Do you remember Solyndra, the “green energy” company which received over half a billion dollars from President Obama’s “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” in 2009? Solyndra was going to revolutionize the solar panel manufacturing industry. Of course, there was abundant fraud, both on the company’s application and in the government’s awarding of all that tax money. Solyndra went bankrupt and ceased operations barely two years later, leaving 1,100 employees out of work.

Unsurprisingly, a whole new generation of Solyndras popped up in recent years, promising to develop various new forms of “clean energy” for which there is not a market, especially not at the price it would take to develop the product. Fortunately for these start-ups, we have very credulous people in government willing to dole out taxpayer money whenever the words “clean energy” are spoken. Plus, a great many investors are easily duped into throwing money at “revolutionary” new energy sources.

But no matter how much money is thrown at these ventures, there is generally no pathway to profit when competing against fossil fuels.