Business

Your Money Hard at Work: Solyndra Tubes Turned into Modern Art

The federal government’s $535 million investment in the now-bankrupt and utterly ruined “green” energy company Solyndra has been surrounded by scandal, intrigue, and many, many unanswered questions.

“One of the great mysteries of the 2011 Solyndra bankruptcy was: What happened to all that money? After the United States government ‘loaned’ Solyndra $535 million, the money quickly vanished; the bankruptcy court later found that the company had essentially no cash on hand. They had spent it all on equipment and inventory,” the blogger Zombie writes for PJ Media.

“Surely, then, the inventory could be sold and liquidated, to recover some of the ill-spent cash — right?” Zombie asks.

You can probably guess the answer to that question.

“Auctions of the material at the shuttered Solyndra factory produced very little revenue, as the highly specialized machinery and proprietary photovoltaic components spurred little interest among the auction vultures, since the parts could be used only for one specific purpose: to make Solyndra’s unique tubular solar panels,” Zombie continues.

Now add to this the fact the Obama administration knew about the financial risks involved and you can see why many people have questioned the Department of Energy’s integrity over its decision to back the company. Were they incredibly misguided or was there something else going on?

Basically, and all questions about the DOE’s integrity aside, there is one thing we know for certain: We are never getting that money back.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, how about this: A whole bunch of those high-tech Solyndra tubes went on to become pieces in a modern art exhibition at U.C. Berkeley.

Seriously.

“[A] pair of Bay Area artists somehow managed to get their hands on some of the surviving Solyndra tubes and put them to good use … not to produce electricity, but as art,” Zombie adds.

Solyndra Tubes Turned into Modern Art at University of California at BerkeleySolyndra Tubes Turned into Modern Art at University of California at BerkeleySolyndra Tubes Turned into Modern Art at University of California at BerkeleySolyndra Tubes Turned into Modern Art at University of California at BerkeleySolyndra Tubes Turned into Modern Art at University of California at Berkeley

But what about the rest of the inventory? Surely, this can’t be everything. Of course it isn’t. The art exhibit only features 1,368 of an estimated 24 million Solyndra tubes. So where are the rest?

Well, although not many people know for sure where all of the Solyndra tubes have gone, we do know where some of them have ended up:

A San Francisco-based CBS affiliate has just released shocking video of Solyndra employees destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.

“At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week,”  CBS San Francisco reports. “They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.”

And it was even caught on tape [via CBS San Francisco]:

But not everything was destroyed. Aside from the hundreds of tubes used in the art exhibit, a few auction goers were able to rescue a few at various Solyndra auctions.

Yay?

“[T]his is what became of our $535 million: Some glass tubes stuck in a box in the middle of a garden?” Zombie asks. “Goodbye tubes! Goodbye Solyndra! Goodbye fiscal sanity!”

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Click here to see Zombie’s full report on the Solyndra art exhibit.

All photos courtesy PJ Media and Zombie

Comments (38)

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  • Joyzee
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 8:40am

    Hey! Paul Ryan your Next speech on camera’ with solyndra tube art work backdrop..no brainer put me on this campaign..!!wtf

    Report Post »  
  • TreeTrimmerJim
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 8:11am

    Follow the money… who made the machines, the material, who installed them, built the buildings, etc… check the management of those companies. Maybe those several paths will lead back to a few. Ask Harry Reid for a few anonymous Chicago sources.

    Report Post » TreeTrimmerJim  
  • carbar4647
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 8:09am

    Such a deal. I doubt, very much, that any of the obamorons even know about this. Strangely most of his mistakes go unreported in the liberal media. Go figure.

    Report Post » carbar4647  
  • dodgedart1966
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:54am

    We, the people who post on these boards, need to keep these stories in the forefront.
    Even on other boards, keep mentioning these stories so others don’t forget them on election day.
    God bless America.

    Report Post »  
  • JACKTHETOAD
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:51am

    You little twit you. If you and your friends put down that modern, Nihilistic CRAP for a while, you just might dig up a few diamonds in older music and the fossils that listen to it.

    Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
  • dodgedart1966
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:50am

    Romney/Ryan and their PACs should never let these stories rest until Nov. 6. Solyndra, Fast & Furious, US Solar(The never talked about solar Co. debacle), etc. Never let the voters forget until election day.

    Report Post »  
  • Free2speakRN
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:45am

    It’s part of the plan to overwhem the system. They knew it wouldn’t work. If it did, it’d go to China.

    Report Post »  
  • curmudgeon60
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:33am

    “THINK GLOBAL” another electric car mfg firm (From Norway) was given $2.4 billion in GOV grants to start an electric car plant in Elkhart IN in 2009-nothing came of it-just announced they went belly up.
    My husband is a toolmaker (non-union) building automation lines in Freemont CA for TESLA-new battery/elec. car line. He drives past The empty Solyndra building every day. I wonder if TESLA will be the same.

    Report Post »  
  • hugo65hsv
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:23am

    Van Jones and his followers should cough up the 535 million dollars.. The government had no business using taxpayers money.. We have new and successful technology’s because private industry with private dollars works.. Every Time.. When the day comes that renewable energy products are successful in the market… It will be because some Individual has a dream and makes the break through needed to make it happen.. Narcissistic green whiners, and power hungry politicians will have nothing to do with.. They’ll just be around to tax and regulate it, like the good little bureaucrats they were born to be..

    Report Post »  
  • Sicialian Eyeball
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:16am

    I think we have enough of those tubes left over to shove one where the sun dont shine in every demorat in the nation. Start with the #1 guy.

    Report Post »  
  • joolie
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:10am

    Don’t you kind of wonder if they used solar energy to power that art display?

    I think the employees who destroyed the rods should be forced to reimburse the government for destruction of government property.

    Report Post »  
  • POPTARTMONKEY
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 6:00am

    the tubes there a bunch of old farts aren’t they? my uncle listens to them all the time i don‘t like my uncle too much he’s pretty wierd

    Report Post »  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on August 21, 2012 at 8:56am

      MR Monkey, do you ever talk in complete sentences? Or even know what you are saying? How old are you now, about 12?

      Report Post »  
    • POPTARTMONKEY
      Posted on August 21, 2012 at 6:26pm

      im 19 yrs old, and a product of the public school system. i live at home with my folks. they work almost all the time just to hang on to our devalued house. they really don‘t care what i’m doing to much, because there too damn tired to care. i’m trying to get some help to get into college, but i‘m having a hard time because there’s no money left for kids like me. i work part time at a local burger place, but its just not cutting it for school its just barely pocket money for me with todays prices. im glad i don’t have a car cos i couldnnt afford to put gas in it anyway not to mention the insurance for it life is really suckin for me right now im not real concernd right now about spelling and grammer. don’t mind me

      Report Post »  
  • Rational Man
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 5:53am

    Monument to government failure…………..

    Report Post » Rational Man  
  • RightUnite
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 5:28am

    Ahhhhh… A $535 million art exhibit… Just what we need in these trying times. So special!

    Report Post »  
  • 6thdegreeblack
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 4:53am

    I have a better idea Mr DejaWHO? Next winter wear a hat it seems your brain has freezer burn.

    Report Post » 6thdegreeblack  
  • TerryJ70
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 3:10am

    “Presidential incompetency” perhaps. Fraud, theft, treason, more likely. I sure hope someone investigates this mess and people are held accountable.

    Report Post »  
  • warhorse_03826
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 2:45am

    the solyndra product itself was good. easy to install, didn’t need to be oriented with the sun as much as the flat panels, didn’t try to “lift off” in high winds…

    so why, exactly, didn’t someone purchase the equipment, tooling, and patents..and just re-open the place on a smaller scale? low overhead, at least until you ran out of the parts on hand….

    doesn’t this make sense?

