Free Republic

In 2014, American households saw the largest electricity price increases in 6 years, according to government data, as utilities are forced to use more green energy and invest in energy efficiency and grid improvements. Energy Information Administration data shows that U.S. residential electricity prices “experienced large increases in retail electricity prices during 2014, with the average U.S. residential price increasing 3.1% over the previous year.” Last year’s price increase was the highest of any year since 2008 when prices rose 5.7 percent. “Residential electricity rate increases during 2014 ranged from 1.3% in the Pacific Coast states to 9.9% in New...

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid helped steer billions of federal tax dollars to companies supporting a green energy group run by two of his former staff members and a current campaign operative.The Nevada Democrat pushed for millions of dollars in grants and billions more in federal loan guarantees for corporations that donated to the Clean Energy Project, a nonprofit founded by a pair of former staffers with close ties to both Reid and to a major Democratic PAC associated with the senator, Lachlan Markay of the Washington Free Beacon reported.One such company, California-based Fulcrum Bioenergy, received a hefty federal grant...

A former top White House official and the head of President Barack 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...

A solar-power project set to open next month in Nevada has fried 130 birds during tests and will soon join another solar farm in California in avian incineration. If as many birds being burned by solar power farms built in the U.S. were to wash up on our beaches soaked in crude oil from a leaking offshore well, the outrage would be deafening. But as with the wind turbines that now cover acre upon acre of former "pristine" countryside, what amount to avian Cuisinarts slicing and dicing everything that flies, including endangered species, only the crickets are chirping. House Minority...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Just hours after Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber announced his decision to resign, a subpoena arrived in a state office building confirming that federal agents are looking into the influence-peddling scandal that led to the abrupt end of a four-decade political career. The Democratic governor gave in to mounting pressure Friday, abandoning his office amid suspicions that his live-in fiancée used her relationship with him to land contracts for her green-energy consulting business. His resignation, which takes effect Wednesday, cleared the way for Secretary of State Kate Brown to assume Oregon's highest office and become the nation's...

Renewables, are not just inefficient, unnecessary, and deadly to wildlife, but they were also a disaster of planning and management. The list of dollars and euros destroyed in the Glorious Renewables Quest has gone “nuclear”. The World Economic Forum estimates $100 billion Euro has been wasted, but its even worse than it looks. I had to read their opening sentence twice. I thought it read “European countries could have saved approximately $100 billion if each country had invested in the most efficient energy source.” I was thinking they could have saved that sort of money by using coal instead of...

Oregon’s top Democrats urged Gov. John Kitzhaber to resign Thursday, saying he cannot lead the state effectively amid a growing ethics scandal involving his fiancée, a green-energy consultant accused of using her relationship with the governor to land contracts for her business. Senate President Peter Courtney said he and House Speaker Tina Kotek asked Kitzhaber, a Democrat who recently started his fourth term, to step down. “I finally said, ‘This has got to stop,’” Courtney told reporters after he and Kotek met with the governor. “I don’t know what else to do right now. It seems to be escalating. It...

One of the nation’s largest solar projects was dedicated Monday in the Riverside County desert, as California rushes to expand its use of green power to meet the state’s renewable energy requirements. The dedication of the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm comes about a month after Gov. Jerry Brown called on the state to increase renewable electricity use to 50 percent by 2030, up from the current goal of 33 percent by 2020. […] The plant, which uses photovoltaic panels, is expected to produce enough power for about 160,000 homes. Constructed on about 4,000 acres of federal land, it is owned...

In 2009, Ventower Industries issued a press release with the headline, “Another ARRA Success Story – New Funds Mean More Jobs in Monroe.” The news was that Ventower, which was supposed to make wind turbine towers and bases, had been given $2.5 million by the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or the "stimulus" package. U.S. Congressmen John Dingell called it a “watershed moment.” In 2010, the News Herald newspaper in Southgate called Ventower Industries “another successful project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” because it had received a $2.3 million grant and $1.2 million...

On paper, the pitch was simple: A green energy company backed by $217 million in U.S. government loans would convert one of Africa’s poorest countries into the world’s first biomass-driven economy. But the plan to help Liberia collapsed amid questionable business decisions and oversight. The company, Buchanan Renewables, dismissed 600 workers and left the country amid complaints of workplace injuries, environmental harm and, at times, sexual abuse. Backing the company at every stage was the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a federal agency with a global mandate but low profile. The agency approves more than $3 billion a year in financing,...

