“WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN” - The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future - page 162

late 2009. h e unwieldy mirrors range in size, but most are around i ve
feet square. Looking at them directly is like staring into an uni nished
carnival mirror: the light is distorted in a precise yet unl at ering way.
h e mirrors start as l at glass; then, using black suction cups, yellow
robotic arms grab the seventy-pound slabs one at a time and place them
in special ovens. h e glass is heated to extreme temperatures, and as it
cools, the glass is molded into precise shapes. h is part of the operation
is of -limits to outsiders; it is what FLABEG believes to be its big edge
over the competition. At er the glass is molded, a coating of silver adds
rel ectivity; then a copper layer provides protection. Other coatings are
added to ensure that the mirrors can withstand hot, dry, and dusty envi-
ronments. h e mirrors, by now backed with white ceramic, are stacked
upright in special particle-board pallets, waiting to be shipped around
the country and the world.
h ese mirrors will never end up installed in cars or trucks. h ey're
being built for solar power. Some of the mirrors will concentrate heat
from the sun on specially designed l uids, raising their temperature and
ultimately turning electric turbines in a technology known as concen-
trating solar power. Others will focus the sun's rays on solar panels in
order to boost performance; that scheme is known as concentrating
photovoltaic power. Both approaches require immense precision. Even
the paint on the mirrors is subjected to taxing tolerances: its thick-
ness needs to meet specs within thirty micrometers, about the width
of a human hair. 54 Delivering on demands of this kind requires a lot of
advanced machinery. h e FLABEG plant, which still wasn't fully built
as of the middle of 2012, cost thirty million dollars to equip. 55
h is type of work also requires skills that many people desperately
seeking jobs appear to have. When I visited the plant, the assembly line
was down, and new workers were being trained to operate the controls.
A fortyish man with a ponytail and wearing a blue tank top was learning
to clean mirrors for concentrating photovoltaic power. Torsten Koehler,
president of the company, explained that the on-the-job training was “a
very critical part” of what FLABEG does.
Scenes like this are ever more common across the United States.
Most mainstream economic studies have long predicted that mod-
est environmental regulation, including steps that boost renewable