Obama, Solar, and California

Last night's speech was awesome.  I love the way "solar" rolls off Obama's tongue.  The attention renewable energy is getting these days is a real treat.  It gives me great pleasure to see such a growth in our counties interest.  One of my favorite part of the speech was when President Obama pointed out that while the US invented solar, it sure doesn't manufacture much of it.  How great would it be if the US not only bought more panels, but if the panels were made here in the US?  No shipping cost--No shipping energy.  (this is about energy, right?)  

I have followed Evergreen Solar (ESLR) for a while.  They are headquartered in Marlboro, Massachusetts.  I bought some stock a while back because, well, because it appeared to be of great value -- a great booming US solar company.   Like some other solar companies, their stock has tanked, big!  They must really be screwing up.  I wish someone would take a step back and determine what to do with this company.  Maybe that new solar manufacturing plant they just invested in should have been in the US.  I think I could find a few people in this country who would love to work there....

Last week I was in the Bay Area for a cool conference on LED lighting.  This is another industry that is growing astonishizly fast (and for good reason).  Getting out of the cold here in the northeast was nice.  It has been a while since I had been to California.  The solar presence there is really amazing.  I saw tons of solar, just driving around Palo Alto, Cupertino and Redwood City.  I saw lots of PV, but also several solar hot water systems.  So many residential arrays have been constructed, and the commercial ones I saw, like on the (new to me)  building at De Anza College makes a strong statement.  But then, they all do.  Besides seeing solar panels and collectors everywhere, I saw three beautiful passive-solar homes.  Someday, I hope to be able to build one of my own.