Solyndra and What's Next For U.S. Energy Policy
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-11-17/solyndra-and-whats-next-us-energy-policy
Energy Secretary Steven Chu is facing tough questions on capital hill over the Obama administrations support for Solyndra. The now bankrupt solar panel company received a five hundred and thirty five million dollar loan from the federal government. Republicans charge got the loan because of political favoritism for a big Obama donor. The administration maintains the overall performance loan program will turn out to be sound. Chu, a Nobel laureate, points to the economic stakes for the U.S. in a growing global renewable energy market. A look at the controversy over Solyndra and what's next for U.S. energy policy.
Guests
Kevin Book
managing director of research, ClearView Energy Partners.
Coral Davenport
energy and environment correspondent, National Journal.
Robert Bryce
senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of "Power Hungry:The Myths of 'Green' Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future"
Nathanael Greene
Director of Renewable Energy Policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council
Comments
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I just listened to the first segment of the show. Suddenly, I thought I had been thrown into some kind of alternate Fox News universe, where the only information available was censored by Rush Limbaugh, or maybe that Diane was channeling him.
All the guests sounded to dogmatically decided against Solyndra and the Obama administration's presumed wrong-headed involvement. None of that is true. The hearings are a political witch hunt.
From ThinkProgress 9/13/2011:
"the Solyndra loan guarantee was a multi-year process that the Bush Administration launched
in 2007."
We should be investigating those who got the ball rolling on this project first, including the Walton family, which provided significant early funding and wanted the government loan guarantee.
Secondly, one of the panel presented an poor analogue to the daily output of the Keystone XL mainline as equivalent in energy production to the renewable market. What is missing is the greenhouse gas potential, up to another 2 degrees C, vs almost no carbon footprint for renewables. Climate change has not been mentioned yet. If we are going to make the comparison, carbon intensity is a necessary part of that discussion.
Based on the reality of global warming, it is imperitive we try to adjust how the species lives. Implementing an infrastructure that promotes alternative energy use must be put in place. If everything we do has to pass the money test, we'll never get anywhere.
This issue is not limited to energy use. There are other renewable resources that are not being utilized, simply because of industrial traditions and the current infrastructure.
In my opinion, we need dramatic changes. We don't need people thinking 'out of the box',; we need them thinking outside the warehouse!
A new book “The Third Industrial Revolution (TIR)” (Jeremy Rifkin promoted on the DR Show) proposes a five part plan to get us out of this recession. Here are the five pillars:
1)Make the change from carbon-based fossil fuel energy regime to a renewable energy regime.
2)Reconfigure all Florissant homes and business buildings into mini power plants that can collect renewable energy on site.
3)Install hydrogen and other storage technology to every building to store intermittent renewable energy to meet demand.
4)Use internet communication technology to convert electricity exchanges to the smart grid network.
5)Transition our transportation fleets – cars, trucks, buses - to electric plug-in and fuel cell vehicles.
A plan is needed to get started. The German have started their TIR planning. We should learn from their mistakes and try to catch up just like we did when the Russians put up the first satellite.
To start, I'm thinking about getting my city planner interested in promoting solar roofing. We could all use a "How to" guide for changing our cities to promote all homes and businesses into power stations. Sources that exchange energy as needed.
As a fellow design engineer I was dismayed to learn Solyndra got this loan to greatly expand it's manufacturing capacity when the existing plant running at 65% capacity. Proper due diligence would have precluded Solyndra from receiving that loan on that fact alone.
Hello Diane,
I'm a long time listener and really enjoy many of your interviews, the one today on Solyndra got me particularly irked because everybody misses the point.
Renewable resources are a great thing, the problem with them is that they are "unsteady" in delivery. The answer here is using the energy to create hydrogen. A kilogram of hydrogen is is equivalent in energy to a gallon of gasoline in energy value with the added advantages of Fuel Cells being approximately 10% more thermally efficient converting energy to work and emitting pure water as the byproduct with '0' carbon foot print, it is the obvious choice.
