Free Republic

Solar electricity is growing, promoted, and most importantly, heavily subsidized. The promoters of solar electricity claim that it is close to being competitive with conventional sources of electricity. That is a fantasy. Solar electricity is expensive and impractical. If it weren't for government subsidies, some explicit and some disguised, the solar industry would collapse. The many claims of competitiveness are always based on ignoring subsidies provided to politically correct renewable power, ignoring the costs associated with unreliability, and ignoring the cost of backup fossil fuel plants. An example of a hidden subsidy is the California Renewable Portfolio Standard that mandates...

HELENA - The owner of a Montana wind farm and one of its investors are suing each other. NaturEner USA filed a lawsuit Friday in Montana's Toole County alleging breach of contract by San Diego Gas and Electric Co. It comes in response to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the California utility asking a San Diego judge to rule that NaturEner did not meet its contractual obligations. The utility says NaturEner failed to meet conditions concerning the preservation of protected birds and bats. NaturEner says the utility agreed to invest $285 million in the 189-megawatt Rim Rock wind farm and...

We have to kill eagles in order to save them. That’s now the official policy of the U.S. Interior Department. On Friday, the agency announced that it would grant some wind-energy companies permits that will allow them to kill or injure bald and golden eagles for up to 30 years without penalty. The move is an unprecedented gift to the wind-energy industry, which has been lobbying for the 30-year permit for several years. Shortly after the deal was announced, the wind-energy lobby issued a statement that would make George Orwell proud. An official with the American Wind Energy Association declared...

Socialism: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro unveiled his big plan for socialism Monday night, just as a blackout engulfed the country. Sure, it's comical. But it's less so upon realizing that California may see the same thing. The downward slide in Caracas is becoming more of a cautionary tale than just a freak show of Stalinist communist throwbacks run wild. In California, energy officials warn that the state and others like it face a catastrophic collapse of its power grid due to the many green energy schemes that have made managing energy flow difficult. "Energy officials worry a lot these days...

Two wind farms in Wyoming, both operated by Duke Energy Corp., are currently under fire regarding the deaths of more than 150 birds between 2009 and 2013. Among the animals killed were at least 14 eagles. It is a crime to kill many of the species without a permit, which no wind energy company has yet pursued. Both the Justice Department and Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating additional bird deaths as part of a continuing investigation. The company pleaded guilty to the charges recently and has agreed to pay a $1 million fine. This marks the first time, despite...

Environmentalism: Forget Navy blue. The U.S. fleet is turning green. That might make the eco-left happy, but it'll be an unnecessary burden for taxpayers with no advantages for the military. Reports tell us that the Navy continues to "invest" in a green-fuels future, paying startups to develop fuels from algae, switchgrass, wood chips, old cooking oil, even household garbage. This program hit the high seas in the summer of 2012, when the Navy launched its Great Green Fleet demonstration. The official line said "alternative fuels, including nuclear power" were to be "used in an operational setting, fueling helicopters and jets...

A California-based solar company backed by several Obama supporters has been receiving millions in federal tax credits while losing $322 million since 2008, raising concerns about the company “becoming the next Solyndra.” Among SolarCity Corp.’s biggest investors is Elon Musk -- the high-profile donor and fundraiser who co-founded PayPal and whose companies SpaceX and electric-car company Tesla Motors have received at least $846 million in loans and startup money from the Obama administration. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, warned about SolarCity’s financial standing in a letter Monday to the Treasury Department. “There is...

The Department of Energy withheld troubling cost and performance data on a major stimulus award from a federal watchdog before the company servicing the award went bankrupt, according to a report released on Tuesday. The report focuses on the department’s handling of a pair of federal awards worth about $126 million for ECOtality, a San Francisco-based green energy company that declared bankruptcy in September. DOE’s inspector general, which authored Tuesday’s report, released an audit in July that expressed concerns about the department’s management of ECOtality’s $100 million stimulus award for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations. The report revealed...

A taxpayer-funded “green” energy company that went bankrupt in July 2012 didn’t just leave behind a legal mess for its creditors – it left behind a mess of contaminated water and toxic carcinogens. Taxpayer Backed Green Energy Firm Takes Millions, Goes Bankrupt and Leaves Behind Toxic Mess Image Source: Associated Press. And its up to the owners of Abound Solar’s deserted 37,000 square foot facility to clean up the broken glass and hazardous wastes.

Well, this is awkward. An auction in Colorado for the right to build solar energy plants produced no bids, according to the Denver Post. "We are going to have to regroup and figure out what didn't work," Maryanne Kurtinaitis, renewable energy program manager for the federal Bureau of Land Management’s Colorado office told the Post. But Ken Borngrebe, environmental permitting manager for First Solar, said the problem likely had to do with market uncertainties surrounding solar projects. "It may come down to the lack of confidence in the market for solar today," Borngrebe said. The problems for solar energy stem...