Trudeau's Promises: Like the numerous wind turbines sucking wealth from Ontarians’ pockets these promises of easy wealth, like smoke, will dissipate into nothingness Pierre Trudeau’s son has attempted to put the shine back on the Liberal fire engine by holding a two-day retreat in southwestern Ontario, a part of the province that in recent years has lost a spate of manufacturing jobs. The Liberals are hoping to highlight the Harper Conservatives’ poor stewardship of the Canadian economy by focusing on Ontario’s rust belt. Kathleen Wynne replaced McGuinty, and continues to run the Liberal Party/Public Sector Union oligopoly Good luck with...

Solar panels are being installed on the roofs of homes and businesses all across America at a record pace. The fad is the latest way for families to "go green" — the energy equivalent of blue recycling bins. The Solar Energy Industries Association likes to tout the industry's "amazing success" — but it's holding a "Shout Out For Solar" social media event Friday as it sees an "uncertain future." That's because its continued success depends on a cascade of government subsidies, including a 30% federal investment credit that expires at the end of 2016. Guess what? Taxpayers are paying for...

The fiscal impact of the ethanol mandate is huge — Michaels estimated it totals “billions, easily” in direct and indirect money — but it has come under attack by liberals as well as conservatives and appears to have lost some of its clout on Capitol Hill. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency — which administers the Renewable Fuel Standard — is considering a cut to the amount of ethanol blended into the nation’s gasoline supply. ... a growing number of environmentalists want the ethanol requirement eliminated, too. ... In 2007, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law...

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Nissan Leaf owner Will Price of Eugene doesn't need the network of government-provided electric vehicle charging stations that were installed for motorists like him. Price drives 14 miles to and from work, which is easily within his electric car's 70-mile range, so he ignores the publicly accessible fast-charging units scattered around Eugene-Springfield. "I never use them," Price said of the public chargers. "They are of no consequence to me."

In a new study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences University of Minnesota researchers report in various scenarios that vehicles using alternative fuels are often more harmful to human health than are conventional gasoline-powered automobiles. From the abstract: We find that powering vehicles with corn ethanol or with coal-based or “grid average” electricity increases monetized environmental health impacts by 80% or more relative to using conventional gasoline. PNAS The AP reported: "It's kind of hard to beat gasoline" for public and environmental health, said study co-author Julian Marshall, an engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. "A...

Peru has vowed to prosecute Greenpeace activists after they allegedly damaged the world-famous Nazca lines during an environmental publicity stunt. Activists from the group unfurled cloth letters spelling out a green energy slogan at the millennia-old site on Monday, adjacent to where the figure of a hummingbird is etched into the ground. Peru has said the activists damaged the ground by leaving footprints, which could last for thousands of years. “It’s a true slap in the face at everything Peruvians consider sacred,” Luis Jaime Castillo, the deputy culture minister, said. In a statement, the Peruvian culture ministry said: "After the...

Google is literally and figuratively pulling the plug on its investment in renewable energy because the technology doesn't work. Will its flop persuade the feds to stop dumping billions down this rat hole? Back in 2007 Google commanded star-spangled headlines with its new high-tech venture to go all in on the next big thing in technology: green renewable energy. The tech giant was saluted as a good corporate citizen for its initiative to help combat global warming. In launching the project, company executives boasted they would prove that wind and solar power were not just good for the environment, but...

So much for momentum on climate change. Reality bites. Without nuclear power, Japans emissions have hit a new record high. At the same time, even with 17% of its energy from Nuclear power, and with 23,000 wind turbines, Germany stands no chance of reaching its emissions targets. The rich, technologically advanced nation that has spent more than any other on green energy admits they’ve failed. Those who want to stop producing CO2 have billions of dollars to spend on advertising and pointless windmills, but in the end, chemistry and physics can’t be bought. If renewables could provide cheap reliable power,...

Audi Announces It’s ‘Mastered’ Hydrogen, Unveils First Fuel Cell Vehicle Giuseppe Macri 3:23 PM 11/19/2014 13 13         Audi announced it has mastered hydrogen fuel cell technology at the LA Auto Show Wednesday, where the company unveiled its new sustainable model — the A7 Sportback h-tron quattro.The German auto giant’s new entry into the plug-in hybrid market features a hydrogen fuel cell and twin electric motor drivetrain in the front and rear of the vehicle, which can carry the car some 341 miles between three-minute refuelings. The electric battery alone can carry the car about 31 miles on...

The US Department of Energy loans guarantee programme has made more from interest payments than it lost on failed companies such as Solyndra. Figures released by the department this week show it is on track to make more than US$5 billion profit by the time it closes with US$810 million it has received to date, exceeding the US$780 million in losses from companies that defaulted.