In the Pipeline: 4/3/12

Solyndra.  Beacon.  First Light.  Q-Cells.  They will be thrown into the exterior darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are called, but few are chosen GWPF The German firm says it has abandoned an attempt to refinance its debts and will file for insolvency on Tuesday…Like other solar panel makers, Q-Cells has been hit by falling prices and last year the firm lost 846m euros ($1.1bn; £702m)…The company started in 2001 with 19 staff and now employs more than 2,000 workers…Q-Cells had been trying to organise a deal to swap debt for shares in the company.

Now we are on to something New York Times (4/2/12) reports: Butterfly wings are not just beautiful. They are also sophisticated collectors of solar energy that help butterflies stay warm, and researchers say that their shinglelike structure could provide valuable clues into developing better solar technology.

Wow.  We must have really hit a nerve with our latest ad Politico (4/2/12) reports: President Obama’s reelection campaign has launched their third television spot of the cycle — an energy-themed ad that takes aim at both Mitt Romney and Big Oil companies…”Under President Obama, domestic oil production’s at an eight-year high,” the ad charges. “So why is Big Oil attacking him? Because he’s fighting to end their tax breaks.”…”He’s raising mileage standards, and doubling renewable energy,” the ad’s narrator says. “In all these fights, Mitt Romney’s stood with Big Oil— for their tax breaks, attacking higher mileage standards and renewables.”

Vroom…Vrooom! Chevy Volt production will remain idle for the next 12 weeks Detroit Free Press General Motors plans to halt production of the Chevrolet Volt at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant for three weeks in July, instead of the traditional two-week shutdown…”This is (a) normal part of business as managing to market demand,” GM spokeswoman Michelle Malcho said in an e-mail…Volt production has been idled for a five-week stretch through April 23 because dealers had a surplus of the plug-in extended-range electric vehicle…The Volt, which can travel about 35 miles on a single charge of electricity until a gasoline-powered generator kicks in, has yet to live up to the automaker’s original sales expectations. Chevrolet sold 1,023 Volts in February.

You know the best part?  The Rubio crew sent along an op-ed supporting ethanol as proof that the Senator is really right on global warming.  He will definitely make a great running mate for Willard Buzzfeed (4/2/12) reports: Florida Senator Marco Rubio is considered a likely Republican Vice Presidential nominee. But Rubio’s past carries some positions now decried by the right. In 2008, as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Rubio presided over a vote directing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to create rules for limiting carbon emissions. In 2007, Rubio delivered this speech on energy, where he said “this nation and ultimately the world, are heading towards emissions caps,” adding Florida could become the “Silicon Valley” of green energy. Update This was not as strong as the federal legislation known a “cap and trade” and a Rubio spokesman emails this 2007 op-ed in which the then House Speaker cites opposition to cap and trade legislation.”

And EPA immediately tried to regulate it . . .Wall Street Journal (4/2/12) reports: When our ancestors first used fire has been a long-running debate, and a new study concludes the earliest firm evidence comes from about one million years ago in a South African cave…The ash and burnt-bone samples found there suggest fires frequently burned in that spot, researchers said Monday…Over the years, some experts have cited evidence of fire from as long as 1.5 million years ago, and some have argued it was used even earlier, a key step toward evolution of a larger brain. But it is a tricky issue. Even if there is evidence of an ancient blaze, how do researchers know it wasn’t just a wildfire?

Somewhere, Randy Randol is laughing GWPF (4/2/12) reports: Analysis by the GWPF of the newly released HadCRUT4 global temperature database shows that there has been no global warming in the past 15 years – a timescale that challenges current models of global warming…The important question is whether 15 years is a sufficient length of time from which to draw climatic conclusions that are usually considered over 30 years, as well as its implications for climate projections.