So, wind power is nearly $2/watt installed. (Not including maintenance.)
The new wind projects account for about 30% of the entire new power-producing capacity added nationally in 2007
Please remember to thank a greenie for prohibiting the production of most real power plants.
and will power the equivalent of 1.5 million American households annually
Why, that's just $6000 per household, only a few times more than buying each one a small diesel generator.
“This remarkable and accelerating growth is driven by strong demand, favorable economics, and a period of welcome relief from the on-again, off-again, boom-and-bust, cycle of the federal production tax credit (PTC) for wind power.”
In other words, it can't be done without subsidies.
“But the PTC and tax incentives for other renewable energy sources are now in danger of lapsing at the end of this year—and at the worst moment for the U.S economy,” added Swisher. “The U.S. wind industry calls on Congress and the President to quickly extend the PTC—the only existing U.S. incentive for wind power—in order to sustain this remarkable growth along with the manufacturing jobs, fresh economic opportunities, and reduction of global warming pollution that it provides.”
Hey dude, if it were a net economic benefit, you wouldn't need coercive and involuntary subsidies. The money that fills your trough comes away from things people would rather spend their money on, which is to say, would provide greater economic benefit to them if they could only choose to spend it that way.
Let's be fair in stating that the PTC is a tax credit. These aren't checks being handed out. This is tax credit of 1.9 cents per kwh -- simply money the govt is not collecting, which is fine with me. I'd rather the money stay in the hands of private developers and manufacturers than go to DC. And although coal and nukes are critically important and I support both, let's not fool ourselves into thinking those industries don't get MUCH more government benefits than wind energy. (How about multi-billion dollar govt insurance guarantees for nuke plants for starters)
Excellent point (along with your other observations).
Just follow the money, and the "green power" is a joke; simply costing taxpayers subsidy money to bring power to certain areas where the landscape becomes a propeller nightmare, and the cost to produce semi-reliable power is five or six times the cost of similar "old" technology like Nuclear power.
Between carbon trade/cap futures, alternative energy "solutions", etc., we are being duped into taxpayer oblivion....
This is just sad. They just completed a huge highly enriched uranium storage facility over here in Oak Ridge. Most of the uranium came dismantled weapons from the former Russian states and the US. It's not too hard to down blend the enriched uranium into fuel for power plants rather than spending $Billions to store it.
Nuclear is the only proven technology we could use to rapidly decrease our dependence on oil and avoid eventual energy rationing and/or sharp decreases in standards of living.