The greens continue to push the notion that the struggling green energy industry is akin to the personal computing industry of the 1980s and 1990s.
Natural Resources Defense Council communications director and former Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Bob Deans writes in “If Solyndra Kills Off Clean Energy Investment, THAT Would Be A Scandal“:
Not all of these [government-subsidized green energy] technologies will succeed. When they struggle, when they fail, the answer is not to give up and to pack it in. We didn’t abandon laptop computers, after all, when Commodore went bust. And the answer is certainly not to try to demonize and malign those leaders who see solar power as one part of a broader mix of promising energy technologies we must pursue.
But of course, Commodore wasn’t government subsidized and it failed in 1994, after initial success, because of a series of bad business decisions.
Last month, the greens tried likening Solyndra to Netscape — a company that sold itself to AOL in 1998 for $4.2 billion.
Solyndra probably can’t be compared to any tech company. Even the failed Pets.com wasn’t subsidized.
Also:
We’ve been engaged in an effort to promote solar industry since before Jimmy Carter – laptops were brand new at the time. After 40 years of failed trying, you might get the message not to rush it.
The laptop had no alternative for its function. We have oil, gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, geo thermal and even wind – all of which are a better source of energy than solar.