Simply a transfer of money from pockets of taxpayers and ratepayers to "green" investors like al-Gore and friends.
Of course, wait till they start redefining "renewable" the same way they kept redefining the goalposts of "success in Iraq" and Global Warming into climate change.
May I suggest one perfectly "renewable" resource - whale blubber oil? Due to advances in technology we don;t have to kill whales to get it, just do a "harpooned liposuction" from tankers right in the ocean...
Of course, problem with all these projects, like biofuels, wind, solar etc., is a little thing called "scalability", but we can think of this later, after getting grant money or even forgoing research altogether and getting Congress convinced to subsidize the "project" on grand, national scale for maximum financial "effect".
The state is willing to approve utility rate increases. It is willing to subsidize capital through municipal bonds. The problem occurs in determining a "reasonable return" on capital expenditures for infrastructure.
A few decades ago during Carter's inflation (think California here, that's what I am familiar with), the state demanded utilities expand to service new populations but denied them a competitive return on capital expenditures. How can the Public Utilities Commission increase rates enough, morally, to guarantee 25% return on the cost to build gas and power lines, generating plants, etc. to keep pace with 18% inflation plus a decent profit?
Utilities had a dilema, ask investors to buy utility bonds paying 8% interest when inflation is 15% and Treasuries are paying 18%, or use its availabe capital to diversify into areas where they had no expertise.
This is what led to utility hedges, Enrons and the like. Utilities divesting production from transmission. Utilities buying sporting goods and drug store companies. And going broke. Because the state refused a competitive return on investment yet required capital expenditures.
Now we see the same thing with alternative fuels.
If the state is going to mandate and subsidize something, private industry will capitalize on it before any benefit is seen by a taxpayer. Ask corn farmers. Ask Al Gore.
yitbos