The financial collapse of the solar cell company Solyndra in 2011 caused a serious backlash in the public perception of green energy initiatives and especially the perception of government based subsidies of green energy companies. Solyndra was a California-based company that built cylindrical solar tubes, capable of absorbing solar energy from any direction. The company was initially an exciting and successful endeavor, turning a profit of about $250 million in sales during its first years in business.

However the success was not to last.  It ran into trouble once foreign companies started producing and selling the same type of tubes for much cheaper prices. Solyndra “couldn’t compete against inexpensive cells flooding the market from new, heavily subsidized factories in China. In addition, Solyndra’s foreign competitors started offering extended payment plans. As a result, some Solyndra customers refused to honor their previously agreed-upon payment terms.”

Solyndra wasn’t without help in their endeavor towards making green energy technology a staple of America’s new energy policy. President Obama gave Solyndra $535 million in federal loans (a direct loan from the government) but it proved futile in the end. This was obviously terrible publicity for any aspiring green energy companies that hope to receive some aid from the federal government. The population sees something like this and immediately thinks, “Why is the government funding failing companies like Solyndra, why are they funding these companies here at all when China produces the same stuff for cheaper?”

Well that attitude is exactly the kind of thing we cannot afford to believe. America can either get with the times when it comes to expanding green energy or we will be left behind. Allowing foreign nations to not just surpass us, but actually turn a profit on us in these industries could mean we’re forever playing catchup in an area of industry that will literally run the world when our fossil fuels start to dry up in a matter of decades.

This is why, although Solyndra’s unfortunate demise should give government incentive to do more research on the whole situation before handing our hundreds of millions of dollars, it should not be an event that forever alters the public perception of government subsidies for green energy technologies.

Sources:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cylindrical-solar-cells-give-new-meaning-to-sunroof

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Solyndra-files-bankruptcy-employees-sue-2311147.php

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2011/09/27/solyndra-illuminating-energy-funding-flaws/