by Jack
There’s probably more ad disinformation in the solar industry than any other business. The plethora of solar companies that have sprung up almost overnight in California make tempting promises of savings from $25,000 and more, a lot more, for a conventional home installation. They tout a cost of about 3.6 cents kilowatt hour, but this is the subsidized cost, not the actual cost of producing solar power. What is the actual cost? Would you believe it’s about 10.4 cents per kilowatt hour and it’s the most expensive among, wind, water, and coal.
Hydro-electric power was thought to be the most efficient and cleanest source, but government over regulation, obstruction and meddling has pushed the cost from about .05 per kilowatt hour up to around 6 cents per KW hour. Even so, hydro-electric remains the most reliable, clean energy source there is, although coal fired generation is competitively priced, it does have a moderate pollution problem. However, today’s coal fired energy plants are vastly improved and produce only a tenth of the pollution they did just a few decades ago.
Despite the billions poured into solar power it still only supplies 1% of the world’s power. Wind power produces about 5%. And if you think solar energy is pollution free, think again. Solar panels must be manufactured and there’s pollution in the process. They must be shipped and again, there is pollution. And what happens to all those old solar panels once they’ve stopped producing? More pollution folks.
So, once again we discover there is no free lunch as those eager solar salesmen promise. There’s no huges savings, it’s just a numbers games. Look, you will pay for it one way or another, at 10 cents per KW hr there can be no other way. If you don’t use solar, you’re going to pay for those generous subsidies in the form of higher taxes and your increased utility rate. In CA we are already looking at substantial rate hikes due to the proliferation of these subsidized solar panels. The only people who are making any real money from solar are the guys who own the installation companies, which explains the sudden growth in said companies. Don’t get me wrong, solar is nice and it will help some people, but it’s not the answer you might think it is. Solar has a long ways to go before making a big impact on the nation energy supply.
Jack, you’re absolutely right about who benefits from the solar scam.
Seriously looked into solar panels for a house in AZ. Even with tax credits (subsidies) from both State and Fed, it was still a whopping bite outta the checkbook.
Solar panels are normally guaranteed for about 10 years and have a life of around 20. Plus, the extra high temperatures in AZ due to summer heat can keep the electronics required for the panels to work properly from functioning. It can get up to 180 degrees up on the roof! And you have to wonder about ANY industry that requires goofernment subsidies in order to work. Hmmmmm – like Obumblecare?
We have solar panels on our RV, and they work pretty well when we’re out boondocking with no electric plug-in available but we still have to keep an eye on our energy consumption since we don’t haul around a trailer full of batteries. Until such time as less expensive solar equipment and more efficient batteries for electricity storage are available the costs outweigh the benefit except for special situations like living “off the grid.”
J you nailed it. A subsidy can work for tax payers if in the long run it brings more revenue. Oil and Gas subsidies work that way since they are an investment in future profit. Subsidies for alternative power, wind and solar, are just an expenditure to give the illusion of affordability. The return, in terms of clean energy, is minuscule at this point. And the illusion has become an excuse for taxation! Deception and greed all rolled into one.
“Despite the billions poured into solar power it still only supplies 1% of the world’s power.”
But your defense department intends to be at 25% renewables by 2025. And renewables now surpass all other energy sources in job production: “Clean-Energy Jobs Surpass Oil Drilling for First Time in U.S.”. Bloomberg.com. May 25, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
Things are moving right along. I wonder if you would tell us what you’re really crabbing about. Your oil stocks not paying what they were, perhaps? That’s a shame.
That would be YOUR defense department.
Democrats pushed for these levels, which may or may not be achievable depending on, as J pointed out, battery improvement.
It’s not too difficult to make sure renewable jobs outpace oil, gas and coal when your policy destroys jobs in those industries and subsidizes the other. You realize you’re bragging about putting people out of work and dramatically and suddenly disrupting their lives?
Concern about oil “stocks?” Portfolio’s are managed to adjust, don’t be dumb, it’s not the 1920’s.
Maybe you should consider the effect this has had on stability in the world, ie the economies of Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran…nothing like punching other countries in the stomach! Foreign policy lead by arrogance and ignorance…more mess to clean up.
“Maybe you should consider the effect this has had on stability in the world, i.e., the economies of Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran ….”
Hey, you forgetting about us being past “peak” oil? Or are you a “peak” denier, too? These countries had better look to their own stability, cause “running out” is “running out”; it’s got to be faced.
And, frankly, the only reason I can think of NOT to face it, would be thinking that the transition will damage one’s personal prospects.
Another Obumble bright idea. I can just see it now – a whole array of trucks filled with batteries to operate ONE solar-powered tank. Or ship. In the case of planes, there’d have to be a LONG extension cord.
You don’t fight a war with inefficient equipment, and that’s exactly what “renewables” would be. And the additional cost does not justify the expense – just as with “renewables” in real life. Expect this idea to be trashed since there are now thinking folks in the DOD instead of the “idealists” of the last 8 years.
Some good news, the swamp is starting to drain itself.
State Department Officials Quitting Over “Complete and Utter Disdain for our Expertise”
“We can only hope that with the departure of these failed State Department officials, their failed policies will be swept out along with them. Chief among these is the almost universally held idea that poverty causes terrorism. The United States has wasted uncounted (literally, because a great deal of it was in untraceable bags full of cash) billions of dollars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, and other countries in the wrongheaded assumption that Muslims turn to jihad because they lack economic opportunities and education. American officials built schools and hospitals, thinking that they were winning over the hearts and minds of the locals.
Fifteen years, thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars later, no significant number of hearts and minds have been won.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267463/state-department-officials-quitting-over-complete-robert-spencer
You are right, Captain Jack.
And as Colliefornia mandates a higher and higher percentage of energy used be “clean” just wait until you see what your utility bill will be. You think it’s bad now ? (And it is.). Well, you ain’t seen nothin’.
And look what Debbie Weasleman Schultz is saying. Unbelievable!
Debbie Wasserman Schultz Breaks Silence On Awans: “I Did The Right Thing, And I Would Do it Again” (Audio)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-03/debbie-wasserman-schultz-breaks-silence-awans-i-did-right-thing-and-i-would-do-it-ag
Just look at what she and other Demonrats have done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKzzyOsvajc
This could be one of the biggest scandals in US history.
Mr. Jack, how can Weaselman-Schultz possibly say, “I Did The Right Thing, And I Would Do it Again”??????????