Search anytime by typing below

Thanks for joining the AEA efforts to help combat rising energy prices. We don’t want to bug you that often, so let us know what energy issues interest you, and we’ll keep your inbox happy.

*Please fill in all items

WILL SENATE EXTEND WIND WELFARE IN FISCAL CLIFF DEAL?

December 31, 2012 by 1 Comment

WASHINGTON D.C. — On early reports that the United States Senate will include an extension of the Production Tax Credit for wind energy in the final deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle released the following statement:

“With our nation’s economic future in their hands, Senate leaders are negotiating behind closed doors in the latest round of political brinkmanship to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. Early reports indicate that some leaders are insisting on an inclusion of the wind production tax credit into any final package, and precisely at the moment they are attempting to raise taxes on small business owners and American families who must pay for it. Billion dollar giveaways to special interests are among the leading drivers of our present fiscal strain, and yet Senate leaders are planning to increase corporate welfare to the most intermittent and unreliable energy sources in our national electricity portfolio.

“Including a PTC extension in a midnight, closed-door compromise is all too reminiscent of earlier congressional actions that have born drastic economic consequences. Yet the Senate is hoping to quench Big Wind’s never-ending thirst for subsidies on the backs of small businesses and American families who the fiscal cliff deal should be designed to protect.”

Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With: ,

In the Pipeline: 12/21/12

December 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas. 

This runs contrary to the spirit of Christmas, but it looks like we have no hope. Energy Guardian (12/21/12) reports: “The Obama administration’s plan to spend $510 million on refineries to make drop-in biofuels for its Great Green Fleet advanced after House passage Thursday of a $633 million 2013 defense authorization bill.”

 

Look Ma! We’re famous! The Hill (12/20/12) reports: “Letter signatories included the American Energy Alliance, Heritage Action, Freedom Action, Competitive Enterprise Institute and American Commitment… Those groups sent a letter last week urging lawmakers representing states without renewable targets to axe the wind credit. They argued the incentive helped other states while failing to benefit those without mandates.”

 

Assuming the Mayans weren’t right about today, here’s something to look forward to in 2013. Politico (12/20/12) reports: “Facing paralysis in Washington and abroad, Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking the threat of climate change into his own hands.”

 

Hey Rep. Bishop, we like where you’re going with this.  We can save you a lot of time, though.  May we present to you the American Energy Act. The Hill (12/20/12) reports: “The House Natural Resources committee will devote more attention to environmental reviews and their effects on advancing energy development in a new subcommittee next Congress… National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) evaluations will now be wrapped into the newly formed subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation… Currently called the subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) will remain its chairman.”

 

Green greed knows no bounds:  Xcel admits PTC distorts electricity markets, yet wants to substitute one Big Wind taxpayer giveaway with two others.  Udall, Chu, and the Wind Bags (aka AWEA) say good idea, only we want all three.  That David Brown guy is the only one making any sense in this whole conversation. National Journal (12/20/12) reports: “Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., whose office has met with Xcel lobbyists on this proposal, expressed initial support for the idea during a Wednesday event on wind energy at the Energy Department alongside Secretary Steven Chu, but only in addition to the PTC. Wind lobbyist AWEA took the same stance… Xcel lobbyist John O’Donnell said that since the investment tax credit is given up front and not based on production, it would not distort real-time electricity markets, which is the key reason Exelon, the country’s biggest nuclear generator, opposes the PTC. Exelon also opposes Xcel’s proposal, though… ‘Substituting one subsidy for another in a way that continues to distort power markets is not a viable solution,’ Exelon lobbyist David Brown said in an e-mailed statement to NJD.”

 

Now batting in the cleanup spot.  We think it’s safe to put Mr. O’Keefe on our list below.  In fact, he is making the rest of us look like softies.WSJ (12/20/12) reports: “What’s more, the climate-change justification for a carbon tax is bogus. Greenhouse-gas emissions are rising in China and other emerging economies, not in the United States. Carbon-dioxide emissions in the U.S. have been declining and by 2035 will return to 2005 levels, the Energy Information Administration projects.”

 

The following think tank chiefs are opposed to a carbon tax.  The list to date follows.  If your guy is not on the list, it is because he either favors a carbon tax, wants to retain the option of favoring a carbon tax at some point in the future, or has yet to contact us.

Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance / Institute for Energy Research
Myron Ebell, Freedom Action
Phil Kerpen, American Commitment
William O’Keefe, George C. Marshall Institute
Fred Smith, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Andrew Quinlan, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity
Joe Bast, Heartland Institute
David Ridenour, National Center for Public Policy Research
Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America
Tom Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
Sabrina Schaeffer, Independent Women’s Forum
Barrett E. Kidner, Caesar Rodney Institute
George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,

2012 Bus Tour

December 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Multimedia

Coalition to 369 Members of Congress: Let the Wind PTC Expire

December 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON D.C. — The American Energy Alliance joined with other coalition partners today in a letter to 369 members of the 112th Congress, urging them to oppose an extension of the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), an outsized incentive that distorts energy markets and negatively impacts electricity reliability. The letter went to senators and representatives from 29 states with renewable mandates that force utility companies to purchase wind energy. The letter also was sent as a courtesy to the Delegate from the District of Columbia, who is a non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Over 75 percent of all active wind generating capacity came on-line in the past five years — a period concurrent with the expansion of state renewable energy mandates — illustrating that the PTC is not the biggest driver of wind installations in your state. Rather, what the PTC does in practice is decrease electricity reliability in your state and cause serious distortions in the market,” the group wrote.

“Reliable, affordable, and ‘always on’ electricity is critical to get our economy back on track. The wind PTC is detrimental to dependable and cost-effective forms of electricity generation. We urge you to allow this wasteful, unsustainable, and counterproductive subsidy to expire at the end of the year.”

States which currently have renewable mandates are: Arizona; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Hawaii; Illinois; Iowa; Kansas; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Texas; Washington; Wisconsin; and the District of Columbia.

To read the entire letter, click here.

To read the Dec. 12 coalition letter to Members of Congress representing states that do not have renewable mandates, click here.

###

Filed Under: Press Releases

In the Pipeline: 12/19/12

December 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It is increasingly clear that Senator Lamar Alexander has been eating his spinach. IER (12/18/12) reports: “In a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) gave the following floor speech in response to the wind industry’s phase-out proposal of the wind Production Tax Credit:”

 

In a way, it’s like the government is raising a very dysfunctional family.  One kid gets a timeout while the other continues to raid the cookie jar.  This does not end well for anyone. Fox News(12/17/12) reports: “Lights left on during a foggy night last year at a West Virginia wind farm are thought to be behind the grizzly deaths of nearly 500 songbirds… It was the third time it happened — and each time, the federal government looked the other way… Fast forward to last week. Following the deaths of a dozen migratory birds in Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska several years back, a Denver-based oil company was fined $22,500. The company was also ordered to make an additional $7,500 payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.”

 

Happy 5th anniversary, Renewable Fuels Mandate.  Seriously, what do you get for somebody who has already gotten everything they have ever wanted from the federal government? The Hill (12/15/12) reports: “House Republicans plan to put the renewable fuel standard on trial next Congress, a House Energy and Commerce Committee aide told The Hill… Committee staff is gearing up for hearings on the subject, citing recent concerns from the AAA motor club, automakers and the oil industry that the rule is pushing a high-ethanol fuel blend onto the market they say will damage cars.”

 

Boom goes the dynamite. The Beacon Hill Institute (December 2012) reports: “Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, which requires that utilities obtain 18 percent of their power generation from non-traditional resources by the year 2021, would likely lead to an economic cost to the Commonwealth of $16.3 billion from 2013-2021, according to a new study published by the Beacon Hill Institute… The report, prepared by economists at Suffolk University in Boston, found that Pennsylvanians will likely see their power bills increase by nearly 12 percent due to the mandate, and perhaps as high as 15 percent. Since the dependence on electricity is ubiquitous, those costs are regressive and will hit low-income households the hardest. Unsurprisingly, the higher costs – which have an effect similar to tax increases – will result in thousands of net job losses and decreases in disposable income.”

 

Fast Eddie vs. The Incredible Hunk.  This one is going to be far too much fun to pass up. Boston.com (12/18/12) reports: “US Representative Edward J. Markey said Monday he would consider running for the US Senate were John F. Kerry nominated for secretary of state, but a poll he’s conducting shows it’s not just some idle thought… A Massachusetts resident relayed to a Globe reporter the contents of a 20-minute survey an out-of-state firm conducted via telephone that assessed Markey’s strengths and weaknesses in a potential match-up against Senator Scott Brown.”

