Solar Is Only Green If It's In the Red

Green is very expensive

There have been many articles here regarding the new “green” economy Liberals speak of with such fondness.  The myths that we hear about so-called renewable energy are that they can produce an almost limitless supply of power, that they will not hurt the planet, and that they are the future because petroleum, coal, and nuclear are, like, so yesterday!

The European Union has dumped a ton of public money into solar and wind schemes.  In Italy, there was so much money at stake the Mafia got involved (no surprise) and absconded with a ton of money.  Operation Wind was the name of the investigation that cracked the case.

We should not fault “alternative” energy for the Mafia corruption but we should fault the misguided attempts of Liberals to push through funding before careful studies have been done.  Take Spain, for instance:

Spain has spent nearly $30 billion on its green energy economy; each one of these green jobs cost the Spanish government on average $855,000, but the return on investment hasn’t been great. The country’s unemployment rate is not decreasing but rapidly increasing and is now at 19.3%, which is one of the highest in the developed world.

In fact, the government’s heavy investments in the solar industry created a bubble that did more to harm to the solar industry than helping it.

President Obama has given many speeches on the importance of relying on “green jobs” to somehow create a powerhouse for the 21st Century, making the United States the leader in the world of renewable energy and his words suggest that this will somehow make us tops in the world economy.  For the Prius set this sounds like paradise.  Unfortunately, it’s simply not true.  Again, looking at Spain:

The problem stems from Spain’s enormous investment in government subsidies for green energy, which created an artificial market that can only survive with the continuation of billions of dollars being pumped into it. According to Dr. Calzada, Spain spends about $8 billion a year on green energy subsidies but the result is that for every green job created 2.2 jobs were lost because so much money was taken out of viable parts of the economy and put into a more unreliable green market—solar did not even make up 1% of Spain’s entire energy production in 2008.

This type of delusional thinking is already going on in the United States.  In fact, we have an example from the state of Massachusetts (whose experiment with Socialized Medicine is also flopping):

“Solar power is a key component of our clean energy future,” said Gov. Deval Patrick this summer, announcing a plan to install large-scale solar photovoltaic power installations throughout the commonwealth.

Just a few weeks later, the governor helped cut the ribbon at the opening of Evergreen Solar’s new plant in Devens, built with $58 million in state funds.

“We love the jobs, and we love that the jobs include manufacturing jobs,” Patrick said. “I look to this facility as a symbol of the kind of industry we want to build, as a symbol of the future.”

So $58 million in taxpayer funds were dumped into this program and what was the benefit?  You will be shocked to learn the truth:

Earlier this month, Evergreen Solar shocked everyone by announcing it is cutting up to half of the 800 jobs at the brand-new, taxpayer-bought Devens plant and shipping them to China. Solar panel materials will still be manufactured in Massachusetts (at least for now), but they will be assembled in a locale with much cheaper costs.

This shock came on the heels of Boston Power Inc. canceling plans to build a 600-job factory in Auburn. It had failed to win a $100 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop advanced battery technology. No government cash, no manufacturing plant and no jobs.

The ugly truth that Liberals and Greenies seek to hide from is that, when put into the marketplace, schemes like alternative energy are just simply too expensive.  Solar power might make a great campaign speech and compelling shows on the Discovery Channel but when someone has to pay for it the technology cannot stand on its own.  And, in the process, $58 million of taxpayer monies were tossed out the window and jobs were sent overseas!  Not only that, but the solar power would have raised electricity rates in Massachusetts even higher than they already are:

Massachusetts’ retail electricity rates are 57 percent higher than the national average and more than in every state except Hawaii, Connecticut and New York. Yet Patrick and his allies would have ratepayers pay even higher prices, since renewables are considerably more expensive than the conventional sources that now power the bulk of the state’s economy.

Democrats continue to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on green energy schemes on the state and federal level.  And in states like California, where there are plenty of great spots for solar plants, Big Union has stepped in to prevent those facilities from being constructed unless they are built by union guys or environmental concerns have prevented panels from being installed in the desert.

When will Democrats get serious about one of the most important issues facing this country: its energy needs?

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