Abound Solar - Colorado Company Goes Belly-Up

Abound Solar, a Colorado manufacturer of thin-film solar cells went under this week. Pressure from inexpensive Chinese products combined with poor management drove a promising company out of business in just two years.

The company spun-off research done at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. Before re-branding itself as "Abound Solar" the company was called AVA Solar. AVA or air-vacuum-air, representing the unique assembly method used. 

The thin-film cadmium-tellurium photovoltaic cells produced by the company were the brainchild of Dr. W.S. Sampath. I wrote optimistically about Dr. Sampath and the company when they first announced their business plan. See this post for a more extensive background of the company.

I had hoped Abound...

Researchers use "Where's George" to Map Human Mobility

AIG Insures Congress' Pensions?

I recently heard a rumor about the insurance giant AIG. The rumor goes like this...

"The reason congress was so quick to bailout AIG was that the pension funds of all congress members were covered by AIG."

I found this rumor to be flat out FALSE. Read more here and here.

Just to be clear. The pension plans of congresspeople are not insured by AIG or any other company for that matter.

The epiphany I had was in response to an action I witnessed as a direct result of this. A statement need not be true in order to have profound effects. The person from whom I heard this rumor proceeded to inform me that he had just purchased 16,000 shares of AIG stock! His faith in the long term survival of AIG had been reaffirmed. Though this bit of knowledge was in fact false it was powerful enough to spur one man to shift thousands of dollars in an instant. Imagine these results multiplied by the number of minds deceived by countless circulating e-mails.

The spreading of a rumor often outpaces the correcting force of investigative journalism. Both must be as fast as the speed of light these days.

Perhaps this false understanding of reality is beneficial. Perhaps AIG will be saved by an influx of money by wealthy people fooled by the above assertion.

In many ways this case makes an argument for the survival of religious mythologies. If the story of a God and his son be true or not whether it be the Christian father and Jesus or Odin and Thor it does not really matter. As long as the telling of the story moves real people to positive action then survival of the mythology makes sense. The problem arises when society attempts to qualify "positive action." This is a question presented anew to each living generation.

The choice made by the investor described above puts the entire financial meltdown in perspective. Any intangible financial device is made up of "make-believe" value. When it comes down to real value there are precious few items that truly make up a person's worth. To me these are health, education, and attitude. These are the qualities that lift and let down civilizations.

If you would like control over where your tax dollars flow here is an idea I had.

ABOUND SOLAR - Named a Top Startup 2008

The excitement surrounding Abound Solar and the potential for this company to bring down the cost of solar generated power on a global scale is at a fever pitch. Generating electricity at about $1 per Watt would serve as a great equalizer in an energy starved world.

I am not an economist or a stock broker but I must say that the odds that an onslaught of recently liquidated capital might flow into this promising company are high. A torrent of naysayers and worrywarts that recently yanked their assets from the ailing international banks and other old-timey blue chips are chomping at the bit to sew their wild renewable energy oats. This sets the stage for a perfectly poised flood of money which would reinvigorate and essentially recreate the economic landscape. Enter: Abound Solar and other companies like them such as Vestas - the wind energy people.

Business Week Online announced Abound Solar as one of the 25 most successful startups of 2008. Business week cites the fact that Abound raised over $104 million in venture capital in 2008 making it the most lucrative start-up in the state of Colorado.

Abound is using an old American invention to make their magic - the assembly line. By passing panes of regular window glass through a series of extremely hot vacuum chambers various chemical solids are sublimed onto the glass to form a series of photovoltaic thin films and the process of producing cheap solar cells is manifested. Owning proprietary rights to some steps in sealing off the cadmium telluride/cadmium sulfide within a glass sandwich is really what makes the company viable. Watch the assembly line in action within this blog post on Solar Power Authority.

Carl Sagan began an episode of Cosmos with the following assertion - “We wish to pursue the truth no matter where it leads, but to find the truth we need imagination and skepticism both. We will not be afraid to speculate but we will be careful to distinguish speculation from fact. The cosmos is full beyond measure with exquisite relationships of the awesome machine of nature.”

As we speculate on the success of new energy technology there is hope that human interrelationships with the machine of nature will approach a state of sustainability where humanity can thrive.

Stay tuned for updates about abound solar on Tom Paine's Ghost!

See Abound solar on CNN and their website.

Everything is going to be OK... But it's not.

Thanks for the heads up on this one Rob!

Wall Street Freefall

The inability of our government to pass a massive financial bailout for an economy in free fall is a reflection of the complete absence of leadership in our happy United States of America. Basically a socialist bill giving the federal government control of large swaths of the financial system was suggested by George bush and Co. and they could not get their republican comrades in the house to pass this thing. Speaks to the fractionation of the republican party. Democrats who voted against the bill are just as guilty because they took a three page document suffering from legislative anorexia and plumped it out to a 110 page nightmare. No wonder this bill didn't pass. Do you honestly think any member of congress has the attention span to read and absorb 110 pages of text and then decide weather they like it or not. Can you imagine George Bush with that sitting on his desk. I heard that halfway through todays session some house republicans from Texas put up a motion to adjourn early. I think they should have. At least then they could have read it before voting it down.