A rather..err..interesting blog that isn't safe for work. But it makes some good points:
Total federal subsidies in fiscal year 2007 were $24.34 per megawatt hour for solar-generated electricity and $23.37 per megawatt hour for wind, compared with $1.59 for nuclear, $0.67 for hydroelectric power, $0.44 for conventional coal, and $0.25 for natural gas and petroleum liquids.
and
This paean to the pResident’s genius comes on the same day Warren Buffett, sitting on $44 billion, said his wind and solar projects wouldn’t be built without tax payer cash.
Wow. One of the richest guys on the planet saying that he needs subsidies to get these things going. Amazing.
And a bat shredding project stops dead:
Paul Copleman, an Iberdrola spokesman, said that without the federal Production Tax Credits, which will expire at the end of 2012, its two projects and many others in the state and nation won’t get built.
I found this pic at that blog - had to grab a copy for myself.
7 comments:
Considering the report that we discussed earlier shows an 80% fall in renewable costs since 2008 I'd say 2007s subsidies did their job which is to spur interest and r&d in new technology in its infancy so that costs fall and it can reach its potential at which point subsidies can be phased out. In 2012 in the US there was 612,000 MWH generated by solar so at $24.34 the total solar subsidy spend is $14,896,000. Coal in 2007 generated 2,016,456,000 MWH so at $0.44 coal received $887,240,640 in subsidies. That fairly modest solar spend has spurred 296% growth in solar output to the end of 2011 which is pretty impressive, the near billion dollar spend on coal has seen a 14% contraction of coal production. Personally I think the bigger question then whether 15 million on solar is money well spent is why after 150 years does coal still need any subsidy at all let alone 4/5's of a billion dollars. Again I'd point out these are direct government subsidies, it doesn't include indirect subsidies like healthcare and environmental costs eg the 20-30 billion spent to clean up the horizon oil rig disaster.
That should read 612,000mwh solar production in 2007
Who paid for the clean up...? Not the US taxpayers. Exxon Mobil paid for it. Then Obamandias used a falsified report to justify shutting down all Gulf drilling--and the rigs and jobs went to places like Brazil.
Here are some more numbers:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/17/federal-government-spent-nearly-70-billion-on-climate-change-activities-since-2008/
Thanks for the link.
Wow it's utterly amazing how many "facts" in your comment are wrong. First it was a BP rig not ExxonMobil, second so far taxpayers have paid most of the costs and are certainly paying for the ongoing losses to industry and tourism from the spill as well as the health effects. BP have paid some compensation but the majority will only come when multiple court cases are finalised, a process that took 20 years for the Exxon Valdez spill. Even once and if they pay the full amount do you really think they'll just absorb tens of billions out of profit? That's like saying companies won't pass on the carbon tax costs, of course they will pass on the costs so regardless the taxpayers will always pay in the end. Next Obama did not shut down all drilling he shut down commencement of any drilling of new wells until their permits could be checked to make sure there environmental protections weren't as flimsy as Horizon Deepwaters. The reality of the Horizon well is they were conducting it's drilling with NO equipment or expertise to handle a blowout, the entire response to the disaster was completely made up as they went along, none of it had been tried and none of he equipment needed to contain a spill at that depth had even been designed let alone built. This was a fly by the seat of their pants operation and Obama was absolutely right to make sure other wells weren't as poorly planned.
Finally if you really think any amount of money can fully remedy the impact of spilling 4.9 million barrels of oil into an ecosystem plus thousands of barrels of chemical dispersant then mothers not much else I can really say.
"… not much else I can really say."
That's a valid summery of what you've been saying all along. How much are you paid for inflicting these 'opinions' on others?
Cheers
Wow what an insightful in depth response to the points in my post, thankyou minicapt.
Thanks for correcting my brain cramp on which EvilBigOil® company ran the rig. And agreed, BP had no plan. They were drilling deeper than they ever had--because they had been restricted from drilling in shallower water. And the Ecotard wet dream of a spill more horrendous than Exxon Valdez was largely eaten away by naturally occurring microbes. BP was fined and is paying for damages as they should. Funny thing about massive evil capitalist profits allowing them to be able to do that. Not so in the socialist paradise of China...
http://sonofsoylentgreen.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/the-clean-energy-of-unicorn-farts/
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