As an interesting fact on solar, I had a quote done for my house in Florida for a 2.5kw array (not enough to power the whole house, about 1/3 of the average requirement). The cost benefit worked out as follows:

Cost to purchase and install: $25,000 – this yielded a return of less than 1% on investment (about 0.7%)
Federal tax credit of $7,500
State rebate of about $9,600
Yield after subsidies (if qualified) – a total net cost of $7,900 with a return on my investment of just over 6%.

In other words the state and federal governments (taxpayers) would pay $17,100 in subsidies to support an overall yield on the total investment (theirs and mine) of 0.7%.

Every scrap of the product installed is of foreign manufacture sending the bulk of the taxpayer money overseas.

As a business person, if my company invested in 0.7% return projects, I would be out of business. I wonder if that applies to the Feds and States?

John in Maryland, USA

Be careful what you wish for.
Deep in their hearts, a large and growing number of people all around the world are coming to the conclusion that runaway global warming is very unlikely. However a disturbing number seem to think “OK, but even if all of this proposed legislation has no climate benefits, it may curb our extravagant consumption, reduce pollution and bring us a more sustainable lifestyle.”

Read the full article. [PDF, 372KB]

The Carbon Sense Coalition today accused the Federal and some state governments of imposing Stealth Taxes on electricity consumers by forcing power retailers to buy expensive power from inefficient and costly renewable energy sources. Read the full press release here. [PDF, 30 KB]

The Carbon Sense Coalition’s response to the draft Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2008 makes the following conclusions (among others):

• There are no climate benefits in mandating ever increasing shares of the electricity market for “renewable” energy. Therefore any scheme to generate electricity should stand on its own feet with no special tax breaks, subsidies or mandated market shares to support it.
• All of this also leads to the conclusion that mandating market shares for “renewable energy” is not justified. This is just a sneaky way to impose taxes on conventional electricity generators in a way that most consumers will not notice. It is part of a deliberate Stealth Tax Scheme. It will stifle growth and deter economic recovery.
• Mandated market shares are incompatible with the logic (if there is any) of Emission Trading Schemes or carbon taxes.

Read the stealth-taxes.pdf full submission [PDF, 184 KB]

This paper by Peter Lang, “…contains a simple analysis of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by wind power and the cost per tonne of emissions avoided. It puts these figures in context by comparing them with some other ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.”

and concludes:

“1. Wind power does not avoid significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
“2. Wind power is a very high cost way to avoid greenhouse gas emissions.
“3. Wind power, even with high capacity penetration, can not make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Read the full document here [PDF, 177 KB].

See also: http://www.masterresource.org/2009/11/wind-integration-incremental-emissions-from-back-up-generation-cycling-part-i-a-framework-and-calculator/

by Allan Taylor
From
http://www.helium.com/items/1270584-is-solar-energy-solution-to-us-oil-dependence

No, solar energy is not the solution to reducing US oil dependency.

Considerable progress has been made in the development and use of solar energy world wide over the last decade. This is a good thing and no doubt will continue. But where does solar energy fit into the overall energy crisis problem?
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Before governments can improve oil security for their people they need to learn how markets work, or their policies will do more harm than good. This submission discusses the effects of suppliers, consumers, traders and governments in the oil market, why “Peak Oil” is a mirage which recedes as you approach it, how methane hydrates may provide the next energy revolution, how governments reduce oil security, why biofuels and alternative energy will not fuel our transport fleet, the hydrogen myth and why “Hands Off” is the best policy.

Read the full submission [PDF, 49 KB] to the Queensland State government.

(Used with permission from our Dutch Friends)

Dr. Martin Hertzberg

When my youngest son Russell was eight years old, in 1967, his grade school
teacher asked the students in his class to invite their fathers to visit the class, and to talk
about their work. So Russell invited me. I told him that I could talk about science and
research, but that it was too much to cover in just one period. What area did he want me
to talk about, I asked. He answered: “Oh… uh… just talk about ideas”. There are lots of
ideas in science I replied. “OK” he said, “so talk about the most important idea in
science”. So I agreed. Fortunately, I had a whole week to decide on what the most
important idea of science really was. After much thought, I decided that it was the idea
of energy, and that’s what I talked about… the various kinds of energy and how they
could be transformed form one form to another.

Read the full document [PDF, 48 KB]

Earth Hour is a sacred rite of the global warming religion whose message is: confess, do penance (turn out the lights for an hour once a year), and your sins will be forgiven.
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