Case in point: FSLR. Down today in an "up" market, and down to 125 from its yearly high of 175. Meanwhile Arch Coal (ACI) is up 4 percent today. Just saying. But I digress.
I had written a post on the CNBC story, about solar being in the doldrums, but then decided to cancel it; it wasn't much of a story, and perhaps was only serving my personal agenda, and not of much interest to readers.
Now, some hours later, I ran across this story: the administration's promise last year to put solar panels on the White House roof have not yet materialized. The reason: federal contract rules too complex. Wow, talk about shovel-ready jobs and even the White House doesn't have sufficient clout to maneuver through the federal maze of contracts. I love it when I get one link with two stories: a) challenges of solar energy; and, b) federal contracting in a shovel-ready world.
I can't make this stuff up.
Link here.
Last October, the Obama administration announced plans to install solar panels on the roof of the White House by the spring of this year, returning the power of the sun to the pinnacle of prominence a quarter-century after Jimmy Carter's pioneering system was taken down.
Spring has come and gone, and the promised panels have yet to see the light of day.
Administration officials blame the complexities of the contracting process, and say the solar project is still an active one. But they can't say when it'll be complete. [That was 1979 when Jimmy Carter put them up. Ten years after we put a man on the moon. I guess federal contracting rules have changed significantly since then. And may explain the economic malaise we're in.]
Environmental groups say the symbolism is telling _ and disappointing.The environmentalists, in the article, lament that yet one more summer will go by with all that summer sun wasted. Why worry? My understanding is that it will be at least a century before we see "results" of global warming, the reason "we" are pushing solar energy.
Speaking of climate forecasts, the weather forecasters predicted a less-than-beautiful Saturday here in Boston just a couple days ago. It turned out to be a great day. A two-day forecast. Hmmm.
As with other posts of this nature, comments won't be posted unless presented with factual data, or the comments add something to the discussion.