“Be curious, ask questions, love nature and wonder at the incredible amount of things that we still have to learn...We, humanity, needs to keep wondering and exploring: our job will be never finished.”
—Simona Rolli, Program Manager in the US Department of Energy’s Office of High Energy Physics.
The Department of Energy is celebrating Women in STEM Careers with profiles of the talented women who work in DOE Labs and offices across the country. Peruse these profiles for a glimpse at the different paths that can lead you to a job in the sciences.
President Obama Mentions An Energy Company In His Big Speech And It Goes Bankrupt Instantly
businessinsider.comAndrew Restuccia of The Hill is reporting that Ener1, a battery company that President Obama referenced in his State of The Union Speech on Tuesday as an example of successful energy investments, has just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
That’s just two days after the speech.
“In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries,” Obama said in his speech.
Solyndra Execs Clam Up Before Congress
By Jillian Sederholm
Top executives from bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra invoked their Fifth Amendment rights to refuse to testify at a congressional hearing on grounds of self-incrimination on Friday. CEO Brian Harrison and CFO W.G. Stover both declined to answer 20 different questions during a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations currently looking into the $535 million government loan guarantee the California company received from the Department of Energy in 2009.
On the day of the hearing, Solyndra sent a tweet to Washington Examiner Online Opinion Editor David Freddoso saying “An all-American company, we at Solyndra believe in the Bill of Rights, especially the fifth part.”
Republican leaders have pointed to Solyndra’s failure as a major financial misstep of the Obama administration under whose watch the solar manufacturer was selected as the first recipient of a loan guarantee from a Department of Energy program supporting clean energy companies that would produce new jobs. President Obama made an onsite visit in 2010, saluting the company for its leadership in the field. Solyndra also ranked number one in the Wall Street Journal’s list of “Top Clean Tech Companies.” Then last month the company abruptly laid off 1,100 workers and declared bankruptcy.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that the White House had rushed the Office of Management and Budget to make a decision on the approval of Solyndra’s loan in time for Vice President Joe Biden to announce it at the company’s 2009 factory groundbreaking. Emails from federal reviewers state that the OMB did not think this gave them enough time to fully access taxpayer risk.
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich, was an outspoken critic of Solyndra at Friday’s hearing, telling the executives, “Let me just warn you and the other folks involved in this taxpayer ripoff. We’re not done. No we’re not.” Upton, along with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, has also openly criticized the Obama administration for failing to create new jobs by giving stimulus money to clean energy projects. However, a set of Energy Department documents obtained by the New York Times show that both Upton and McConnell pushed for federal funding of clean energy projects in their states.
First Light House - New Zealand Solar Decathlon Entrants - Episode 2
solar-post-light.comFirst Light - The build up to the first New Zealand team in the Solar Decathlon 2011. Episode 2 - Taking New Zealand to the world Firstlight website: http://firstlighthouse.ac.nz/ U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, David Huebner’s Blog Post: ‘Kiwi Bach On The Washington Mall’: http://blogs.newzealand.usembassy.gov/ambassador/2010/11/kiwi-bach-on-the-washington-mall/ Solar Decathlon website: http://www.solardecathlon.gov/ http://newzealand.usembassy.govDuration : 0:3:49
More corporatism from our dear leader Obama
hosted.ap.orgThe Obama administration has approved two more solar loans totaling around $1 billion.
What could possibly go wrong with this?
This is not free market capitalism. This is corporatism.
The Energy Department on Wednesday approved two loan guarantees worth more than $1 billion for solar energy projects in Nevada and Arizona, two days before the expiration date of a program that has become a rallying cry for Republican critics of the Obama administration’s green energy program.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the department has completed a $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for a 110 megawatt solar tower on federal land near Tonopah, Nev., and a $337 million guarantee for Mesquite Solar 1 to develop a 150 megawatt solar plant near Phoenix.
The loans were approved under the same program that paid for a $528 million loan to Solyndra Inc., a California solar panel maker that went bankrupt after receiving the money and laid off 1,100 workers. Solyndra is under investigation by the FBI and is the focal point of House hearings on the program.
GE Solar panels to be a convenient tool
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via ziggytek.com
