Follow The Money To Solar And Wind Energy......NO MORE PLEASE

As was totally predictable, the Billions of taxpayer dollars spent on subsidies to the solar and wind energy industries has been a bust, a failure, a waste.  With America in such debt, isn't it time to pull the plug on these losers?  Will anyone be held accountable for such a criminal waste?  And voters elected the same Administration responsible for this outrage to four more years?  Amazing stupidity.
Peter

Is Colorado's "new energy economy" still viable in light of recent setbacks in the industry? No By William Yeatman The Denver Post Posted: DenverPost.com It's been a rough stretch for Colorado's "new energy economy." Over the last few months, the Centennial State's green energy industry, which the new energy economy was supposed to kick start, has been beset by a series of setbacks. Loveland-based Abound Solar went bankrupt; Vestas Wind Systems laid off almost 200 workers at its Windsor blade plant; and General Electric pulled the plug on a planned solar manufacturing plant in Aurora.   The troubles of renewable energy companies are not unique to Colorado; they extend nationwide. U.S. taxpayers ponied up $60 billion for green energy "investments" as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus bill. The results are only coming in only now, and they are not good. The list of "stimulosers" — of which Solyndra is only the most famous example — is long and growing. It includes Beacon Power, Evergreen Solar, Amonix, A123 Systems, Nevada Geothermal Power, and many others.   These green industries are in trouble for a simple reason. They are running out of subsidies. The 2009 stimulus has been spent and the wind production tax credit is set to expire in December. Without a steady influx of taxpayer help, renewable energy sources like wind and solar power cannot compete, due to their high capital costs and intermittent supply.   How dependent on government are these industries? The American Wind Energy Association estimates that almost half of the entire wind power workforce — almost 37,000 people — would lose their jobs if Congress were to allow a single tax subsidy to expire. Such sudden and severe contractions are symptomatic of industries whose business plan is predicated on political favoritism. When the political winds change and the subsidies on which these companies depend are cut, the bottom falls out from under them.   On the demand side, green energy entails higher rates for consumers. In 2011, for example, a New Energy Economy policy known as the Solar*Rewards program accounted for almost 4 percent of sales, despite generating a scant half a percent of Xcel Energy's system-wide power. That's a bad deal for Coloradans. Unfortunately, the burden on Xcel ratepayers will only increase with the expiration of federal subsidies, which have effectively discounted Colorado's policies.   Somewhat paradoxically, the new energy economy's biggest expense likely will pertain to fossil fuels. The 2010 Clean Air Clean Jobs Act mandated that Xcel Energy generate from natural gas almost 1,000 megawatts of base load supply that it now gets from coal. At current prices, natural gas is historically cheap, but it is still more than twice as expensive as coal, according to Xcel Energy's regulatory filings.   And let's not forget that the price of natural gas reached historical highs only four summers ago. In fact, the high cost and volatility of the natural gas market relative to coal was the primary reason that the Colorado utilities have relied on the latter to meet the preponderance of the state's energy needs. A spike in the price of gas after the current supply contracts expire would cost Xcel Energy ratepayers dearly.   The worst aspect of the new energy economy program is its regressive nature. Utility bills represent a larger portion of poor households' budgets, so the new energy economy's costs are shouldered disproportionately by those who can least afford them.   Before the new energy economy program came along, Colorado utilities' decisions on how to provide power to consumers were guided by considerations on how to do so most efficiently at the least cost. Now, many of those decisions are based on political considerations, such as the need to prop up renewable energy, imposed by politicians. As a result, Colorado ratepayers can expect to pay for unsustainable subsidies, endure lower power supply reliability, and suffer unexpected consequences — all in the name of green ideology.   William Yeatman is assistant director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank in Washington, D.C.

Dusty, Dirty Snow Causing Melting, Global Warming

That old culprit DUST is causing snow and glacial melting. Who would ever have thought that? First it was volcanoes putting out the dust or ash, then it was forest fires and "slash and burn" agricultural methods. Now researchers in the American west correlate the dust to man's activities in the dusty, dry deserts.

How does this coincide with the concept that carbon dioxide emissions are causing all of the global warming? I bet someone will come up with the idea of selling "dust credits". I smell the stench of more laws, more lawsuits, more "documentary films".
Peter


from: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6228554

denver & the west
Dusty snow blamed for faster melting
By Katy Human Denver Post Staff Writer
Desert dust loosened by cattle's hooves and miners' machinery is blowing onto Colorado's snowcapped mountains, catching the sun and making snow melt faster, according to a new report.
More than a month faster.

"The snowpack 150 years ago was probably much cleaner, and by being cleaner, it lasted longer, potentially weeks longer," said Tom Painter, a researcher with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder.
The faster melt means less water late in the summer for farmers relying on flowing streams, and less for city water providers, who also use mountain snowpacks to store water for later in the summer, Painter said.

Dirty snow could also mean more warming in the region, he said, as white snow reflects solar radiation back into space, and dark grit absorbs heat.
In 2006, eight dust storms from northern Arizona and New Mexico covered Colorado's San Juan Mountains with layers of orange and red grit, Painter and his colleagues reported. In most years there are fewer than four such dust storms.

Last year's dusty snow melted 24 to 35 days earlier than in dust-free years, the scientists reported, based on computer water models and ground data.
The study is published online and in the current edition of Geophysical Research Letters.
Joe Sloan, a community-relations expert with Denver Water, said the study bodes poorly for the region.

Fast melting can increase flood risk, Sloan said, "and when melt is slower, it's easier to manage, it's a better resource from the water provider's view."
The new findings are not limited to Colorado's San Juan Mountains, Painter said.
"Around the world, but particularly in the Southwest, it appears that dust emission has increased," Painter said.

Researchers have even found evidence that windstorms increasingly coat Antarctica's high peaks with dust - sent there from Patagonia, where intensified sheep grazing has damaged soils, according to Joseph McConnell of the Desert Research Institute based in Reno, Nev.
Jayne Belnap, a U.S. Geological Survey ecologist in Moab, Utah, said that in the West, cattle, people, the military and energy exploration are to blame for disturbing the region's delicate soils.

"The idea that deserts create lots of dust naturally doesn't fly," said Belnap, who was not directly involved in the study.
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-954-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.