Solyndra and Beacon aside, alternatives exist.

• Position: Alternative energy industry - Energy

First Solyndra, then Beacon Power Corp.--both alternative energy companies declared bankruptcy this year after receiving millions in Federal job stimulus dollars. It is just what the U.S. does not need right now, says nuclear scientist Michael T. Gamble, an alternative energy researcher and investment-banking analyst.

The public backlash to ill-spent tax dollars could hurt a vital emerging industry-one that is very much key to future U.S. jobs. "Cheap energy would enable little Silicon Valley businesses to develop phenomenal things because they're not hampered by the cost of doing business," contends Gamble, a former scientist at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico and author of Zeroscape, a high-tech thriller. "Work with certain technologies, like high-energy lasers, requires large amounts of energy. A little photonics companies will be a future Apple."

Gamble indicates that the public perception of the alternative energy industry s a worthy recipient of taxpayer dollars may be tainted by what essentially were business failures exacerbated by the falling cost of solar-grade silicon--and poor choices for Energy Department loan guarantees. "Solyndra was never even close to manufacturing cost-effective, competitive solar panels. Their cost was three to six dollars per watt."

However, there are technologies--and even government research--worth investing in, Gamble insists. A robust photovoltaic technology that is dose to achieving competitive pricing is nanosolar--thin-film, printable solar collection panels that employ copper, indium, gallium, selenium, and nanoparticle inks as opposed to the widely used silicon panels, a lower-cost strategy. When combined with the savings from minimal installation labor...