTesla deal. “We’re investing in advanced battery technologies to power plug-in
\nhybrid cars. In fact, today in Tennessee there’s a groundbreaking for an
\nadvanced battery manufacturing facility that will generate hundreds of
\njobs. And it was made possible by loans through the Department of Energy,
\nas well as tax credits and grants to increase demand for these vehicles.”<\/p>\n

No surprise that Obama focused on the green jobs created by
\nthe federal largesse. But in the long run, that investment will help cutting
\nedge technologies to scale. <\/p>\n

Solyndra emerged
\nfrom stealth mode<\/a> less than two years ago, having raised an initial $600
\nmillion and secured $1.2 billion in orders for its copper-indium-gallium-selenide solar cells. CIGS cells can essentially be printed on flexible
\nmaterials or glass without using expensive silicon. While such solar cells are
\nless efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, production costs are
\nexpected to be significantly lower than making traditional silicon-based
\nmodules.<\/p>\n

Co-founded by chief executive Chris Gronet, a veteran of
\nchip equipment maker Applied Materials, Solyndra’s innovation is to coat long
\nglass tubes with CIGS solar cells. Conventional rooftop solar panels must be
\ntilted to absorb direct sunlight because they aren’t as efficient at producing
\nelectricity from diffuse light. But the round Solyndra module collects sunlight
\nfrom all angles, including rays reflected from rooftops. That allows the
\nmodules, 40 to a panel, to sit flat and packed tightly together on
\ncommercial rooftops, maximizing the amount of space for power production.<\/p>\n

While some commentators have questioned<\/a> whether the DOE loan to Solyndra should have been directed at competitors with
\nlower costs, there’s no doubt that the company is a contender in an ever
\ncompetitive global market.<\/p>\n

“There are factories like this being built in China,
\nfactories like this being built in Germany,” said Obama. “Nobody is
\nplaying for second place. These countries recognize that the nation that
\nleads the clean energy economy is likely to lead the global economy. And
\nif we fail to recognize that same imperative, we risk falling behind. We
\nrisk falling behind.”<\/p>\n

Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Climate Post: BP oil spill washes up on Potomac shores<\/a><\/p>\n

Michigan: Where U.S. clean energy, emissions, efficiency policy really counts<\/a><\/p>\n

The Climate Post: BP Oil Spill Washes up Potomac<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t

\n

\n\"\"<\/a>
\n\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Todd Woody. Silicon Valley in the Internet age has not made for great presidential photo ops. The Valley’s computer-chip factories were off-shored decades ago and (Google accepted) the software giants that supplanted hardware companies just didn’t have the same pizzazz—T-shirted geeks writing code can’t compete with guys and gals in bunny suits tending big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":765,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}