According to a new study conducted by Texas Tech University Professor Dr. Michael Giberson for the Institute for Energy Research, the government and wind lobby aren't telling taxpayers the whole truth about how much wind energy really costs. The study comes as the wind lobby is set to receive another extension on massive subsidies with little results to show for it. "As Big Wind's lobbyists fight tooth and nail to extend the wind Production Tax Credit, it is important that we look at the true costs of wind power to taxpayers and ratepayers," IER President Thomas Pyle said about...

Renewable energy is blamed for jeopardizing Europe’s energy security this winter, a new study has found. EurActiv France reports. The French multinational company Cap Gemini warned in their European Observatory of Energy Markets that energy security in Europe was under threat and that the region could soon be exposed to massive power outages during the winter, due to a lack of production capacity. They blame wind turbines. …

The Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced decision to, in effect, ban the construction of traditional coal-fired power plants in the United States is a non-solution to a hypothetical problem, enacted upon a legal basis that is shaky and an economic basis that is nonexistent. The cost-benefit analysis is almost entirely one-sided: The costs will be very high, and the benefits the EPA hopes to secure will remain out of reach. The EPA is demanding that new U.S. plants that will use coal to generate electricity must meet standards that today are met by no commercial coal-fired plant operating anywhere in...

The Connecticut legislature extended the two-year ban on wind turbines, striking down regulations that would have allowed for the construction of the renewable energy projects. The legislature's Regulation Review Committee on Tuesday voted 10-3 to reject the proposed wind regulations by the Connecticut Siting Council. The members were concerned about who would dismantle the structures if the owners ever went out of business. This is the third rejections of the proposed regulations since the state placed a moratorium on wind turbine development in 2011. It also marks the first rejection since June, when the legislature passed a comprehensive energy strategy...

A former top White House official and the head of President Obama’s personal advocacy group is joining the board of a green energy company backed by a major Democratic donor that recently received millions in federal contracts. LanzaTech announced Wednesday that Jim Messina, Obama’s former deputy chief of staff, reelection campaign manager, and the head of his retooled campaign apparatus Organizing for Action was appointed to the company’s board of directors. “Jim’s proven ability to merge technology, messaging, and communications in support of ideas that transcend ‘business as usual’ will help us continue our mission of reshaping how our world...

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- How do you invest if you believe man-made global warming is about to decimate the planet? And how do you invest if you think that's a lot of hooey? Most would say those who deny global warming should first bet on coal, oil and gas, but that's no way to make money. If you think your thesis is right, you bet on stocks that go against the other way of thinking. So if you accept the scientific consensus that glaciers are melting, temperatures are warming and we're heading over the environmental cliff, you look to sectors...

The outgoing government in Norway has buried much-vaunted plans to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground amid mounting costs and delays. The oil and energy ministry said the development of full-scale carbon dioxide capture at Mongstad oil refinery had been discontinued. It said it remained committed to research into carbon capture. When the Labour Party presented the plan in 2007, it was hailed as Norway's equivalent of a "Moon landing". Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his allies lost a general election to conservatives and centrists this month, and are due to step down shortly. Mongstad had already run into...

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe said in 2009 he "never want[s] another coal plant built,” but in the meantime, he hasn't been above taking money gained through coal investment for his campaign. Tom Steyer, a California-based financier and one of McAuliffe’s wealthiest out-of-state supporters, told his advisers in August to launch climate change television ads via his group, NextGen Climate Action Committee, in Virginia to help turn out the vote for McAuliffe, Politico reported in August. Steyer (pictured, left) said, “I would say there’s a very clear choice on this topic between these two candidates, and I think the citizens...

Many Europeans complain about their high energy costs, largely due to their increasing dependence on renewables — the most costly energy sources. ... This is killing European economies. Electricity costs in Europe are more than double the cost of electricity in the U.S. High electricity costs make it difficult for businesses to operate if they need a lot of electricity.

After the Department of Energy announced this week ithad given up on not-bankrupt-but-should-be Fisker Automotive, and will auction off its loan for a pittance, you’d think (and hope) Congress would have had enough of this kind of thing. Senator John Thune certainly has. “The Obama administration has gotten into the business of picking winners and losers at a significant cost to taxpayers,” said the South Dakota Republican yesterday. “I’m calling for the Senate to consider my amendment to eliminate the wasteful ATVM loan program and for my colleagues to join me in protecting taxpayer dollars from any future risky green...