Model A's to Solar Cells

The spacious, airy offices of the SunPower Corporation here in Richmond, California, tell an interesting story of America's industrial evolution. The building was constructed as a Model A Ford assembly line. Then, during World War II, it became a tank factory where the legendary Rosie the Riveter worked. Now it houses both the corporate and manufacturing facilities of SunPower. And within a month, it will be powered entirely by photovoltaics.

Former Stanford President Donald Kennedy and I are here to lunch with Tom Dinwoodie, the head of SunPower, to help figure out how we can make sure that the forthcoming economic stimulus and reform agendas from the Obama administration are as effective as possible in revitalizing the renewable energy sector, which is currently stalling out because of the credit crunch and economic meltdown.

Dinwoodie identifies the key barrier -- interest rates have just soared, putting capital-intensive solar and wind projects on hold. The solution would appear to be tapping into government capital, which carries effectively zero interest rate, perhaps combining it with some of the money that the Treasury lent to the big banks but which, thus far, the banks have been unwilling to lend back out.

Wonderful as the space in this building is, it's a painful reminder that when we don't move quickly to do the right thing, we end up doing the wrong thing. Even as we're meeting, Congress is trying to figure out how to keep General Motors and Chrysler from failing -- and Ford, which originally built this, won't be far behind if an agreement isn't reached. But what's slowing it up today? Unbelievably, Republicans in the Congress are objecting to provisions in the bill that would preclude the companies getting bailed out from lobbying or litigating against improved fuel-efficiency standards:

"The Democrats' call to include the California waiver provision in the auto bailout bill would mean Detroit would gain next to nothing in terms of help from Washington," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Has no one learned anything? Detroit's dedication to fighting technological innovations in fuel economy was the biggest factor in costing the Big Three so much market share that a recession could send them into bankruptcy. None of the innovative companies -- Toyota, Honda -- are in this kind of trouble, even though their sales, too, are down -- because they have been growing and profiting, not shrinking and bleeding red ink.

A recent story in the New York Times directly traced GM's travails to its consistent unwillingness to invest in innovation because the profits would come in the future. It's short-sighted, bottom-line greed that threatens to destroy the company -- and much of America with it.

Somehow, somehow, Congress and President Obama must find a way to rekindle the innovative spirit that created the Model A and won WWII -- perhaps from SunPower to the Big Three.

Comments

[Nooooorm]

Michale..
When you demonstrate to people that they have been duped by a scam artist, they are often defensive.
It's like the senior citizen who falls for the "My father is a banker in Uganda and I have $40k I need to send you....."
They are too embarrased to admit they actually fell for it.
I am curious about one thing though.... what data.... what evidence... would ever convince the global warming alamarists that they are wrong?
Cooler temperatures? Fewer hurricanes? Increasing polar ice? It really doesn't matter does it?
The world could experience a gradual decrease in overall temperature the next 20 years and the global warming alarmists would still say it's "climate change" and we should all be terrified.

[Michale32086]

I have asked that same question of the Human Caused Global Warming(Yet The Planet Is Cooling) disciples often.

I ask them how many years of cooling would it take for them to concede that there isn't any Global Warming??

Not surprisingly, none have ventured an answer..

It IS funny to see them point to the Global COOLING and say that it's proof that they are right.. It's like the bible. You can find ANYTHING in the bible to justify just about ANY action... They people that believe in the Human Caused Global Warming(Yet The Planet Is Cooling) myth point to ANY act or ANY event and says it's proof that they are right..

How can ANYONE dispute that the Human Caused Global Warming(Yet The Planet Is Cooling) theory has become a religion..

Michale.....

[Michale32086]

I mean, it's a documented fact that the average global temp peaked in 1998. It's been cooling for going on 11 years now..

Shouldn't that be a wake up call for the Global "WARMING" fanatics???

Michale.....

[research]

I guess you like to bloviate more than learn.

"Based on estimates by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2005 was the warmest year since reliable, widespread instrumental measurements became available in the late 1800s, exceeding the previous record set in 1998 by a few hundredths of a degree.[60] "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

How about that promotion of torture? Hows that coming along?

Hard to believe you a military. All the military folks I know would not fear commenting on a real interrogators report.

[Michale32086]

Hay, Al Gore..

You might want to revise your Human Caused Global Warming(Yet The Planet Is Cooling) religion..

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6156862.html

Michale.....

[gorideabike]

Detroit's dedication to fighting technological innovations on all levels could also have a bit to do with their plight. Detroit fought safety standards for years. Volvo put disk brakes on all four wheels of their cars in 1957. Fifty years later GM is still sneaking in drum brakes on the rear axles. Ford and Chrysler too. Detroit fought clean air standards with expensive smog pumps while Honda built the CVCC engines that were less polluting AND more fuel efficient in the 1970's. And they rusted like crazy. Ditto fuel efficiency standards. The 1930's vintage V-8 is still their favorite engine and their stock is selling at 1930's prices too.
American cars fifty years ago were really special. And a lot of those old Detroit Iron cars still are to collectors. Today we pay a little more for a good car like a Honda or Toyota.

[SShaw490]

"Detroit's dedication to fighting technological innovations in fuel economy was the biggest factor in costing the Big Three so much market share that a recession could send them into bankruptcy."

Well, not really. The big 3 are routinely criticized for building the wrong cars, cars nobody wants, but the facts are that the big 3 outsell the Japanese world-wide and outsell the Japanese in the US 2 to 1; GM has led the world in sales for 77 consecutive years; GM is building the only practical plug in hybrid that's a production model; and the big 3 build more models of hybrid-technology cars than any other country.

You can't criticize the big 3 for ignoring fuel economy issues that are purely profit-negative and also criticize them for not running the companies in a profit-conscious manner. It's illogical. Of course the big 3 have to strike a balance between money invested in innovative projects and money invested in models that sell well and have high margins - welcome to the business world. Every company I ever worked for did that.

And as I said before, sales isn't really the problem - the problem is, these are old companies that are paying pension and health care benefits to literally hundreds of thousands of retirees. The big 3 are drowning in red ink because of legacy labor costs that reflect the America of 1970, not 2008. Their problem is legacy labor costs, not innovation.

[KillTheMessenger]

Just think Michaela... what you could do if you had all this money... aren't you jealous? Just a little bit?

Of course you are, dear You are flashing green and red all over...

[Michale32086]

Just think...

Al Gore spent 300 MILLION dollars on an AD Campaign.. Get that? Even though Gore has said that "the time for talking is over", he goes and spends 300 million for more talking..

That 300 Million could have been used to install complete solar power systems into 30 THOUSAND homes..

Imagine that. 30 THOUSAND homes would have run off of solar power and be completely independent of the power grid..

But I guess Al Gore thought that the 300 million would be better spent on making lawyers, lobbyists, ad agencies and, incidentally, Al Gore richer...

Michale.....