Ten years or so ago, when Germany embarked on a trillion-dollar campaign to phase out fossil and nuclear power and replace it with wind, the Greens, the Climate-Change Mafia and the media – along with a whooole lot of Green Energy scammers – applauded like Comintern members at a Stalin speech.
Today? Crickets.
The government plans to cap the total amount of wind energy at 40 to 45 percent of national capacity, according to the report. By 2019, this policy would cause a massive reduction of 6,000 megawatts of wind power capacity compared to the end of 2015’s capacity.
“The domestic market for many [wind turbine] manufacturers collapses completely,” Julia Verlinden, a spokesperson for the German Green Party, told Berliner Zeitung. “With their plan, the federal government is killing the wind companies.” Verlinden goes on to blame the political influence of “old, fossil fuel power plants.”
They can “blame” the fact that “Green energy” is not economically sustainable.
At all.
At some point even the stupidest of politicians and voters discover that the extra money paid for ‘green energy’ could be used to pay for better schools, health care, housing, etc.
Greens and Leftys (PTR) are all about “starting a conversation” and “creating frameworks for change” around Climate Issues. Just like Hillary’s! ‘accomplishments’ and Clinton Foundation Successes (again PTR), it’s all about what Children’s Defense board she sat on or what down trodden group they raised money for themselves on behalf of. Actual achievement in “reduction of X” or “improvement of X” is for suckers. Norman Borlaug was as obscure in death as he was in life – yet he actually achieved something in the area of improving the human condition.
This mook
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/11/473850566/u-s-chief-climate-negotiator-paris-wasnt-the-end-paris-is-the-start
gets all manner of praise for inching forward “by creating a framework” to that ultimate Lefty fantasy – a government so all powerful it can control the weather. Meanwhile, he’s off to GET PAID by ‘consulting’ with connected businesses in the areas of reducing competition and living standards the world round.
The DOE used to have a mandate to produce cheap, plentiful energy for American consumers and industry. That was back in the days when the government thought that making the country wealthy was a high priority.
What priority should the political appointees who direct our armed services place on winning wars versus ‘gender equity’? If you believe that the priories should be equal, you do not understand what the word ‘priority’ means.
Bento, given that the DOE started with the Manhattan project and has been doing renewable energy since 1973, I think that the ordinary observer can be forgiven for forgetting that even a portion of DOE funding has ever been devoted to affordable energy. Don’t you think?
And this debacle? Well, with an annual electricity use of about 540 billion kW-H annually, say 250 billion kW-H from renewables, that $1.1 trillion subsidy ends up as an annualized cost of about 35 cents/kW-H. In other words, Germany’s relatively high cost for electricity (20c/kW-H) is caused almost entirely by windmills.
BG, I once asked my boss what was the list of PRIORITIES out of the over abundance of tasks. His response was, “Everything’s a priority.” I tried explaining that if everything is a priority then nothing is a priority. I then said something like, “Let’s try this again. What is the list of priorities?” The response was, of course, “Everything’s a priority.” I threw my hands up in the air and walked away in disgust. I later learned that he prioritized getting to work (late) over staying at the scene of an car accident he was involved in. It reinforced my earlier conclusion that he was an idiot.
Linked from Insty:
http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2016/04/11/so-i-guess-its-open-season-on-democrat-allies-right-n2145872
I think that this is a fabulous idea. Al Gore talks up AGW, convinces investors that the polar ice caps will melt, soon, snowy winters will be a thing of the past, and so carbon credits will be great business to get into. Al Gore than makes tens of millions by setting up ‘carbon credit’ exchanges. Throw the fraudster’s ass in jail.
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At all.
Not true, Merg, as will all generalizations. There are plenty of instances where wind and solar energy make absolutely perfect sense, like in rural, farm settings at a point of use, like a milk barn or a well. Or cells on top of a residential roof in Houston which is not buried under snow for 8 months of the year. But as part of a grid – not so much.
Dammit, all we needed was just $500 billion more and it all would have worked! We were so close!