{"id":399460,"date":"2010-03-07T07:01:09","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T12:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/?p=32233"},"modified":"2010-03-07T07:01:09","modified_gmt":"2010-03-07T12:01:09","slug":"blowing-wind-up-your-skirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/399460","title":{"rendered":"Blowing Wind Up Your Skirt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Alan Caruba\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the keystones of the Obama administration\u2019s energy policies has been a very expensive emphasis on \u201cclean energy\u201d, sometimes called \u201crenewable energy\u201d, allocating billions to the wind and solar energy producers. Like much of the \u201cstimulus\u201d bill that money is a waste.<\/p>\n

The wind power trade group, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has been pouring big bucks into a public relations effort to convince Americans that wind is the energy source of the future and that acres of wind turbines should be installed to replace the proven sources, primarily coal-fired, natural gas, and nuclear plants currently providing more than 80% of the nation\u2019s electricity needs.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Freedom of Information requests, the Chicago Tribune revealed significant collusion among Department of Energy officials and AWEA, as well as other third-party special interest groups such as the Center for American Progress, a think tank that pushes Green and other liberal agendas.
\n<\/span>
\nThe Tribune reported that an Assistant Secretary of Energy, Cathy Zoi, who formerly held top positions at Al Gore\u2019s Alliance for Climate Protection, was charged with crafting renewable energy policy for the Obama administration and emails obtained revealed that she was working closely with AWEA to rebut and discredit a ground-breaking study by Dr. Gabriel Calzada of Madrid\u2019s King Juan Carlos University.<\/p>\n

Dr. Calzada\u2019s research concluded that, for every \u201cgreen job\u201d the Spanish government created, 2.2 jobs were destroyed and that nine out of ten government-created \u201cgreen jobs\u201d were temporary at a time when Spain\u2019s unemployment rate is at an all-time high, not unlike the situation in the U.S.<\/p>\n

At the time that Dr. Calzada\u2019s study was reported, the Obama administration was pushing \u201cCap-and-Trade\u201d legislation through the House. This legislation would set up a system for the sale, auction, and trade of \u201ccarbon credits\u201d based on the totally discredited assertion that \u201cgreenhouse gases\u201d, primarily carbon dioxide, were \u201ccausing\u201d global warming. The bill remains in the Senate awaiting a vote.<\/p>\n

Back in January AWEA was ecstatic over an Obama administration award of $2.3 billion<\/em> in \u201cclean energy manufacturing tax credits and the President\u2019s call for an additional $5 billion.\u201d There is no economic or scientific justification for the waste of taxpayer dollars in this fashion.<\/p>\n

Also in January, a Boston Herald article by Jay Fitzgerald revealed that \u201cNational Grid customers will experience sticker shock after the giant utility negotiates a long-term electric contract with Cape Wind developers, energy experts warn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rhode Island deal calls for National Grid to pay an eye-popping 24 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity from Deepwater Wind\u2019s proposed wind farm off Block Island for 20 years. That\u2019s three times higher than the current price of natural-gas generated electricity\u2014and the Rhode Island deal includes a 3.5 percent annual increase over the life of the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, in February eleven wind turbines froze because their hydraulic fluid had turned to gel and oil lubricants were rendered sluggish. These kinds of problems do not occur in other sources of electricity. In Oregon, General Electric had announced a big wind project involving 338 wind turbines that it claimed would power 235,000 homes. Naturally, it was applying for federal subsidies.<\/p>\n

In Great Britain, in January, its wind turbines representing six percent of total generating capacity and billions invested, supplied virtually no power most days because, as Dennis T. Avery, a former senior policy analyst for the U.S. State Department noted \u201cThe wind tends not to blow when and where it\u2019s already cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avery pointed out that neither Denmark, nor Germany, leaders in wind energy projects, has decommissioned any fossil fuel plants. \u201cThe fossil generators are kept in \u2018spinning reserve\u2019 to keep the lights on in the schools, factories, and hospitals when the wind dies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wind and solar energy industries, as well as the biofuels industry, continue to depend on government subsidies to exist, as opposed to private enterprises that have a long track record of providing affordable electricity.<\/p>\n

First the government gives the wind energy producers your money and then you end up paying higher energy bills as a result. Both wind and solar energy depend on government mandates for their use. If cap-and-trade is enacted, you will be further taxed for its use.<\/p>\n

These are facts you need to keep in mind every time President Obama speaks of \u201cclean energy\u201d and \u201cgreen jobs.\u201d Like so much else one hears from the TelePrompter-in-Chief, it has no relation to the truth.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: For more information about wind power, visit http:\/\/windpowerfacts.info<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(c) Alan Caruba, 2010<\/p>\n

Alan Caruba<\/a> writes a daily post at Warning Signs<\/a>. A business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read more thought provoking articles at Warning Signs<\/a><\/p>\n

Filed under: 111th Congress<\/a>, America (USA)<\/a>, Barry Soetoro (aka Barack Hussein Obama)<\/a>, Blundering Bureaucrats<\/a>, Climate Alarmists<\/a>, Climate Change<\/a>, Conniving Politicians<\/a>, Democrats<\/a>, Environment<\/a>, Environmental activists<\/a>, Fanatics<\/a>, Fear-mongering<\/a>, Fraud\/Waste<\/a>, Global Warming<\/a>, Infrastructure Problems<\/a>, Liberals<\/a>, Lily-Livered Liberals<\/a>, Limp-Wrist Liberals<\/a>, Political Prostitutes<\/a>, Politics<\/a>, Power Hungry<\/a>, Propaganda<\/a>, Spine Donor Politicians<\/a> Tagged: Alan Caruba<\/a>, Carbon Cap And Trade Tax<\/a>, Carbon Credits<\/a>, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions<\/a>, Clean Energy<\/a>, Climate Change Religion<\/a>, Climate Change Scaremongering<\/a>, Global Warming Alarmism<\/a>, Global Warming Hype<\/a>, Greenhouse Gas Emissions<\/a>, Renewable Energy Targets<\/a>, Tony<\/a>, Warning Signs<\/a>, Wind Power Generation<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alan Caruba One of the keystones of the Obama administration\u2019s energy policies has been a very expensive emphasis on \u201cclean energy\u201d, sometimes called \u201crenewable energy\u201d, allocating billions to the wind and solar energy producers. Like much of the \u201cstimulus\u201d bill that money is a waste. The wind power trade group, the American Wind Energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}