Posted on 03/10/2011 3:29:18 PM PST by Scottmkiv
Various Democratic politicians and sundry environmentalists have promised us that alternative energy and "green industry" can revive our economy.
In June of last year, President Obama said, "the transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of jobs."
Kentucky Rep Ben Chandler says the ACES clean energy bill, "is not just about our environment, but it is about the future the future of our economy, the future of our jobs."
The "Center of American Progress" claims, "a new Green Recovery program that spends $100 billion over two years would create 2 million new jobs."
The only problem with this idea is that it just isn't true. You see, alternative energy doesn't really produce....energy. It certainly doesn't do it efficiently enough to be profitable, even after extreme government handouts are taken into account.
(Excerpt) Read more at rationalpublicradio.com ...
I’m torn on this one. We need independence from foreign oil sources, and our domestic sources of hydrocarbons have difficulties (e.g. burgess shale = expensive and difficult to frac, the reserve is probably recoverable BUT high production rates will probably never be achieved [that only means the resource will last our children longer, no bad thing]. deep water oil = extremely expensive, many years from discovery to production, etc.)
Wind power I don’t believe in, but solar-thermal (NOT photovaltaic) & geothermal are economic now, I’ve read, but have difficulties with investment and government red tape. I think these industries really need some tax breaks rather than subsidies, that is the way to stimulate private enterprise.
Here’s what you can believe in:
We have more recoverable coal than any other nation on earth, plentiful water resources, and plenty of good engineering and chemical know-how.
The long term plan should be to build nuclear power plants like mad, converting all of our electrical power generation to nukes. Include as part of the program recycling/reprocessing spent fuel rods (which will substantially cut down on the “waste” product) and also develop Thorium reactors.
For petrochemicals and transportation, we liquify our coal and make synthetic oil. Like the Germans did to run their war machine, only now, we ought to be able to do it much more efficiently.
With a strong commitment to this program, we would be completely self-sufficient in 20 years, and remain so forever.
If it costs more for "green" energy, then the relatively few jobs you create in the "green" energy sector will more than be offset by the waves of layoffs in the rest of the economy that has to pay the increased price of "green" energy.
Hey, it's almost St. Patty's day. Maybe we should all just go around and paint all of our incandescent light bulbs green!
Green jobs are a fantasy in much the same way as global warming is a liberal wet dream.
The only reason there are any green jobs at all is because they are subsidized by the government rather than the free market.
Ethanol subsidies should be defunded immediately.
What is needed is a “drill baby drill” approach which means leasing more oil refineries, allow all states to vote on drilling within their state and off shore and also leasing more nuclear power plants.
I also think we should find a way to recycle nuclear waste so that it does not have to be stored indefinitely. It seems to me that nuclear waste could be synthesized much the same way that desalinization is used to make seawater available for drinking. These ideas should be researched and privately funded because I think they hold hope for our future.
Does green energy work to boost an economy? Look to Spain, my friends, just look at Spain.
You don’t really believe the ecology nuts will let you install the large photovoltaic panels and tap the geothermal resources do you? Already they are filing lawsuits to stop all of those things.
****Various Democratic politicians and sundry environmentalists have promised us that alternative energy and “green industry” can revive our economy. ****
Just like Mao’s GREAT LEAP FORWARD back in the 1950s. It was a disaster!
Exactly, they hate any energy source which actually works. They only support “alternative energy” as long as it doesn’t.
And if the left had allowed us to follow this type of strategy 20+ years ago, we would be sitting pretty.
The left has always sought to destroy us from within. They have just about succeeded. Without the plentiful and affordable energy we have historically enjoyed here, our economy dies.
It is too late to do what you say and have it begin to help for at least 5 years on a major scale. And that would be true only if we hit it hard starting NOW, which will not happen. We are so screwed. We haven't seen the worst of this yet.
Don't be torn on this one.
The "green economy" will never create millions of jobs as long as it is heavily subsidized by the Feds.
Read about the company Solyndra if you want an eye-opener. See my blog about it at defenseconnections.blogspot.com
T Boone Pickens had the best solution to energy independence, several years ago. Start drilling again in the USA but immediately begin a transition to replacing refined gasoline with natural gas in cars. It's a fairly easy transition and the USA has no shortage of natural gas; there will need to be some infrastructure upgrades (pipelines, engines, etc.) and THAT is something the Feds can subsidize.
The green economy will never make millions of jobs, until solar and wind become radically cheaper than oil and natural gas.
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