 

Mission accomplished!  Edison Mission Energy bankruptcy another notch in Richard Windsor’s belt. LA Times (12/18/12) reports: “Edison Mission Energy has been struggling on several fronts: depressed energy prices because of the nation’s boom in natural gas production; higher fuel costs affecting its older coal-fired facilities and pending debt maturities… The company also said that it faced the ‘need to retrofit its coal-fired facilities to comply with environmental regulations.’”

 

How sad. Politico (12/18/12) reports: “Clean Air-Cool Planet, a climate change advocacy nonprofit, is shuttering its Washington office, according to an email from Brooks Yeager, the group’s executive vice president for policy, who announced he is stepping down Friday. “I believe, given the overall fundraising environment and the challenge that CA-CP has faced in raising unrestricted revenue, that the decision of the board and the executive director to wind down CA-CP’s policy effort and to close our Washington office and to focus the group’s future work on our national campus emissions reduction and the Northeast regional adaptation effort makes a good deal of sense,” Yeager wrote in the email, which was sent to friends and colleagues.”

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , ,

In the Pipeline: 12/18/12

December 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Like they always say: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. POWER Mag (12/1/12) reports: “Forgotten by many proponents is the justification for the PTC in the first place: to reduce CO2 emissions…. [Yet] … many utilities with large amounts of wind generation steadfastly refuse to release operating data for analysis. I suspect to do so would mean the release of empirical data to build the opposition’s case for insignificant CO2 reduction and poor operating economics. I was unable to find one study of existing wind energy installations that found the CO2 reductions predicted by AWEA.”

 

Dumb: Green energy investing. Wall Street Daily (12/17/12) reports: “People can “go green” all they want. After all, America is still the land of the free. But I just don’t recommend that investors do it. And that’s not because I’ve got something against the tree-hugger mentality.”

 

And Dumber: Combating cronyism with more cronyism.  Seriously, what do you think are the chances a government investment in technology will produce jobs and economic growth?  Hit me with it.  Just level with me.  Give it to me straight.  Like, one out of a million? IEEE Spectrum (12/14/12) reports: “The continuing saga of A123 Systems Inc. has culminated this past week in most of its assets being sold for US $256.6 million to the Chinese-owned Wanxiang America Corporation, an auto parts conglomerate… Why the US government would give a grant to expand the company’s production capacity when the market problem it faced was that its main customer wasn’t selling any of its own products is probably a worthy discussion. However, combating crony capitalism with more crony capitalism, which some U.S. Senators seemed engaged in with their fight to block the sale, hardly seems to be a solution.”

 

Rob shucks this corn like a total boss. Forbes (12/17/12) reports: “Back in 2007, the RFS’s biodiesel mandate seemingly had a public-interest rationale. But now, with five years worth of evidence, it’s clear this rule is a failure economically and environmentally. It should be scrapped, not ratcheted up in 2013.”

 

You say tomato, I say tomato.  You say Tropical Storm Sandy so the folks can collect more insurance.  I say Hurricane Sandy so the eco-thugs have a talking point.  Of course, Chuck Schumer has never had a problem talking out of both sides of his mouth.  Or just plain talking for that matter. Powerline Blog (12/17/12) reports: “Today, we’ve sent a letter to NOAA, the weather agency, as well as to the insurance companies that we’re looking over their shoulder. We want NOAA to keep this classified as a tropical storm and to save homeowners in New York and Long Island thousands of dollars and we don’t want the insurance companies to play any games.”

 

Markey’s Way: If at first you don’t like the results of a DOE study, browbeat the agency mercilessly until they redo it to your liking.  We hear Pacino will be playing the role of Ed Markey. Reuters(12/17/12) reports: “‘Given the important role this study may play in determining U.S. natural gas export policy, I strongly urge that the study’s methodology be reevaluated in some key areas, that the most recent projection data available be utilized in the model, and that the model be re-run and re-analyzed,’ said Congressman Edward Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources committee.”

 

We included this interview because clearly Grover Norquist has given this carbon tax thing some thought.  But mostly because we dig Maria Bartiromo. USA Today (12/16/12) reports: “But one thing to keep in mind: If the president got the tax increases he said he wanted in his budget, you still have an $8 trillion debt over the next 10 years. Which means he has to come to the middle class with an energy tax. So when that happens, I think the Democrats will have a hard time explaining themselves in 2014 and ’16 … since this little tax increase — on high-income people and small businesses doesn’t solve Obama’s problem. He has to get the carbon tax, which is thousands of dollars per family.”