    Report Post » warhorse_03826  
  • TeslanEdison
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 2:35am

    In this instance the government should have ceased all the hardware assets and gave them to Nasa for use in building tubes for the Antarctic. If you’re going to take millions in loans from the government you better expect the company assets to be ceased, if you wish to do things privately it’s between you and your investors. I wish the court and the lawyers who authorized the willful destruction of what was in reality government property could be sued/ disbarred. The department of defense and FEMA both have plenty of locations they could have squirreled those tubes away until they were needed.
    The broken glass could have even been returned to the German manufacturer which could have then recycled it, what are the odds that they were thinking anything green when they disposed of the evidence.

    Report Post »  
  • TheObamanation
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 2:31am

    The private sector‘s doin’ fine.

    Report Post » TheObamanation  
  • needmoinfo
    Posted on August 21, 2012 at 2:19am

    Could Obama cronies have a big stash somewhere? All these questionable donations of millions and billions. Why did it have to be so much every time? They were suppose to expand and hire. They layed off and either shipped jobs out of the country or closed. Not believing that money melted away practically overnight. This stinks.

    Report Post »  
  • dylan
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 11:59pm

    All Iraq and Afgans want is our money. The world wants out money. Such a waste.

    Report Post »  
    • IvanK
      Posted on August 21, 2012 at 1:37am

      Everyone knows that the 535 Million dollars was never intended to fund the company itself. It had everything to do with paying back two of Obama’s Major campaign bundlers Steve Westly and Steven Spinner. Here is an excerpt on article I highly recommend you read that details Steve Westly and Steven Spinner involvement between Obama’s campaign and the half billion dollar swindle that screwed the taxpayer.
      http://www.natlawreview.com/article/obama-campaign-reports-more-350-big-bundlers-including-solyndra-figures
      Folks, this is the “Hope and Change” we got… Chicago politics at it’s best! Crony capitalism at it’s worse.
      Oh, before I post the article excerpt, let’s not forget that Obama gave Fiskers (Car company in FINDLAND) over a half Billion Dollars of OUR tax money. Al Gore is heavily invested in this company – see a connection here? That’s right, as millions of American’s went unemployed – El Duce gave a foreign based company a HALF BILLION DOLLARS to employ Finnish workers! Now we come to find out that these cars are spontaneously combusting… Just like El Duce’s presidency! Obama is attacking Romney for outsourcing jobs (despite the fact Romney was long gone from Bain Capital.
      When you did deeper in Obama’s Green Energy investments, it turns out that tens of thousands of jobs were outsourced out of our country resulting in American workers standing in the unemployment offices.
      We all know where the ten of millions went – directly into the pockets of Ste

      Report Post » IvanK  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 11:11pm

    My guess that they used 1 to 2 hundred thousand to buy material, another hundred thoudand to pay rent on the building, another to make payroll, but the rest got bundled back to Obama. And a few other’s pockets. Do you know how long it takes to spend even 1 million dollars?
    This isn’t the first time THIS Obama tactic has been used. I suspect this was one of the tactics Stanley Ann taught him.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • midwesthippie
      Posted on August 21, 2012 at 1:21am

      …the entire US FEDGOV has been turned into “modern art”…just ask the republicans and the democrats…

      Report Post » midwesthippie  
  • epicwinofgod
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 11:05pm

    My theory is Obama is embezzling tax dollars out as he always does. Waste money on worthy-sounding projects then toss them in the trash and ditch the project. They would rather choke people with the current energy companies so they can bring about their marxist agenda. Same goes for Iraq. All that work there just to find Wikipedia reporting Al-Qeida back in the country bombing buildings and taking over as soon as Obama pulled them out. Embezzle 101. Bush and Obama play for the same team. The actions are evident. These people didn’t have any real intentions to developing the technology. What a waste, but hey at least we have a garden exhibit. It looks cool, but it isn’t going to help anyone.

    Report Post » epicwinofgod  
  • TerryDo
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:56pm

    One moment there was 535 million in the government coffers; next moment a thousand, thousand points of light leaped out; casting light upon the wasteful Obama fiscal pitfall.
    A great symbol of presidential incompetency.

    Report Post »  
  • Dejavu
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:38pm

    Please, please, please get rid of UC Berkeley, and while you’re doing that, get rid of California and the Obummer administration at the same time.

    Report Post » Dejavu  
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