The New Renewables Narrative: Buyer Beware

By Marita Noon -- October 29, 2013 No Comments

“Georgia … Texas … Arizona…. One story is an anomaly; two, a coincidence; three, a trend. When a so-called conservative Republican talks green energy and sounds like he or she is hitting the right notes, be careful. It’s probably the wrong song.”

Creating jobs…. enlarging the tax base… access to markets … energy choices for consumers…. monopoly busting … resource conservation….

The words and terms are being used by two government dependent renewable energy industries to sucker citizens and legislators to retain, if not enlarge, their taxpayer subsidies and ratepayer cross-subsidies in the current energy debate.

Make no mistake: This is an organized attempt to hoodwink  Republicans, conservatives, limited-government and free-market supporters, and even fiscally minded Democrats. Yet the means and ends of the deceivers are 180 degrees from what ordinary fiscally prudent citizens would support if they understood the gloss and what was underneath the hood.

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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: October 28, 2013

By -- October 28, 2013 2 Comments

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of more than 10,000 individuals and organizations interested in improving government energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science. It’s all spelled out at WiseEnergy.org, which is an exceptional collection of helpful resources.

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every 3 weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

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Greed Energy Economics:

American Renewable Energy — a National Kamikaze Mission?

Utility CEOs Call for End to Subsidies for Wind, Solar Power

Assessing the Cost of Wind Energy   (Which was then followed up by this MR article, with good comments.)

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Google’s Green Energy Brag: $375 Million from Taxpayers (or more)

By Glenn Schleede -- October 22, 2013 4 Comments

On September 13, 2013, Google announced that it had signed a contract to buy the entire output of the 239 MW Happy Herford “wind farm” that is being developed by Chermac Energy near Amarillo, Texas. The project is expected to begin operation in late 2014.

Undoubtedly Chermac Energy is pleased to have a 20-year contract (purchased power agreement) for the sale of the electricity that will be produced. The Google deal will provide the developer a guaranteed cash stream that will enable project financing. [1]

Undoubtedly, Google is pleased with all the favorable publicity the company has received for being so environmentally committed even though the wind-generated electricity will not be used in a Google facility. Instead, according to Google, the electricity will be sold in the wholesale market and Google will purchase the electricity it needs from the utilities serving its facilities or a wholesale supplier.

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Challenging Big Green for Human Betterment

By E. Calvin Beisner -- October 8, 2013 1 Comment

The statistics are startling. Johns Hopkins University scholar Nick Nichols found that in 2010, 13,716 environmental groups filed as tax-exempt 501(c)(3)’s with combined revenue of $7.4-billion. Their total assets? $20.6 billion.

Here are some specifics Nichols reports:

  • 2012: Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), $112 million revenue, $173 million assets;
  • 2011: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), $97 million revenue, $249 million assets;
  • 2011: Three Greenpeace organizations, $39 million revenue, $21 million assets.

And just what are these organizations doing with their money? Precious little in the way of environmental restoration or protection—lots in the way of advocating for policies that will fulfill Senator Barack Obama’s promise, when he ran for President in 2007, that if he were elected electricity rates would “skyrocket.” [1]

“I wonder whether the tax-paying coal miners of West Virginia realize that they are subsidizing progressives intent on destroying their jobs?”

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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: October 7, 2013

By -- October 7, 2013 2 Comments Continue Reading

The California Current: Weekly Digest (October 4, 2013)

By -- October 5, 2013 3 Comments Continue Reading

‘Simple Rules for a Complex World’: Five for Energy Policy

By Peter Grossman -- October 4, 2013 3 Comments Continue Reading

Keystone XL: Safe and Prepared (TransCanada)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 3, 2013 No Comments Continue Reading

Blow for Energy Postmodernism: FERC Nominee Binz Bows Out

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 2, 2013 5 Comments Continue Reading

Energy Price-Control Lessons for ObamaCare (remembering a classic WSJ editorial from 1979)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 1, 2013 2 Comments Continue Reading