Despite all the positive facts about solar energy, there are still skeptics. Like other forms of alternative energy, it is clean in its output, but there are still environmental issues surrounding its use, such as rare earth element extraction for manufacture of the energy-producing units. Projects like Solyndra offered ways to squelch these drawbacks, until it went belly-up.
Fueling the Skeptics
The economic consequences of climate change and its solutions are another matter that is on the table and rightly so, with an unstable global economy. The other tragedy of Solyndra is that it scored a major fail on the economic front. Its bankruptcy is one thing. The clean-up and pollution occurring because of it compounds the issues. Now another matter has come to light on the jobs front.
For all of its promise, Solyndra did not create the 4,000 jobs the project promised. Instead, there were only 585 at its peak. All said and done, those jobs came with a price of nearly $1 million each, and there still is no solar energy output for all it’s worth.
That is a major problem that can have long-term consequences. When praising the positive aspects of solar energy, there is always Solyndra. When considering solar power’s potential to abate global warming, there is always Solyndra. When skeptics balk at the cost and jobs, there is always Solyndra. It is probably the worst thing that could have happened to implementation of solar energy.
Beyond the Mistakes
Solar energy has so much in its favor, especially when implemented in the right place under the proper circumstances. Perhaps it has other lessons to teach everyone about global warming and climate change. There may not be a panacea for this looming environmental catastrophe, but there are potential solutions worth investing in and researching.
Solar and wind power are two of them. This is what makes the promises that projects like Acciona Energy’s Nevada Solar One hold so important. If costs both economically and environmentally can be tamed, a clearly-defined solution to reduce the effects of global warming is in reach. In the meantime, the industry must learn from the plethora of tragedies from companies like Solyndra and move confidently into the future of clean energy.