Comments on: Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up

By: Scottar

Scottar — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:19:44 +0000

Don’t leave out the fact that wind and solar require at least five times the capacity factor due to a dismal indeterminacy production tract record. That requires exorbitant infrastructure costs of raw materials, including rare earth minerals of which China has a monopoly on, and these materials require fossil energy to extract and smelter the required end items for manufacturing the hardware.

So without the RPS mandate both PV solar and wind exist much on the market place. It may be decades away before they become a viable candidate but by then both nuclear fission and fusion will have superseded them.

You want solar or wind?, do it on your dime and not the taxpayers. When you look at levelized costs both nuclear and fossil beat renewables hands down, and that’s from a US-IER study- Levelized Cost of New Electricity Generating Technologies.

Stupidity is doing the same relative thing and expecting different results.

By: Lawrie Ayres

Lawrie Ayres — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:55:28 +0000

Proponents of wind power and solar for that matter, fail to include the cost of the back up power supply in their calculations. Whilstever the percentage of power derived from renewables is small relative to total generating capacity the need for spinning reserve is very small. If renewables were to gain a larger slice of generating capacity spinning reserve would need to expand as well. Spinning reserve is expensive, inefficient and creates emissions. The statement that wind is emission free is patently false unless the reserve is being supplied by hydro or nuclear in which case it would be cheaper to rely on them and scrap wind and solar altogether.

By: Bruce Hesher

Bruce Hesher — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:30:48 +0000

The renewable industry covers a lot of different technologies. Some are mature but still have incentives, others are still maturing and incentives might be justified. It is necessary to treat different technologies accordingly. Solar water heating and solar electric are examples.
Solar water heating is mature. We have been doing it for over a hundred years. It makes financial sense to the consumer to put a solar water heater on their home or business and pay for it themselves with zero incentives.
Solar electric systems are not mature but are getting there. Incentives for them may be justified but, need to be of a known limited time frame so that the industry has tangible targets to achieve. Without targets, financial models will be developed to depend on the taxpayer forever.
Tax incentives for weatherization (insulation, radiant barriers, energy efficient appliances, etc.) are not justified. Conservation and weatherization measures have the shortest financial paybacks. They should be promoted through education not legislation. Let the businesses that are involved in their manufacture and installation promote them.

By: Barry

Barry — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:01:39 +0000

“Production” subsidies don’t mature. They will never determined by the market but by the price of substitutes out of China. The latter are in turn part-determined by China’s propensity to subsidize its production.

The US industry has taken anti-dumping action against China’s renewable energy industry on the grounds that it is subsidized. Chinese industry will be able to bight back, calling the records of the Senate Committee as evidence.

By: Kevin @ AWEA

Kevin @ AWEA — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:53:55 +0000

A more honest view of energy subsidies is provided in a recent report, “What Would Jefferson Do?” * from DBL Investors, which found that “current renewable energy subsidies do not constitute an over-subsidized outlier when compared to the historical norm for emerging sources of energy. For example: … the federal commitment to [oil and gas] was five times greater than the federal commitment to renewables during the first 15 years of each [subsidy’s] life, and it was more than 10 times greater for nuclear.

The call for an end to all energy subsidies from Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) could be a laudable goal if it treated all energy resources fairly, and treated energy fairly relative to other sectors. Unfortunately, his proposed legislation doesn’t work that way. It unfairly singles out the most promising source of new manufacturing jobs while protecting billions of dollars in incentives for other energy sources and all non-energy sectors. Honest reform of tax incentives must start with a level playing field.

The fact is, with the threat of the PTC coming to an end, the companies that build wind farms are not making plans and American manufacturers are not receiving orders. Job layoffs have started already. The wind industry is facing the recurrence of the boom-bust cycle it has seen in previous years when the PTC was allowed to expire briefly before being renewed by Congress. In the years following expiration, installations of new wind turbines dropped between 73% and 93%, and many jobs were lost. Such a dramatic drop in business is hard on companies and workers and their families at the best of times, but it will be a very punishing blow in the current economy.

The development of wind power and other renewable energy sources is important for the future of the country and health of the environment. Wind energy is clean, abundant, and homegrown, and its cost is dropping. The case for continuing to invest in it is very strong.

*Available here:
http://www.dblinvestors.com/documents/What-Would-Jefferson-Do-Final-Version.pdf

By: Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up | JunkScience.com

Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up | JunkScience.com — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:56:38 +0000

[...] Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up by JACKIE MOREAU [...]

By: Geoff Sander

Geoff Sander — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:32:09 +0000

The so called “renewable energy” industry is a bottomless pit for taxpayers’ money. It will never be self-sufficient because people will never willingly pay the exorbitant prices required to cover the costs of production. More importantly, as people learn that in fact wind power doesn’t result in the shutdown of coal plants & that bio-fuels actually increase fossil fuel consumption & emissions, they will rebel against the entire fraudulent industry. Check out Kids Before Trees to learn more. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80505

By: Peter Garbutt

Peter Garbutt — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:30:07 +0000

You may be right.
But I’d first ask how much the US Government helps the fossil-fuel industry?
Level playing fields?