President Obama: ‘Homegrown Clean-Energy Industry’ Will Jumpstart Manufacturing, Create Jobs

Electric battery for cars, GREAT, but who will supply the energy to recharge the battery, he against coal, oil, nuclear, the Environmentalists are against solar and wind, besides most of the components needed are manufactured outside the US. I guess if we all had bicycles and only the WH and the Washington Elite gets to drive BIG SUV’s then this administration would be happy.

Or in the case of California.. just plain ‘homegrown’… will jumpstart it.

good thinking batt boy..
the things that the government claims are great successes are generally still not weaned for the government’s teats.

Yeah, The Wonderful Wizard of ‘O’ will “create or save” millions of fake jobs in the happy, magical land of non-existent congressional districts, as documented by whitehouse.gov.
Just close your eyes, click your heels together, cross your fingers, and spin around three times chanting:
“There’s no place like Hope.”
“There’s no place like Hope.”
“There’s no place like Hope.”

Posted by: Mike, CO | Aug 16, 2010 5:58:31 PM
You do understand what the term ‘loan’ means don’t you? (See above).

Only about a week ago, Obama made a similar PR trip to a battery plant in Michigan to create 300 jobs using 150 million dollars stimulus money. This amount to half million dollar a job using taxpayer’s money. An article appeared on ABC News last year said most of the green jobs here go to foreign companies, not U.S. companies.

Great. The economy loses a quarter million jobs in a month and Obama is silent. 80 jobs created and he personally flies out there, spending untold tens of thousands of tax dollars, for an announcement.
Glad he’s changing the way Washington operates.

In the near future, batteries in cars will be like steam engines in 1900. It is a good stab for an industry without the know-how. Look at it this way: The earth orbits the biggest battery in in the Solar system (the sun), yet we don’t know how to capture energy from it. It is like floating in the middle of an ocean and dying of thirst. We are like cave people scratching stones to make a spark. Solar is the way of the future.

Since going public in June of 2007, ZBB has been hemorrhaging money. The firm lost $4.9 million in fiscal 2008 and $5.5 million in fiscal 2009. In its most recent filing, in May, it said it had lost $6.9 million for the first nine months of its current fiscal year. It explained it had a “cumulative deficit” of $44.1 million and informed shareholders that it “anticipates incurring continuing losses.” It acknowledged that its ability to continue as a “going concern” was predicated on its ability to drum up additional funds.
In March the company engaged in various stock transactions—including a private placement to the company’s directors—to raise some $1.9 million. It obtained a $1.3 million loan from the federal stimulus program and borrowed $1.5 million more from Investors Bank. In June it announced a debt agreement, which would allow it to tap a further $10 million.
Meanwhile, a review by the company’s audit committee last fall discovered that ZBB’s former CEO had been wrongly compensated as both an employee and an independent contractor, and that the company had failed to withhold his proper taxes. He stepped down, and the management team was reshuffled. ZBB was also forced to restate its financial results after a separate audit committee review found the company had recognized revenue from a contract in the wrong quarter.
The company also acknowledged in its May filing that the 72,000 square foot manufacturing facility it bought in 2006 is “currently producing at less than 10% of its expected capacity.” That means it can’t currently access the $14 million in federal tax credits, which were supposed to help with equipment for a new facility. Meanwhile, private investors have soured on some energy-storage companies. ZBB’s initial public offering was priced at $6 a share in 2007, and it closed yesterday at 70 cents.

Posted by: tjp612 | Aug 16, 2010 11:11:13 PM
So ZBB is corrupt, incompetent and has its lips firmly attached to the gov’t teat. Sounds like Barry Land to me.

Forcing you to buy something you don’t need or want is not a wealth creating plan.

Great, Green jobs in 2012. Has anyone f
orgotten that this is 2010? 800,000 jobs
and there is no sense asking for proof o
f this calculation as there no jobs at
present.Obamas jobs are always in the f
uture,what about jobs now? Obama is alwa
ys flying around the country,wasting the
taxpayers dime,and these are his results
? Please impeach this man,who is a non citizen anyway.

tjp-I read the same article! What was the WH thinking when they scheduled the prez. to speak at this disaster of a company on the cusp of bankruptcy?? They must be 100% convinced that the activist press will NEVER peek behind these crisply constructed WH facades.Thank goodness for the Wall Street Journal!

