Don't worry, solar power in Los Angeles is here to stay

There has been some negative press about the solar industry in the past few weeks as the Solyndra story lingers. Some have claimed that the solar space is a small and unstable industry.

Here are some facts:

Solar in America is, in fact, getting stronger. More than 100,000 Americans work in the solar industry, making, selling, and installing panels in order to utilize solar power for commercial use. This is actually double the number since 2009.

These people work at more than 5,000 companies, the vast majority being small businesses, and are located in every state in the union.

In the last year, solar grew by 69 percent, making it one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy. Since the start of 2010, the price of photovoltaic solar panels in Manhattan Beach alone, dropped by 30 percent!

The U.S. was a net exporter of solar products in 2010 by $2 billion, even to China, and solar power in the U.S. now exceeds 3,100 megawatts, enough to power more than 630,000 American homes.

No rational person can look at these facts and dispute that commercial solar installation will be on a decline any time soon.

What we have to do, as consumers and solar distributers alike, is learn from the mistakes that Solyndra made in order to keep this industry thriving.

This is exactly what companies like Xero Solar in Los Angeles are striving to do.