Solar for all? Not in my lifetime [Spectral Lines]

On a sunny afternoon in California, I drive past the shuttered factories of Solyndra Corp., the bankrupt maker of solar panels. A billboardsize "For Sale" sign sits prominently on the frontage road of Interstate 880, a main artery into Silicon Valley. Solyndra??s empty factories are grim reminders of how?? even in America??s innovation heartland??life on the solar frontier can be nasty, brutish, and short.