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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (36412)	8/19/2009 12:58:15 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

ALL major forms of energy production receive 'subsidies' and tax preferences of one sort or another. Per unit of energy produced the subsidies for fossil fuels are dwarfed by the subsidies for wind and solar. The net subsidy for oil is almost certainly negative, because even though subsidies and tax breaks are received, they are less than the taxes on refined products. Conventional coal doesn't get much in the way of subsidy (but "refined coal", research in to "clean coal", or coal gasification etc. gets a lot) -------- Federal Taxpayer Subsidies as a Percent of Total Spending (on each particular form of energy) Oil and gas 0.5% Coal 6.9% <which is mostly on "refined coal", which at the moment produces fairly little energy, conventional coal isn't heavily subsidized> Hydroelectric 0.5% Biomass 0.4% Geothermal 0.5% Wind 11.6% Solar 12.3% window.state.tx.us -------- "For 31 years, the federal government has subsidized new wind and solar projects. A tax break that provides up to 30 cents on every dollar it costs to build solar facilities and one for operating wind turbines are set to expire this year. The Senate last week voted to renew them. Now, proponents are pressing the House, which passed a stand-alone tax package with similar extensions, to do the same. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) sponsored the renewable energy tax incentives as an amendment to a housing bill last week. The measure provides up to $500 for consumers to install energy-efficient products in their homes and extends a production tax credit for electricity produced from wind, solar and other renewable sources. Businesses that manufacture and install solar or photovoltaic fuel cells would get a 30 percent investment tax credit." washingtonpost.com -------- Wind Power Still in the Red: Growing, Growing, Gone. While the price of wind power has fallen, it still costs more than spot market electric power (3.5 to 4 cents kwh). The price gap between wind power and conventional power plants is actually greater, since wind power is directly subsidized by the federal government several state governments. Wind farms are being built in the U.S. primarily for 5 key reasons: a) wind power is subsidized by the federal government through a production tax credit of 1.8 cents per kwh (this tax credit enables wind farm owners to avoid over $100 million in federal income taxes in 2002 - an amount which grows each year as the number of wind farms grow); b) Wind power plants also get accelerated depreciation, allowing owners to write off their costs in five years rather than the usual 20 (this permits wind farm owners to shelter over $500 million in 2002 income from federal taxes); c) state subsidies such as the $0.01 per kwh tax credit in New Mexico; d) green energy mandates or renewable portfolio standards - 19 states require distribution utilities provide some energy from "green" or renewable energy producers, 25 states permit utilities to charge premium prices for renewable energy to customers who chose to take such energy (so far fewer than 2 percent of customers offered this opportunity vote with their dollars and take advantage of the service), since the amount charged doesn't reflect the true cost of getting green energy to market (green energy's share of new transmission lines is not captured when wind farms are proposed) those who don't choose green energy still pick up some of the costs; e) Public relations - providing a portion of the utilities electricity from renewable sources to show environmental concern . These subsidies, and green power mandates account for most and perhaps all of the recent growth in wind power. Indeed, evidence of how critical just one of these reasons is to the "success" of wind farms, when 1.8 cent kwh tax credit lapsed in 2003: California's Clipper Windpower abandoned already approved plans to build 67 windmills in Maryland. As of January 8, 2004, orders for wind towers from the builder Beaird Industries ground to a halt, costing the company 200 jobs. Vestas Wind Technologies shelved plans to build a manufacturing plant in Portland, Oregon. More than 1,000 megawatts of wind power that would have been added in 2004 with the tax in place The American Wind Energy Association estimates that the expiration of the tax credit cost the grid. Green Power Equals Low Power Blight. Wind power's environmental benefits are usually overstated, while its significant environmental harms are often ignored. Promised air pollution improvements have failed to materialize. Wind farms generate power only when the wind is blowing within a certain range of speed. When there is too little wind, wind towers don't generate power; but when the wind is too strong, they must be shut down for fear of being blown down. Even when they function properly, wind farms average output is less than 30 percent of their theoretical capacity compared to 85 to 95 percent for combined-cycle gas fired plants. Because of intermittency problems, wind farms need conventional power plants to supplement the power they do supply. Bringing a conventional power plant on line to supply power is not as simple as turning on a switch; therefore most "redundant" fossil fuel power stations must run, even if at reduced levels, continuously. Accordingly, very little fossil-fired electricity will be displaced and few emissions will be avoided because fossil-fueled units (operating at less than their peak capacity and efficiency or operating in "spinning reserve" mode - which means they are emitting more pollution per energy produced than if operating at peak efficiency, imagine a car idling near train tracks in case the power goes out) must be kept immediately available to supply electricity when the output from wind turbines drop because wind speed slows or falls below minimums required to power the turbines. Kilowatt-hours produced by wind turbines cannot be assumed displace the emissions associated with an equal number of kWh from fossil-fueled generating units. Combined with the pollutants emitted and CO2 released in the manufacture and maintenance of wind towers and their associated infrastructure, substituting wind power for fossil fuels does not improve air quality very much. ncpa.org