It could have been a total scam from the start, but if it was on the up and up then they were probably betting that with enough money and time they would perfect the technology or manufacturing or what ever it would take to work the kinks out and become profitable.
The allure of solar is the impressive amount of energy that falls on a square meter. If solar-electric panel manufacturers could get the efficiency well over 50% it would be a game changer. What a shame all that money went down the toilet. If there were no viable solar companies that could have made real innovations with that money then it should have gone elsewhere. Greg On Oct 5, 2011, at 6:00 PM, Tom Sharples wrote: > I'm not familiar with the details on the Open Range deal, however it would be > unsurprising if the government (taxpayer) ends up being the sucker. That's > the order of the day (and the last 10 years). The Solyndra deal for example > not only rings of crony capitalism but a lack of the most basic technical due > diligence. Even the named inventor on their patents stated that the design > was unbuildable at reasonable cost. Would you buy a solar power system that > came with an oil leak disposal kit as a standard accessory? > > Tom S. > > > > On 10/5/2011 3:01 PM, Fred Goldstein wrote: >> >> At 10/5/2011 05:46 PM, Tom Sharples wrote: >>> Caution - this may make your ears bleed - strong language :-) >>> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRmZ9zH-mYM >> >> Yeah, but under the rapper profanity, he displays a profound ignorance of >> macroeconomics and monetary policy. There's a reason that economics is >> called "the dismal science". It is not intuitively obvious, and is thus >> prone to demagoguery. >> >> Open Range, on the other hand, appears to be a simple case of JP Morgan's >> influence peddling to get a big loan for a risky venture from the Bush >> administration. I wonder if they will end up losing their bet, or if there >> is some trick in there to get JP Morgan Chase paid back. Note how Iridium >> was Motorola's idea, and lost several billion, but Motorola came out ahead >> (and Chase, being the marks that time, lost). >> >> >>> On 10/5/2011 2:21 PM, Fred Goldstein wrote: >>>> At 10/5/2011 04:20 PM, Rafman® wrote: >>>>> Open Range Closes: >>>>> >>>>> http://www.dailywireless.org/2011/10/05/open-range-closes/ >>>>> >>>>> Broadband's Solyndra with $240M Federal Funds..? >>>> >>>> Interesting, but not surprising given the whole story. >>>> >>>> The RUS (part of the USDA) usually just funds incumbent LECs, not WISPs. >>>> In 2008, Open Range got $100M from JP Morgan Chase and then a bigger RUS >>>> loan. The plan was to use Globalstar's ATC frequencies. >>>> >>>> Globalstar was a low Earth orbit satellite (LEOsat) constallation launched >>>> in the late 1990s. I think Qualcomm was originally behind it; the idea >>>> was to be a simple bent-pipe repeater for CDMA satphones. They were >>>> competing with the uber-baroque Iridium network, which of course bombed >>>> miserably (I had a bit of an inside seat watching that failure; it was >>>> kind of funny). GlobalStar's original satellites kind of went haywire in >>>> 2007 and some of the replacements have been flaky too, which is not doing >>>> them a lot of good. >>>> >>>> Satellites were granted ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) rights as a >>>> way to fill in gaps in satellite coverage; later this was expanded to >>>> permit terrestrial-only users. That's what LightSquared is trying to do. >>>> Open Range made a deal to use GlobalStar's ATC, but something went wrong >>>> and the FCC revoked it in 2010. So Open Range has some license problems. >>>> All that money and no place to go. They were also trying to make a deal >>>> with LightSquared, but I think that was for MVNO use of the network, not >>>> frequency leases. >>>> >>>> I think the key difference between Open Range and your basic WISP is that >>>> Open Range wanted to play Wall Street's game: Take a lot of money, spend >>>> big and fast, and hope for a return. A WISPA member can't afford to waste >>>> money that way. I wonder if Open Range has much cash left. I don't see >>>> how they could have spent it without access to enough spectrum. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com >>>> ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ >>>> +1 617 795 2701 >>>> >> -- >> Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com >> ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ >> +1 617 795 2701 >> >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >> Version: 9.0.914 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3939 - Release Date: 10/04/11 >> 23:34:00 >> > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
