“Politically-directed billions of dollars of subsidies for wind and solar power invite corruption and will likely drive energy prices higher, debt-loads deeper, and allow heavily-polluting older coal factories and power plants to continue operation when they would otherwise be replaced by cost-effective natural gas combined-cycle power. This is surely an unintended consequence for consumers, taxpayers, and the environment.”
Wind and solar power subsidies jolted and damaged European economies, especially Spain and Italy. China’s economy received a similar jolt in 2015. But did U.S. trade policy encourages Chinese government subsidies for not-quite-ready wind and solar power projects?
Consider this 2010 article on costly Spanish solar subsidies passed during the administration of socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero.
… Continue ReadingZapatero introduced the subsidies three years ago as part of an effort to cut his country’s dependence on fossil fuels.
“No more thousand-page ‘Technical Resource Documents’; those are too heavy to lift, let alone read. No more ‘too big and too expensive to analyze’ proprietary models and data bases that take a team of computer scientists to maintain and operate. No more ‘too big to sue’ tactics of intimidation of anyone who dares to challenge DOE’s ‘energy efficiency’ hegemony.”
Part I yesterday summarized the June 10th hearing from the major presenters. Part II today presents the highlights of the remaining assorted written comments where they provide additional insights not specifically covered above:
These comments focused on DOE’s shortcomings in its ongoing efforts to ban non-condensing furnaces. The following excerpt nails it.
… Continue Reading“It is not possible, let alone cost-effective, to install a highly efficient condensing furnace.
“Over the years, there have been numerous iterations of more stringent minimum efficiency mandates for the most important appliances. Thus, the most economical ‘low hanging fruit’ has generally been picked clean with diminishing returns from continued picking.”
“Under the Obama Administration, DOE’s appliance energy efficiency oversight has been expanded far more than previous Administrations, from 15 appliance product categories to 60 product categories.”
Earlier this month, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy & Power held the above-named hearing. In all, it was much better than the usual lopsided infomercial under the guise of a hearing. There was not time for all “stakeholders” to speak, but anyone could submit written testimony.
These were the witnesses: