Posted on 02/18/2009 10:42:00 AM PST by Tired of Taxes
A few things you should know about Obama’s favorite Colorado solar panel maker
At the invitation-only porkulus signing in Denver yesterday, President Obama exalted Namaste Solar, a Boulder-based company that made the solar panels adorning the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. The CEO of Namaste, Blake Jones, extolled his savior:
Blake Jones, CEO of Boulder-based Namaste Solar, said his company’s future is already looking brighter with the signing of the bill. Jones, who led Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on a tour of solar panels his company installed on the museum’s roof, said he had been considering laying off some of his 55 employees. Now, he’s looking to expand his work force by 40 percent by 2010, he said....
Well, the little point I want to stress is that Namaste has already benefited from generous government largesse to prop up his business
Namaste’s own website lays it out:
See "Overview" on Michelle Malkin.com
All that and Namaste can barely keep its 55 workers onboard. Instead of having to rethink business practices such as these…
• Environmental concerns would be a driving force in every aspect of the company. • Six weeks of paid time off. • Employees, no matter what their job description, have the same pay scale. • One percent of yearly revenues goes to solar systems donated to community groups. • All major decisions would be made by consensus of all company employees.
…the porkulus package will shovel even more taxpayer subsidies their way.
Question: If existing solar and wind energy companies can’t make it with the present level of government aid, why should we pretend that throwing more money at them will guarantee success?
(Excerpt) Read more at michellemalkin.com ...
Note the way the company is run. Sounds like a certain company right out of the book, Atlas Shrugged.
I’ve been to that museum. Very over-rated.
I have self-respect. No matter how bad my situation gets, and right now it is very bad, I will not beg money from anyone.
What happened to the old fashioned American self-reliance?
To those who’ve read the book, without spoiling the story, this company sounds like the one in Atlas Shrugged.
Drove through Boulder last week. Super liberal college town. Lots of skiing, snowboard, bikes etc. Slackerville.
“Note the way the company is run. Sounds like a certain company right out of the book, Atlas Shrugged.”
LOL..I was going to post the same thing!
_/\_ ping...
Which was, oddly enough, located in Colorado, wasn't it?
I researched solar power in detail, checking on whether it would make a reasonable back up power source for my home, and I decided even before this bailout that I didn’t trust Namaste Solar. I don’t do business with companies like that, and even if they reform (unlikely!), I’m still boycotting this company for life ... I’m boycotting all bailout companies permanently.
The one your referring to was in Minn I believe - the oil fella and the boom was in Colorado
The concept has been steadily eroded. It has been characterized as a lie, as "no one makes it on their own," which isn't even the point. Self-reliance is about relying on yourself (duh!) as much as possible. It doesn't mean that if you break a leg you don't go to an expert on setting bones, but it has been so caricatured.
Self-reliance has been warped by those who fear one thing above all--the idea that YOU don't need THEM.
Government workers and representatives gain ALL their power from the governed. For someone like you to say "Nope, I don't need anything from you except the bare minimum, like mail delivery" terrifies them, because that means you don't need them and they can't control you by giving or withholding those things you need from them.
This, it's the leftists who have steadily eroded the idealization of self-reliance, because if you have that, they have nothing with which to control you.
We are looking at solar power in a different way than most. Would you pay for just enough solar power to run the most essential appliances in your home in the case of a long-term power outage? We are thinking of diversifying our company and offering this to customers who are aware of the real possibility of the power grid going out and all the problems, and deaths, it would cause. Here in the southwest during the summer, thousands would most likely die in just a few days. Back in ‘95, there were about 600 who died in the Chicago heatwave over a period of five days, and those temps didn’t reach the high summer temps we have every year in Phoenix.
We’re looking at offering a way for customers to determine how much energy they would need in a crisis to maintain the basics for survival, i.e. refrigerator, freezer, the computer for X-number of hours per day, breathing machine,run a portable A/C unit for X-number of hours, etc. and then install a photovoltaic system just large enough to provide that amount of energy. By installing just enough for survival, it would keep the cost down. Customers could add to their system over time, but the initial expense would be a lot less than trying to go 100% solar. Also, there’s a hefty federal tax benefit for this, many states offer their own tax benefit, and even power companies offer incentives.
Just a business idea we’re toying with. BTW, photovoltaic cells can collect energy from the moon. Even if covered with a black cloth, they’re sensitive enough to continue collecting some energy.
I just looked it up in the book. The company in Atlas Shrugged was located in Wisconsin (p. 282). I wanted to see if it were located in Colorado, too. This story would’ve been even creepier if it had been.
This guy is no American!
He is a moocher and looter.
This company sounds like a certain company in the book, Atlas Shrugged. Many FReepers are still reading the book, so I don’t want to give too much information away. But, your FR thread from Oct. popped up when I was doing a search for more info.
I was thinking of the one in Starnesville.
Komrade MaggotObama, King of the Kenyans.
The sun is about a half million times brighter than the full moon. If you have enough solar panels to get a useful amount of energy from that, it would probably make more sense to reduce its size by a factor of 100,000 and put in a decent battery to run at night. And that's only the full moon, I haven't even thought about the first and third quarter moon that is much dimmer and up only half the night.
Even if covered with a black cloth, they’re sensitive enough to continue collecting some energy.
A lot of cloth is relatively transparent to infrared radiation, which makes for some "interesting" photography with IR film or a camera with an easily removable IR filter (as some Sony camcorders had).
“All major decisions would be made by consensus of all company employees.”
Starnesville it is.
Sounds like a good idea. FTR, I’m in favor of looking into alternative energy sources, like solar, and using them as soon as they are viable. I hope your business is successful in that endeavor. (Imho, the main concerns with this story about the solar panel company are government funding and the way this particular company runs its business.)
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