Solyndra
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The myth of the free market
The oil, gas, and nuclear industries have enjoyed huge federal subsidies for a century, all of which have far outpaced investment in renewable energy.
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Solyndra shows the government is doing its job, for once
Solyndra's failure isn’t an embarrassment for the government, says Joe Nocera in The New York Times. In fact, it’s exactly what we should expect from a government program designed to fund risky, early-stage technologies that wouldn't otherwise find traction among private-sector funders of research and development. If there were no Solyndras in this world, says Nocera, it would mean government was funding precisely the wrong kind of breakthrough energy research.
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Republicans pursued clean energy loans, too — and good for them!
The GOP now decries energy loans that they begged for a few years ago. This is hypocrisy, but remember that pursuing such loans is a good thing.
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Texas Republican says we should still invest in solar after Solyndra
Here's Joe Barton, a Republican congressman from Texas, explaining why the Solyndra collapse shouldn't end solar loan guarantees. Refreshing! Solyndra had "too little oversight," Barton says, but solar is still viable and other companies should get loans if there's a reasonable expectation that taxpayers won't get screwed.
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It's not just the U.S. — China is also eating Germany's solar lunch
Germany has more installed solar capacity than any other country on the planet, despite having a population of only 80 million people. You'd think that would be enough to drive a market for domestic solar production, but only if you lived under a globalization-proof rock and ate steaming bowls of naivete for breakfast.
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Over 100,000 Americans work in solar industry
The GOP makes no effort to hide its opposition to clean energy. But the solar industry far outpaces the growth rate of the overall U.S. economy.
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What Solyndra didn't teach us about clean energy and job creation
There are ways to advance clean energy development even as you create jobs in the short term, despite what pundits are saying after the Solyndra bankruptcy.
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McConnell opposes energy loan guarantees — except in Kentucky
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is outraged that politically connected energy companies are getting loan guarantees ... outside of Kentucky, his home state.