This is how it works, in order to create jobs Obama, you must sell your products that is products not product…who among us can afford a $41,000 car that only has a range of 40 miles and must be plugged-in every night, also uses energy, for 8 hours…no sell there….$65,000..wind turbines….no massive sells there…solar panels thousands of dollars…no sells there…AND THEY WONDER WHY…TIME TO GET REAL AND STOP RELYING ON GREEN TO TAKE US OUT OF OUR ECONOMIC SLUMP

Let’s see, 800,000 green jobs at $334,569.88 government dollars each = $267.655,904,000.00.
Such a Deal!

“Forcing you to buy something you don’t need or want is not a wealth creating plan.”
Correct, not a wealth builder for you. For me, well, that’s a different story…

‘Homegrown Clean-Energy Industry’ Will Jumpstart Manufacturing, Create Jobs’ … in China.

Bob | Aug 18, 2010 1:57:40 PM posted: “Need to learn from the past.”
Bob, we need to look toward the future. Ever hear of “Peak Oil”?
Check on-line for the report “Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, and Risk Management”, created for the US Dept of Energy back in 2005.
We have roughly 15 years before the maximum amount of oil available is reached – it is a finite resource. And today rapid changeover in transportation equipment is inherently impossible.
The report states that without timely efforts, the economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented.
But it also concludes economic upheaval is not inevitable – This change requires planning and government intervention. Given enough lead-time, the problems are soluble with existing technologies.

Posted by: Bob | Aug 18, 2010 3:37:22 PM posted: “I personally like the free market… it drives innovation and if there is a resource limitation, then it will take care of that too. “
No amount of oil shale or drilling all over the world will compensate for Peak Oil. The “free market” can not magically create more of a finite resource. There are times when the government needs to point the “free market” in a direction to benefit us all.
Did you google Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, and Risk Management? Seriously, do not dismiss this report as government propaganda based on inaccurate information. Read it.
“Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking.” We have roughly 15 years.

Green.goddess,
FYI: Oil Shale Resources from the ostseis.anl.gov – Looks like we have a bit of oil left… if we are allowed to get it (and it is economical).
From ostseis.anl.gov:
“While oil shale is found in many places worldwide, by far the largest deposits in the world are found in the United States in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.2 to 1.8 trillion barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable; however, even a moderate estimate of 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from oil shale in the Green River Formation is three times greater than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Present U.S. demand for petroleum products is about 20 million barrels per day. If oil shale could be used to meet a quarter of that demand, the estimated 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from the Green River Formation would last for more than 400 years1.
More than 70% of the total oil shale acreage in the Green River Formation, including the richest and thickest oil shale deposits, is under federally owned and managed lands. Thus, the federal government directly controls access to the most commercially attractive portions of the oil shale resource base.”

WINDMILLS? TALK ABOUT STUPID IDEAS!!

green.goddess, It is apparent that you do not understand what I am saying. I am trying to explain that Simple Free Market Economics will take care of any energy shortage problem. It will not dry up over night (unless of course there is a war or some global event)! As production tops out the price of oil will rise. Thus, other energy source will become more attractive until there is a cross over. This is simple economics. Yes I read the report, but it is irrelevant. The GOVT does not need to do anything. When govt tampers it causes more problems. Did you ever take Macro Economics? (or any economics?) Simple supply and demand curve. Technology already exists for fully electric cars. This is not the problem. Nobody (well, maybe the govt with our money… but then again the US is bankrupt) is going to invest if they will not make a profit. — Got it?

green.goddess… Yes I studied the failed Keynesian economics. It was employed by in the 30s. By doing so, lengthened the Great depression. It took WWII to get the US out of the depression. It has been recently pushed further by the current administration… ie. Stimulus. The investment in alternatives will only waste money, as no one will pay more the alternative unless the cost less. And just like the failed predictions of the administration about the unemployment rate if we did not pass the stimulus, this report is also wrong. As I mentioned before, the technology already exists for electric cars… it is just not price competitive. Investors will pour money into cost effective alternatives, and as technology progresses, the Delta between oil and electric vehicles will close. Clearly the stimulus has done more harm for our future than good and will extend the lack of growth. Compound this with the end of the Bush tax cuts at the beginning of next year and cost of heath care reform and you will see no real investment in the US. Little do the people in Washington understand that this is a world economy and that the money will flow where you get the greatest investment return… that is not the US.