- The 'Cost' Of Alternative Energy

Between a heavier than normal travel schedule, a number of homeowner project and the opening of NJ's Bow season, I've been totally overwhelmed lately. So I think I should be forgiven for missing this great piece from Mario Loyola on NRO which calls attention to the fact that the primary goal of Obama's energy policy is to directly raise the cost of energy while seeming to be trying to prevent it:

I prefer when people get to the point, as when incoming Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said, before one congressional committee, “Somehow, we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” That exclamation was wonderful not just because it was simple, and clear as a mountain stream. It was also an accurate description of the administration’s energy policy.

The “alternative energy” movement has an enormous obstacle to contend with, namely that none of the alternative energy sources produce nearly as much energy, nearly as reliably, nearly as cheaply, as fossil fuels. Sources such as wind and solar are inherently intermittent and unpredictable, even when they are found in high enough density that it is economical to use them, which is virtually never. As long as fossil fuels are cheap, the subsidies to alternative sources have to be huge, and therefore politically painful. But even if oil prices reach a point at which renewables can compete on price (which would plunge the world into an incalculably deep economic crisis), there simply isn’t enough marketable renewable energy to replace the vast bounty of fossil fuels.

This is old news of course. There are no green jobs or green energy that can exist without MASSIVE subsidies - and even then the energy they provide will be unreliable, and still relatively costly. And supporting them by encouraging a general rise in energy costs is already wreaking havoc on our unemployment rate.

But the people involved are dedicated Democrat donors and supporters, so the process moves forward anyway - hang the cost. There's your modern Democrat party.

Read the whole piece : Let Them Eat Windmills.