Remember Solyndra? Clean Energy Program Hated by the GOP Is Projecting a $5 Billion Profit

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/27769-clean-energy-program-hated-by-the-gop-is-projecting-a-5-billion-profit

Despite the program's failures, the department now projects a profit of between $5 billion and $6 billion over the next 20 to 25 years. Overall, 20 of the program's 30 enterprises are operating and generating revenues so far, according to the department.

The successful projects include a site in Alamosa, Colorado, that is the world's largest generator of high concentration photovalic energy, which is a type of solar power. The operator, power company Cogentrix, has 10 permanent operations positions in addition to supply line jobs.

Overall, the Department of Energy claims the program has created or saved roughly 35,000 permanent jobs.

Republicans have argued that the investments are risky and the program mismanaged, as Solyndra demonstrated, though improvements have been made.

"We are not out of the woods by any stretch," said Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Our oversight efforts will continue as problems still persist, and more needs to be done to protect billions of dollars in taxpayer interests."

But supporters say government investment is necessary for innovative energy enterprises.

"It's very hard to get commercial scale financing, especially for these types of projects," said Nancy Pfund, a managing partner with DBL Investor, a San Francisco-based venture capital company with holdings in two companies backed by the program. "It's been a very positive force in that respect."

[Botany]

1. But what about Benghazi?

n/t

[ybbor]

8. Yeah

That's what I was thinking.

[TrollBuster9090]

2. And yet, Democratic politicians still felt compelled to run away from Obama's record in the last

election. We definitely deserved to lose.

[trusty elf]

4. I hope you're joking.

Otherwise....

[img][/img]

[babylonsister]

5. Inhofe, is that you? nt

[NBachers]

6. It's below zero inside as well

[Thespian2]

7. K & R

Republicans are always wrong on any issue. They work every hard to keep Americans stupid. Being totally owned by energy companies and Wall Street helps them block new sources of renewable energies.

[quadrature]

9. so how bad is it?

projecting a profit 30 years from now
is usually codespeak for a loss.

when was this passed?, 2009, 2010, ?
..................
with that said, I think solar electricity is nice,
but what we really need
is the widespread adoption
of hybrid and electric cars.

[caraher]

10. There's no "but what we really need is this one thing" solution

We need everything.

I agree that hybrids/electrics can go a long way toward "decarbonizing" transportation. But transportation is just one important but by no means dominant piece of the puzzle, constituting less than 30% of our energy use. And where I live, electric cars aren't really a significant improvement, as our electricity comes from coal. We need to clean up the electricity supply AND adopt more EVs.

Here's a pretty nice overview of the energy picture for the US:

[Finishline42]

11. Nice graphic, but to your point - more to be gained in improvements in heating and cooling of

Nice graphic, but to your point - more to be gained in improvements in heating and cooling of homes, offices and factories - which is were most of our energy consumption goes (less than 30% in transportation).

A good portion of the oil glut is due to improvements in mpg of our cars (cash for clunkers was a good start). The same thing needs to be done for our buildings. There needs to be a similar program for not only for all new buildings but also buildings being refurbished. Reduce the amount of energy wasted and then renewables can easily become a bigger piece of the supply.