Solyndra

Despite costly failure, the Obama administration pours billions into alternative energy companies such as Solyndra. Obama's is committed to green jobs and the U.S. Department of Energy is backing almost $40 billion in loans. Monday Obama said he does not regret a half-billion dollar government loan to the now-bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra and vigorously defended his administration’s policy of providing assistance to similar entities. The government has hired SolarCity to work at 124 U.S. Military bases over the next five years, installing 160,000 housing units, warehouses, and administrative buildings. According to the Department of Energy, one of its goals is to support novel technologies such as these that are “not yet supported in the commercial marketplace”. Solyndra's failure illustrates that private investors aren't willing to shoulder financing these risky projects. Market forces and cheap solar panels from China kept Solyndra from being a profitable power option even while $535 million in loans guarantees kept the company afloat. After the Department of Energy refused Solyndra more loans, the company filed for bankruptcy with $784 million in debt. After Solyndra claimed they were bankrupt, Obama was asked whether or not he regretted the $535 million in loans in 2009. “No I don’t,” the president said, “Because if you look at the overall portfolio of loan guarantees that had been provided, overall it’s doing well. And what we always understood is that not every single business is going to succeed in clean energy.”

Sources: World & CNN