 

There will doubtlessly be some fun questions for Senator Kerry during the confirmation process.  With Senators Barrasso and Inhofe on the dais, things could get dicey for the nominee when the time comes to start talking Keystone XL.  Kerry will likely get a pass, though, unless Michael Brune finds out that Teresa Heinz has her money in TransCanada. Reuters (12/17/12) reports: “There is a possibility the U.S. State Department will have a new secretary before the department’s deadline of the end of March for a issuing a decision on the project. Democratic Senator John Kerry, who has long supported taking more action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, is widely expected to be the nominee to replace Hillary Clinton.”

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,

In the Pipeline: 12/17/12

December 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Even the Washington Post thinks the wind PTC should end.  Too bad they blow on the carbon tax. Washington Post (12/15/12) reports: “Some of those who sympathize with the wind subsidy, known as the production tax credit (PTC), say that it represents a second-best approach to supporting green energy. In fact it is not even a third- or fourth-best alternative to a carbon tax. At a cost of $1 billion a year, it offers wind operators a flat tax credit for every kilowatt-hour of electricity they produce. No matter if the grid doesn’t need the electricity at any given moment or if the policy blunts the incentive to reduce costs.”

 

Soot, Lies and Videotape:  Has anybody else noticed that the EPA tends to release these “all benefits, no cost” rules on a Friday afternoon?  You should pay attention to Scott Segal and Jay Timmons on this one.  Unfortunately, they are on the mark. NYTimes (12/14/12) reports: “Scott H. Segal, representing a coalition of coal companies and utilities, wrote to Ms. Jackson, pointing to a 2011 study saying that citing counties for noncompliance ‘increases energy prices, reduces manufacturing productivity and causes local manufacturing companies to exit the areas that are designated as being in nonattainment.’ Six senators, led by Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, wrote Ms. Jackson on Friday expressing concern about the new rule. ‘E.P.A. should not rush at this time toward imposing more regulatory burdens on struggling areas,’ the lawmakers wrote.”

 

EPA expects all but 7-10 counties to reach attainment under currently existing rules “without any additional action”.  At the same time, EPA claims that its new standard will “prevent up to 40,000 premature deaths, 32,000 hospital admissions and 4.7 million days of work lost due to illness”.  How many dead bodies are there currently in those counties?  How busy are their hospitals?  How can any business survive that many sick days?  How can anyone believe anything that comes out of EPA nowadays? Politico (12/15/12) reports: “The finished rule that emerged from the agency Friday is mostly as stringent as the one that EPA submitted for White House review in the summer. That’s a turnaround from the experience of the last couple of years, in which White House pressure forced the EPA to postpone a new rule on smog and placed regulations on toxic coal ash into a deep freeze.”

 

The kisses of an enemy are deceitful, the wounds of a friend are true. Sierra Club (12/14/12) reports: “For all of us at the Sierra Club, Denise Bode has been a brilliant partner, a skilled colleague, and a fearless leader. Her work at AWEA has helped bring clean energy to the forefront of the national conversation and has put the wind industry on track to be a leading energy producer in the country. I am confident that wherever her future endeavors take her, Denise will continue to be a strong advocate for clean energy, and an important ally for environmentalists everywhere.”

 

We’d say this secures a solid spot on Santa’s ‘nice list’ for the year. The Spectator (12/15/12) reports: “No more would I trade in blood diamonds or child pornography than I would accept money in any shape or form from Big Wind. The time is long since past when anyone complicit in this vile, corrupt, mendacious industry — not the lawyers, not the engineers, not the land agents, not the investors — could be unaware of the damage it does: to the landscape, to rural communities, to wildlife, to people’s health, to the economy generally.”

 

Did Richard Windsor thank the staff as well? EPA (12/14/12) reports: “Dear Colleagues: As President Barack Obama’s second term draws near, it is a great time to pause, take stock of the past four years and look to our future at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the President’s continuing leadership. I am immensely proud of the work we have done together and the extraordinary contributions of the EPA’s talented and dedicated work force. We can say with confidence that protection of public health and the environment is stronger today because of our efforts.”

