"Here is the scam. The Arizona Legislature is mandating that the state’s power companies generate 15% of their power from renewable sources by 2025 (never mind for the moment that this will never happen once the consumer sees the price for being green). Now one of the power companies already generates 3% of its power from the hydro system we discussed and the environmental lobby feels like that gives it a head start on meeting its goal. Ergo, hydropower should be defined as a non-renewable resource. Go figure. You do the right thing and they don’t even say thanks. They just pile on a bit more.
I don’t want to get into a debate or write a rant about the whole global warming mania but this sort of logic shows how much this whole issue is about politics and power and how little it is about truly doing something about CO2...Whether or not a small utility in Arizona needs to up its commitment to renewable energy sources by 3% because it already gets 3% of its power from renewables will not make a bit of difference to the planet’s atmosphere. It will contribute mightily to the sense of cynicism the larger debate in engendering."
Showing posts with label Mandates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mandates. Show all posts
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Hungry Like The Ethanol Wolf
From the Editors on Ethanol on The National Review Online:
The federal government can do something right now to provide relief to Americans facing higher food prices: Repeal the ethanol mandate.
The diversion of one-third of the American corn crop into ethanol production is a direct result of the 2005 law that required gasoline makers to buy 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol — a mandate that the 2007 energy bill President Bush signed in December increases to 36 billion gallons by 2022.We realize that a repeal is highly unlikely, given that the machinery of government is currently calibrated to move in the opposite direction on biofuels, but as food prices keep going up, pro-ethanol politicians will find it increasingly difficult to justify their position. Food riots in developing countries are becoming more frequent. Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club has started limiting sales of rice because immigrants are buying all the rice they can and sending it to relatives in countries suffering from food shortages. In the U.S., the Labor Department reported this month that the price of bread is up 14.7 percent from last year. Milk prices are up 13.3 percent.
More insight from the article in the National Review:
* Congress has created an artificial demand for ethanol to satisfy the farm lobby, which is one of the most powerful in Washington.
* John McCain somehow made it through the early primary gauntlet without going back on his long-held opposition to ethanol subsidies. To be sure, he took a lower profile on the issue and made some comments about how ethanol "makes sense" now that oil prices are so high, but when questioned about these pro-ethanol comments he reiterated his opposition to the federal government’s meddling in the market.
The federal government can do something right now to provide relief to Americans facing higher food prices: Repeal the ethanol mandate.
The diversion of one-third of the American corn crop into ethanol production is a direct result of the 2005 law that required gasoline makers to buy 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol — a mandate that the 2007 energy bill President Bush signed in December increases to 36 billion gallons by 2022.We realize that a repeal is highly unlikely, given that the machinery of government is currently calibrated to move in the opposite direction on biofuels, but as food prices keep going up, pro-ethanol politicians will find it increasingly difficult to justify their position. Food riots in developing countries are becoming more frequent. Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club has started limiting sales of rice because immigrants are buying all the rice they can and sending it to relatives in countries suffering from food shortages. In the U.S., the Labor Department reported this month that the price of bread is up 14.7 percent from last year. Milk prices are up 13.3 percent.
More insight from the article in the National Review:
* Congress has created an artificial demand for ethanol to satisfy the farm lobby, which is one of the most powerful in Washington.
* John McCain somehow made it through the early primary gauntlet without going back on his long-held opposition to ethanol subsidies. To be sure, he took a lower profile on the issue and made some comments about how ethanol "makes sense" now that oil prices are so high, but when questioned about these pro-ethanol comments he reiterated his opposition to the federal government’s meddling in the market.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Who knew a “free” source of energy could be so expensive?
Arizona Beware! Tales from Texas tell of trouble! From the blog Planet Gore on National Review Online:
"Robust wind power expansion is expected, as Texas’ Senate Bill 20 (2005) mandated 5,880 MW of renewable energy by 2015 and set a 10,000-MW target for 2025. (There was a similar bill sponsored this year in Arizona.)
To this end, $700 million went into new wind Texas farms in January, thanks in part to government subsidies. In addition to generous federal assistance — namely a 2 cents/kWh production tax credit and five-year, double-declining balance accelerated depreciation for wind-generating equipment — the state of Texas entices wind developers with
- a franchise tax exemption to manufacturers, sellers, or installers of wind devices;
- a corporate deduction from the state’s franchise tax for renewable energy sources;
- and a 100-percent property tax exemption on the appraised value of an on-site wind power generating device.
But even with these federal and state subsidies, electricity from wind is more expensive per kilowatt-hour than that generated by fossil fuels."
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