The NREL has already shown that with today's already existing technology (for a few years now, not the latest equipment), it's possible to produce Hydrogen from electrolysis at the the $3.00kg price point that is required to make H2 competitive against oil.
The key issue that is preventing H2 usage is really the energy supply to produce the hydrogen is already dirty and as was pointed out today, the renewable resource at this point is insufficient to produce H2 in the quantities required by our society.
This leads to the obvious solution; the only clean one we have at this point, nuclear. Here's the thing, we have billions of dollars worth of energy that we have already paid for locked up in a fleet of nuclear submarines the Navy is trying to figure out what to do with.
Why don't we pull the propellers off of them and hook up generators? The Ohio class boats are big enough they could house the H2 production facility where the silos are.
I'm highly confused (outside of 'conspiracy theory' type explanations) of why I can't get anybody to consider the idea.
There are more issues as well; I had to make this brief due to the format, but I have written a Facebook page concerning this topic.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navy-to-Energy/167361126687299
" Tammie Reynolds wrote:
First President Obama gave the Republicans a pass on war crimes, correct me if I am wrong but didn't Bush have to cancle leaving the country for fear of being arrested? Second how much did Solyndra get in comparisson to what the oil companies have been getting for the last 100 years, which the Republicans defend to the end?
...
November 17, 2011 - 8:33 am"
Don't forget that, during the oil bubble, Twiggy (W) allowed his Texas rat crooks to borrow oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve when the price was sky high, then replace it after the price collapsed.
G_d knows how much that little caper cost the Taxpayers.
The Guy who was trying to explain the huge subsidies, both overt and hidden, for non-renewable energy sources and the chaos certain to occur as they become more and more scarce, was cut off by Diane.
Diane, these cutoffs can't be accidental and if not, you are a Criminal.
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
" Henning Heinemann wrote:
...
This leads to the obvious solution; the only clean one we have at this point, nuclear. Here's the thing, we have billions of dollars worth of energy that we have already paid for locked up in a fleet of nuclear submarines the Navy is trying to figure out what to do with.
Why don't we pull the propellers off of them and hook up generators? The Ohio class boats are big enough they could house the H2 production facility where the silos are.
I'm highly confused (outside of 'conspiracy theory' type explanations) of why I can't get anybody to consider the idea.
There are more issues as well; I had to make this brief due to the format, but I have written a Facebook page concerning this topic.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navy-to-Energy/167361126687299
November 17, 2011 - 2:05 pm"
Pure Oxygen would also be produced which has considerable value, but both gases need to be compressed to manageable volumes for practical handling.
The submarine motors are probably electric anyhow, so generators wouldn't be required, but those submarines are critical to Secretary Clinton and President Obama's efforts in restarting the Cold War.
As to conspiracies, did you notice the plunge in Gas prices during September, bottoming on Oct 1, just in time for the setting of the CPI/COLA for 2012, exactly as has been done for at least a Decade?
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
spin faster- spinfaster
no one will notice the wobble and lack of support...
hollow daze for MOST
American Pirate Party(the APP for recovering Americans)
or go the opiate- er- painless Soylent Green Induction method-
From the makers of Numbitol and Fukitol- USe all the fine products- REMEMBER to insist on locally produced Soylent Green- preferably from Unions and their members- none of that fake imitation or imported unregulated Chinese or Indian products.
(not responsible for actions or inactions- 'JUST US'- like Congress)
and the whole war thingy- driving foreign policy since the Boer campaign- or was IT Gallipolli?
Two weeks before Bush left office , the energy department and
credit committee voted against a loan for Solyndra. Not because they were against alternative energy, but Solyndra was a bad credit risk. Even after Obama took office, Solyndra
had a high risk rating. However, Solyndra was given $538,000,000. That is alot of tax payers money. Our country does need alternative energy. However, we cannot afford to throw our hard earned dollars away on bad credit risks. If your
credit was as bad as Solyndra's, would you be able to get a loan. I think not.... Neither republican or democrat. Undecided.