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,

In the Pipeline: 12/14/12

December 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It’s like Dan always says: Let the kids play, ref! IER (12/13/12) reports: “Persuaded by these claims, the Congress enacted the tax credit in 1992 obviously hoping that wind would become self-sufficient and not reliant on the U.S. taxpayer. That has not come to pass and the wind lobby is back in Washington, D.C. with its hand out. The law is fairly simple: it pays wind producers 2.2c per kilowatt hour for their electricity, whether the electricity is necessary or not. In some cases, that is close to the actual wholesale price of electricity. Here are a few claims from the Association’s promotional materials urging Congress to extend the tax credit:”

 

Not surprising that Robert Kennedy doesn’t know anything about electricity.  It is a little surprising that a dude who actually runs an electricity company doesn’t know much about electricity. Watts Up With That? (12/13/12) reports: “Never mind the fact that grid-tied solar power doesn’t work at night when you need it most, never mind the fact that during and after the storm, solar insolation is drastically reduced due to rain and cloudiness, and never mind the fact that all electrical systems, solar or otherwise, are just as susceptible to storm damage as conventional power infrastructure, there is one important point that kills the entire idea… Assuming the solar panels aren’t ripped off the roof by the hurricane/storm, they are of absolutely no use because the grid-tie is broken, and the mandated grid-tie safety features prevent the homeowner from using the inverters to get power locally.”

 

I have no clue why we are in a fiscal ditch.  But part of the explanation has to be that Senators can’t tell the difference between a phaseout and a 50 billion dollar extension. Energy Guardian (12/13/12) reports: “Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, said at the meeting of opposition groups that the phaseout proposal was ‘an admission that the PTC is no longer necessary for the industry to survive.’… He called on Congress to let the PTC expire and called it a test of lawmaker commitment to reducing the national debt. “It’s time to end corporate welfare for wind,” Pyle said.”

 

Jerry Brown and James Hansen together debating on whether the CA cap and trade law or a carbon tax is more suitable towards wrecking the economy. This is a glimpse of the alternative universe. SFGate(12/5/12) reports: “Arguably the best-known climate scientist in America, Hansen trashed cap and trade during a talk Tuesday night at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. The system, in which companies buy and sell permits to produce greenhouse gases, is a ‘half-baked’ and ‘half-assed’ way to deal with global warming, Hansen said… And he made those comments with California Gov. Jerry Brown sitting in the audience.”

 

Remember those tattletale programs that kids can join to rat out “polluters”?  Combine that with a few police raids here and there, and we’re well on our way to the new enviro-fascist world order. Reuters(12/12/12) reports: “Eight policemen wearing dark blue overalls and armed with handguns were stationed in the bank’s lobby and appeared to be coordinating a high-profile search of the glass towers which can house up to 3,000 staff… The officers declined to comment on the exact nature of the raids, which a person working in the building said started at 0915 CET (8:15 a.m. British time)… In October, a financial source familiar with the matter said Deutsche had suspended a handful of employees in connection with an investigation into tax evasion on carbon permits by traders.”

 

Any guesses as to how many birds are killed by wind turbines? Billings Gazette (12/12/12) reports: “A Denver-based energy company admitted to federal misdemeanor charges and was sentenced Wednesday after migratory birds died in oil field ponds operated by one of its subsidiaries, Nance Petroleum Inc. of Billings.”

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,

In the Pipeline: 12/13/12

December 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

How do you like ‘dem apples?: “Hollywood wimps out and makes a formula film.” WSJ (12/12/12) reports: “If you somehow missed the twists and turns, Mr. Damon, who played a genius in “Good Will Hunting” and a master spy in the “Bourne” movies, has pled ignorance of the fact that financing for his movie came partly from Abu Dhabi, which, as the Heritage Foundation puts it, has a “direct financial interest” in fanning opposition to domestic energy development.”

 

Absolutely.  We should definitely hear more about Price Waterhouse’s green practice.  And for sure we should learn about how accountants and economists (like Rachenda Pauchauri) think about global warming. Energy & Commerce (12/11/12) reports: “The recently released PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) fourth annual Low Carbon Economy Index 2012 report “Too late for two degrees?” finds that the world economy must now decarbonize at an unprecedented rate of 5.1% per year to maintain an even chance of limiting warming to 2 [degrees Celsius].”

 

Senator Coburn makes it happen, which makes us happy. Senator Coburn (12/12/12) reports: “Attached is a list of tax earmarks set to expire at the end of the year, that if allowed to do so, could save $18.5 billion without raising tax rates on any hard working Americans. Beyond these expiring tax earmarks, there are plenty of other loopholes and giveaways in that tax code that could be axed, which could reduce the deficit by as much as $100 billion over ten years.”

 

Excellent. National Center for Policy Analysis (12/11/12) reports: “Though I don’t believe we’ll see a bill along the lines proposed passed in this Congress, at least one legislator gets it – he’s on the right track: Republican Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas has called for the end to subsidies for all energy sources.  I have suggested this a number of times, most recently in a critique I provided of former presidential  candidate Romeny’s energy plan.”

 

Deutsche Bank?  Aren’t they the crew with the big global warming office? BBC News (12/12/12) reports: “German prosecutors have raided offices belonging to Deutsche Bank as part of an investigation into a tax evasion scheme involving the trading of carbon permits… The Frankfurt prosecutor’s office said 25 employees of the bank were suspected of serious tax evasion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.”

 

These “people” are vile.  When do you figure national environmental groups are going to say something about these thugs? Independence Institute (12/11/12) reports: “For a community with an “Office of Human Rights” and is home to a university with a multi-million dollar diversity department, Boulder was anything but an atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance of diverse opinions during a December 4 public hearing on land use and hydraulic fracturing… Newspaper (Denver Post, Daily Camera) accounts of what happened that night do not adequately convey how quickly events spiraled out of control, so much so that anti-fracking activists, including children, took over and forced Boulder County Commissioners Cindy Domenico, Deb Gardner, and Will Toor from the room.”

 

Rational, market-based rules?  What a brilliant idea.  But don’t get too excited – these free market dudes think taxpayer funded subsidies are the key to success here. NYTimes (12/12/12) reports: “In Germany, where sensible federal rules have fast-tracked and streamlined the permit process, the costs are considerably lower. It can take as little as eight days to license and install a solar system on a house in Germany. In the United States, depending on your state, the average ranges from 120 to 180 days. More than one million Germans have installed solar panels on their roofs, enough to provide close to 50 percent of the nation’s power, even though Germany averages the same amount of sunlight as Alaska. Australia also has a streamlined permitting process and has solar panels on 10 percent of its homes. Solar photovoltaic power would give America the potential to challenge the utility monopolies, democratize energy generation and transform millions of homes and small businesses into energy generators. Rational, market-based rules could turn every American into an energy entrepreneur.”

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

In the Pipeline: 12/12/12

December 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We realize that taking someone else’s money for your own purposes is always tempting.  Congress should resist. AEA (12/12/12) reports: “The American Energy Alliance joined five other free market groups today in sending a letter to 158 members of the 112th Congress, urging them oppose an extension of the wind Production Tax Credit that would transfer taxpayer dollars from their states to other states that mandate renewable energy. AEA President Thomas Pyle signed the letter, along with Myron Ebell of Freedom Action, Michael Needham of Heritage Action, Phil Kerpen of American Commitment, Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Al Cardenas of the American Conservative Union.”

 

We offer this without comment. Politico (12/11/12) reports: “ExxonMobil said Tuesday that it does not support imposing a carbon tax as a way to raise revenue and help avoid the fiscal cliff — further deflating hopes that the long-shot proposal could find its way into the final deal.”

 

P.T. Barnum was pretty much right on target.  Especially when it comes to this crowd. Politics in the Zeros (12/11/12) reports: “The renewable energy bubble was just another sector to be exploited by financial interests who had had no real interest in the companies themselves. This is made worse by the viciously mercenary renewed interest in natural gas, oil, and fracking, which is also hurting development of grid-scale renewable energy.”

 

“On the cusp of positive cash flow . . .”  You can’t beat that. ALT Energy Stocks (12/11/12) reports: “Even though Blackrock appears to be holding onto its position in Tesla Motors for the time being, it does not mean that smart investors should not question Tesla’s future.  Recently the Wall Street Journal also reported Elon Musk used the Twitter social platform to declare Tesla on the cusp of positive cash flow.  Musk’s interests in Twitter aside, it was a bold statement.  Tesla used $233.1 million in cash to support operations over the twelve months ending September 2012.  For clarity, that is $19.4 million per month on average.  Musk’s declaration might suggest that the situation is improving.”

 

I wonder how long it will take this crew to be on the “cusp of positive cash flow”. Renewable Energy World (12/11/12) reports: “SolarCity Corp., the solar power provider led by billionaire Elon Musk, is betting prospects for clean energy and Musk’s name will help it garner a valuation 19 times the price of peers in an initial public offering.”

 

This is like cutting off a runner’s leg saying: “Look! He can’t run races anymore, we should replace him.” Colorado Springs Independent(11/13/12) reports: “The Sierra Club once again is trying to persuade the community to abandon the city-owned, coal-burning Martin Drake Power Plant, citing a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists.”

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , ,
Previous
Next